The disappearance of Timmothy Pitzen | Ep 233

Summary

Crime and Coffee Couple – True Crime Podcast

Episode 233: The Disappearance of Timmothy Pitzen

Hosts: Allison and Mike
Date: February 22, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode unpacks the mysterious disappearance of six-year-old Timmothy Pitzen in 2011, a story that continues to haunt his family and baffle investigators nearly 15 years later. Hosts Allison and Mike—married with decades of warm, humorous banter—delve into Timmothy’s case, balancing their witty, conversational style with a deep respect for the victim and his family. The hosts guide listeners through the case step by step, examining the emotional toll, the mysterious clues left behind, and presenting possible scenarios behind Timmothy’s fate. The conversation also touches on mental health, community, and the importance of maintaining hope in the face of tragedy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Updates, Mental Health, and Community (00:59–10:22)

• Opening with light-hearted banter about family quirks, generational differences, and daily life struggles.
  • Allison and Mike share insights into worry, the importance of being present, and tips from the book The Confidence Gap—especially around intrusive thoughts.
  • Quote: "What do they say? Anxiety is worrying about the future. Depression is living in the past." — Allison (05:54)
• Strong emphasis on supporting each other and community love:
  • Quote: "There's a lot of terrible stuff going on...let’s just love each other, right?" — Mike (09:47)

2. Case Introduction: Disappearance of Timmothy Pitzen (10:30)

• Listener suggestion credited to cousin Lexi, whom the hosts lovingly describe as family.
• Background on Timmothy’s parents, Jim and Amy, especially Jim’s prior battle with cancer and their joy at Timmothy’s unexpected birth—a "miracle baby."
• The energetic, loving family environment Timothy grew up in.

3. The Timeline of Timmothy and Amy’s Disappearance (13:00–24:00)

• Wednesday, May 11, 2011: Amy picks up Timmothy early from school under the pretense of a family emergency. Jim, unaware, returns later to find Timmothy gone (16:21).
  • Quote: "He gets out of the car and all of a sudden the teacher that's standing there is like, oh hey Jim, what are you doing here?...Tim already got picked up from school." — Allison (17:13)
• Jim’s confusion and growing fear as he discovers Amy’s car is gone and she is unreachable.
• Amy’s previous mental health struggles, lack of medication adherence, and marital strain (argument about a Bahamas trip) highlighted as possible precursors.

4. Tracing Amy and Timmothy’s Movements—A Chaotic Journey (24:00–34:00)

• Wednesday: Seen at Brookfield Zoo and a water park, Key Lime Cove, on surveillance, both appearing normal and happy.
• Thursday: Drive to Wisconsin Dells; Amy makes purchases for Timmothy; seen together on hotel surveillance.
• Friday: Phone pings near Rock Falls, Illinois. Amy starts calling family to say they're fine, but refuses to say when she'll return.
  • Quote: "Timothy is mine. I'll do with him what I want." — Amy, via phone call to Jim's brother (28:59)
• Saturday: Amy is found dead by suicide in a motel room in Rockford, Illinois. The discovery is traumatic for Jim and the family.
  • Quote: "They found Amy Pitsen with her throat slit and there was also slashes to her arm." — Allison (32:11)

5. Investigation & Theories—What Happened to Timmothy? (33:21–50:00)

• No evidence that Timmothy was ever in the motel room.
• Items missing: toys, backpack, clothing—but a T-shirt Amy bought for him at the zoo remains.
• Suicide note says Timmothy is "safe and with people who will love him" but "you will never see him again." Host skepticism abounds.
  • Quote: "Big fat BS, in my opinion." — Allison (34:50)
• Blood found in the backseat of Amy’s car is identified as Timmothy’s, but family suggests he was prone to nosebleeds.
• Amy’s movements, off-road driving, cell phone pings, and efforts to obscure her route are carefully traced by investigators and her sister Kara.

6. Psychological Analysis & Altruistic Filicide (49:10–50:58)

• Forensic psychiatrists suggest Amy might have suffered from "altruistic filicide”—the deluded belief that killing her child was an act of protection or love, often tied to parental suicide.
  • Quote: "The reason why Amy may have looked so composed...is that she may have rationalized she was actually doing the right thing for her son." — Allison (49:45)
• Hosts reflect on the tragedy of mental illness, the importance of taking responsibility, and the dangers of rationalizing destructive actions.

7. False Hope: The 2019 ‘Timmothy’ Impostor (50:58–54:26)

• A 23-year-old man claims to be missing Timmothy in 2019, causing temporary hope and heartbreak. DNA disproves his story.
  • Quote: "I'm like that is not a 14 year old." — Allison (53:07)

8. Family’s Hope vs. Reality and Ongoing Pain (54:26–63:14)

• Kara and Jim hold onto hope that Amy entrusted Timmothy to another family—citing his nosebleeds as a possible explanation for the blood.
  • Investigators find no evidence of secret adoption arrangements, and there are no credible sightings of Timmothy.
• Emotional reflection on the pain of ambiguity for families of missing children.
  • Quote: "The pain isn't just loss. It's the not knowing." — Allison (58:50)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• "Anxiety is worrying about the future. Depression is living in the past."
  — Allison (05:54)
• "You can't ever judge what's going on behind doors because nobody knows the truth behind a relationship."
  — Allison (63:29)
• "That Friday was the last day he has ever been seen…they have no answers, no closure. Just a child that, in their mind, is frozen in time as a six year old kindergartener."
  — Allison (58:50)
• "Please just like…don’t ever, ever, ever harm a child. You’re never helping them, ever, ever, ever, ever by harming them."
  — Mike (62:13)
• "If you’ve got a mental health struggle…reach out, talk to somebody. You’re not alone, ever."
  — Allison (62:17)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 10:30 — Case introduction, background on Timmothy and his parents
• 13:00–14:51 — Timmothy’s early life, personality, and family background
• 16:21 — Last time Jim saw Timmothy
• 18:59 — Amy’s disappearance with Timmothy and the start of the search
• 32:11 — Discovery of Amy’s body and investigation shift
• 34:40 — Reading and analysis of Amy’s suicide note
• 38:41 — Blood evidence in Amy’s car, investigation details
• 49:10 — Forensic psychiatry on “altruistic filicide”
• 50:58 — The 2019 “Timmothy” impostor incident
• 58:50 — Closing reflection on the pain of not knowing

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Closing Reflections

Both hosts, while maintaining empathy, express skepticism about the theory that Timmothy survived beyond that Friday. While his family holds onto hope—citing explanations for the blood and Amy’s possible intent to leave him with others—there is no evidence supporting this. The case remains unresolved, underscored by the haunting reality of so many missing children and the perpetual pain for families living in “the not knowing.”

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Resources & Call to Action

If you have any information on Timmothy Pitzen:
Contact Aurora Police at 630-256-5516.

• For national statistics and missing children resources, visit the FBI’s National Crime Information Center.

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The Crime and Coffee Couple delivers this harrowing case with their trademark warmth and frankness, inviting listeners to empathize not just with the victim but with the families left behind.

Transcript

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[Allison]

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[Mike]

Can we sleep cooler?

[Allison]

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[Mike]

And my name's Mike.

[Allison]

Hi, Mike.

[Mike]

Hey, Al. How are you? Got your lacy red best?

[Allison]

I do. I'm bringing my best today.

[Mike]

That's right. That's right.

[Allison]

Or I was giving our son a hug. He was leaving for baseball practice this morning and he's like, why are you wearing such an uncomfortable material? Like, because I'm going to be on YouTube.

[Mike]

Yeah, but you're like, so thanks anyways. Good. I love you too, son.

[Allison]

Thank you for saying I look nice,

[Mike]

son, and putting some good thoughts into my head.

[Allison]

You know, if you ever want to boost in your self esteem, do not go and talk to a teenager because you will immediately be the lamest person in the room. And the word lame is not cool either.

[Mike]

Yeah, I guess it's not. Oh, I saw these Instagram reels where they're talking like, I don't know what the latest generation is. Like, whoever's in high school now, Jen.

[Allison]

I don't even know what generation I am.

[Mike]

I think we're Generation X and Millennial. Like somewhere between there. We're not really millennials, but I know a decent amount about computers and I feel like I grew up with them. So I feel like I'm like an honorary millennial. But we're Gen X, basically. Okay, so there's like, X millennials and then, I don't know, Alpha Beta Zeta. I don't know what the hell.

[Allison]

So no idea.

[Mike]

But then there's this one reel where they're like, oh, when you're going out with a new, like, you know, gen Alpha coworker or something, and they're like, this, this place is Giving Italian. And then they're like, well, yeah, it's an Italian restaurant.

[Allison]

Italian restaurant. That's why it's giving Italian. Literally, they're giving you Italian food.

[Mike]

But like, that saying is like, giving Italian vibes, but they don't say vibes anymore. And now it's just like, now, oh, this is so giving besties. It's like giving best like this. You know, every generation has their own way of talking and stuff, and it's just. It's funny.

[Allison]

And also where you're from in the country, too.

[Mike]

Yeah. And not every generation is the same. I hate when people start talking. Like, we have this inside joke in our family where some people start talking about generations and like, oh, this generation doesn't do this anymore. It's usually old idiots that are like,

[Allison]

well, they don't work hard putting people in a box.

[Mike]

Yeah, I try to never do that, you know, let people put themselves in their own box. Not just because of an age or whatever it might be.

[Allison]

That is a pet peeve of mine. When people do try to label me or put me in a box and just, you know, because I'm a certain way, it's like, no, I am just who I am. I'm not, you know, I. I don't know.

[Mike]

Like, whatever, you're, you know, from Chicago. You do it this way, or you're this age and you didn't grow up with this or whatever. So, yeah, it's just like. It's so stupid. Is it possible? Sure. So my son, like, we were at Christmas and some family members said something about generations. And he texted me on the side. He's like, oh, I can't listen to this guy anymore. Now he's talking about generations. And it's like, yeah. I'm like, well, it's funny. Just listen to him. Like, just treat it as like it's funny. So how's life going? I know one thing I'd like to bring up, if that's okay.

[Allison]

Sure.

[Mike]

I am going to become a concrete professional for the weekend because I got to fill it' is this is not a good thing. So please pray for me. Or if you do believe in any sort of higher being, just. Just please put my good thoughts out there so that I can fill concrete into this void under our floor that we have because insurance isn't paying for it. So I'm going to have to fill it up somehow because I'm sure as hell not hiring professionals because I'm cheap as heck.

[Allison]

I'm like, mike, you sell security systems. You're a sales guy, what business do you have mixing up concrete or slurries or whatever verbiage you were using and putting it into our floor?

[Mike]

Yeah, I don't know. I guess we'll find out.

[Allison]

And I was like, and if you don't smooth the top out right, the floor is not going to sit right.

[Mike]

Gravity takes care of that. It's going to be totally fine. Gravity. And then you smooth it. It's just like play doh, right? Just like a lot of Play doh. And so it's the foundation of our house, too. Big deal.

[Allison]

I mean, I'm just going to try to do what I'm not normally doing and not worry about it.

[Mike]

Right.

[Allison]

Because I'm. I tend to be a worrier. Especially if I wake up in the middle of the night, my thoughts just go to a place where they shouldn't. I saw real that I connected with, and it was a girl waking up at 2, 3 in the morning because of perimenopause. And she's like questioning every thought and decision I've ever had in the past 45 years of my life. You know, it's like that's. That's kind of how it is sometimes.

[Mike]

That's deep. That's a lot of pressure. Like, you can't change the past. Why would you think this stuff?

[Allison]

It's just like, oh, I could have done this. I should have done this. And those are thoughts that are so not productive and it's silly to have them. But sometimes at certain times of the month, they're very hard to control. For the most part. Can be. Because I read that book, the Confidence Gap, and it basically teaches you techniques and how to deal with those intrusive thoughts that we all just naturally have. And what it kind of explained why. Why do we have those thoughts? It's because however many years ago cavemen and women walked the land, if you didn't have those constant thoughts of protecting yourself, you would die.

[Mike]

Yeah, but that's. What about the past? You mentioned thinking everything that you've done in the past 40 years, every decision. You can't change the past. So why would you think about that?

[Allison]

You know, we will sometimes regret.

[Mike]

Yeah, sure. Well, hopefully you have as little regret as possible. Right. It's impossible to have zero, but.

[Allison]

Right, of course. And those are things that you're calm. I'm constantly working on and trying to control those things so that I have a happy present. Because what do they say anxiety is worrying about the future. Depression is living in the past.

[Mike]

Correct.

[Allison]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And I don't know if that's actually true or not, but it sounds right.

[Allison]

It makes sense to me. So anyway, we're just hoping that this whole floor thing works out, because I can't stand it when projects are unfinished. I'm the type of person, I just want things done. Let's just get it done.

[Mike]

And I'm the person that goes A to Y, as Allison says, not A

[Allison]

to Z. I always say A to Y. I'm like, mike, A to Z. A to Z.

[Mike]

Finish, man. Just finish. That's all you got to do.

[Allison]

I will watch Mike empty the dishwasher sometimes. And in my head I'm like, what is he doing? Like, I neatly pile all the bowls together, all the plates together, the cups together. Mike has a bowl here, there, there, and there. Yeah, it eventually mostly all gets put away, but the. The way he does it is so night and day different.

[Mike]

I think my problem is I don't have processes. I don't know if that's the right way to say it, but I just do it. I see it, I do it. And I also. I'm probably an idiot, right?

[Allison]

So, no, you're definitely not an idiot.

[Mike]

Okay, I was fishing for that. So thank you. I don't have an internal dialogue per se. We've probably talked about this before, but, like, there's not a time where I'm like always going, ruminating about things through my head. My thoughts are basically, oh, put this gnome away from here. Bring it from here, Put it to the spot. Okay, done.

[Allison]

I can't imagine that. And you know, people would probably pay good money and be medicated highly to be in your state of mind. Just naturally, it's not bad. Whereas mine is like, okay, I'm walking from here to there. What can I put away in between to save time? Like, even just feeding our dog, because I mix three things together. I think in my head, okay, let me grab these things while I'm here. At, like, even just putting her food in a bowl is a process in my mind. How can I do this as fast

[Mike]

as possible if I can say? If I was living on my own, there is no chance in hell I'd be putting three things together for a dog. I love this dog. Dog. Our dog is fantastic. But I would not ever add three. Like, what three things are you putting in her bowl?

[Allison]

She gets these. It's like freeze dried chicken and then this kibble and then this wet food. And she is my precious angel and she deserves nothing but the best in life. And that's what she's gonna get from

[Mike]

her mommy, I like to take to the depression era mindset. Whereas if a dog will eat when it gets hungry, right? So like, just like there was a point where she, our little dog, was getting fat because she was being overfed because you wanted to show her love. She is perfect and we just want her to be healthy and happy, that's all.

[Allison]

So, yeah, you know, we are. We're all dealing with our own things.

[Mike]

But real quick, you said that confidence Gap book. You tell me a lot about it. We've talked a lot. Because you like to talk about what's in there and I'm curious about it, but the only thing I remember from it is put your worries on a leaf and let it float down the stream, right?

[Allison]

Or label those thoughts. So when you hear those intrusive thoughts coming in, like, almost picture it like a radio station and label it like, here's radio, doom and gloom. And then laugh about it and let it move on, because those thoughts are going to happen. You can never say, oh, I'm never going to have a negative thought about myself again, because you're going to lose if that's the case.

[Mike]

And like, not to go too much into it, but I will. The caveman thing about protecting yourself is why we're so worried about the things that we do. Like, fear almost stops you from doing anything that you want. It could freeze you and it's your brain trying to protect you. Like, back in the day, you'd have to be protected from the lions and tigers and bears that are outside, right? So like, that's the natural thing. Whereas now it's like, we don't have to worry about that stuff. All we're worried is about is being judged by other people, which. Who cares? Like, one of our other friends in the podcast industry, we were, I was talking to her and she's like, oh, so much hate came from this one reel. And I was like, well, you know what that means you're doing it right. Like, if you don't get some bad comments, and that means you're probably not doing enough, right?

[Allison]

If you think you're ever going to please 100% of the people, you're going to be sadly mistaken.

[Mike]

Yeah. And that's probably one of the hardest parts about this particular job.

[Allison]

You can't.

[Mike]

There's idiots that are just like, they love to hear themselves like, oh, I think you did a terrible job. And it's like, whatever, man. But you know what? Our frickin community, like, you guys listening to this are just awesome. Like, I can't say enough about how much of a positive influence like all these folks are that leave comments. You're all amazing. Like 99 of the crime and coffee couple listener audience. Amazing, amazing. So thank you for being you. Thanks for spreading like common. They're just like good love, man. Just we need more love in this world. There's a lot of terrible stuff. We all know that going on. Like, let's just love each other, right?

[Allison]

I agree. And you know, live your life authentically who you are and don't worry about what the naysayers are going to say. Everyone's going to have an opinion. And you'll never make yourself happy if you're trying to make other people happy all the time.

[Mike]

And love your neighbors. Like, there's a lot of bad stuff all around this country, other countries. Just like the best thing you could do is like love the person next to you or the person next door, go bring them some food or being a community.

[Allison]

Yeah.

[Mike]

That's all. That's the best thing we can.

[Allison]

I like that message, Mike.

[Mike]

I do too, man. We talked about a lot of stuff. This is, this is a big one.

[Allison]

I know and my head is kind of spinning with thoughts, but I'm going to get it. Let's get into this case.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

So this is a listener suggestion from our gorgeous cousin Lexi. And she is a loyal listener. She's a patron. She's amazing and we adore her.

[Mike]

Not to talk too much about physical, but I mean those beautiful blue eyes, I'll tell you, she's a love, lovely, lovely gal inside and out. She's wonderful.

[Allison]

She's also my goddaughter and not mine,

[Mike]

but I'm, you know that she's still pretty cool.

[Allison]

Well, you were there too. Like we went to the hospital to meet her when she was born.

[Mike]

So when she was a baby, we babysat her and she hated me.

[Allison]

She hated you.

[Mike]

She always said instead of move, she said mo.

[Allison]

So she, she would push and go.

[Mike]

I'm like, okay, Lex, okay. I guess we're not going to be friends until later in life.

[Allison]

And now she's in her mid-20s and she's like a daughter to us.

[Mike]

Yes, absolutely.

[Allison]

All right, so this is the disappearance of Timothy Pitson. So what began as a routine morning in May of 2011 ended in absolute confusion after 6 year old Timothy Pitson was signed out of school early by his mom. So while teachers were saying that she came by and picked him up because of a family emergency. This later proved to be absolutely untrue. And although nearly 15 years have gone by, Tim's family, including his own father, Jim Pittson, have never seen him again. So through their immense grief, they are left to wonder, was he murdered or was he secretly given away? Is he alive somewhere? Do they just not know where he is? And does Timothy not know who he is? So, at only 21 years old, Jim Pittson was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. And although the chemotherapy cured him of cancer, he. He was told that he would never be able to have children. And this was a devastating blow because he'd grown up in a large family, and he always pictured that he would have children of his own. So, by his early 30s, Jim fell in love with a woman named Amy Fry. And she wasn't bothered by the fact that he was unable to have children. And Amy's sister, Kara, she was just so happy for her sister, and she just felt that Amy and Jim were a perfect match. So one day, it was probably the middle of the night, Jim was laying in bed, and he was in and out of sleep, and he could hear Amy kind of mumbling, talking in her sleep, and he overheard her say, you've got to marry me. I'm pregnant. So the next morning, he's like, hey, Amy, I heard you say this. And he was stunned to learn that she confirmed that she was four months pregnant. Wow. So it turned out the doctors were wrong. You know, his chemotherapy hadn't stopped his ability to have children.

[Mike]

Some of the boys were still swimming. They were.

[Allison]

So the. The couple soon got married in a small, outdoor ceremony, and they relocated from Clifton, Iowa, to Aurora, Illinois.

[Mike]

Hey, we live there.

[Allison]

That's where we moved to the Tampa suburbs from was Aurora, Illinois. So when their son, Timothy Pitson, was born on October 18, 2004, Jim was over the moon. And he sat there holding his baby, looking down on him, thinking, this is the moment I've always dreamed of, but I didn't think was possible.

[Mike]

Like a miracle baby.

[Allison]

A miracle baby. So they chose their son's name after Amy's brother, who had died at birth. But they added two M's to Timothy to make it his own unique name. So Amy just seemed to blossom in motherhood. It was clear that she was destined to be his mom. And Timothy was just the center of her world. He was a happy, energetic boy. He adored his parents. Of course, he's this miracle baby. He's the only child, so he is just surrounded by love. He loved his dog, his four cats. He was Just typical boy. He was always riding around on his bike, his parents are calling after him. Just don't go too far. You know, if you have a boy and if you have a girl, you see the difference, usually right away.

[Mike]

Yeah, we're idiots.

[Allison]

And I always just think, my goodness, we gave birth. Or I gave birth. You certainly didn't.

[Mike]

No, I didn't do much.

[Allison]

You had very little part in that.

[Mike]

Yeah, 45 seconds max.

[Allison]

That's why when people say we're pregnant, I understand it, but I never said that. It's like I'm the one that's puking all day every day.

[Mike]

Yeah, I barely had anything to do.

[Allison]

You're not pregnant? I'm pregnant.

[Mike]

Well, and by. By. Yeah, we kind of both are at that point, but that's not there.

[Allison]

So the thing is, it's like you give birth to two children, it's from the same parents, raised in the same house, and you're like, you are two entirely different people. You know, the little girl is conscientious and then the boy is like tumbling around like a monkey in the room.

[Mike]

Yeah, like, like actively having a monkey, like a wild chimpanzee in your house.

[Allison]

I always say, I told our son, I'm like, you're a wild animal. You're like the Tasmanian freaking devil. So in 2011, six year old Timothy was attending kindergarten at Greenman Elementary School in Aurora and he was attending half day classes. I know in Florida we do full day kindergarten classes, but when I was in kindergarten in Illinois, I only had a half day. So as precautionary measure, in case any of the students got lost, the school set up this system where they created ID cards with fingerprints for every student. And then just as an additional precautionary measure, Jim also ordered his son an Illinois state ID just so he had identification. So Wednesday, May 11, 2011 began as a typical weekday when 39 year old Jim and 43 year old Amy got up early. They were getting themselves ready for work and preparing to take Tim to school. And since Amy had suffered about a vertical just the day before, she was still kind of feeling a little dizzy and unsteady on her feet. Jim insisted that they drive Tim to school together. He would drive and then he would drop her off at work because he just didn't feel comfortable with her being behind the wheel of the car. Yeah, she was too dizzy. And it sounds like they all worked very much nearby, so this wasn't crazy. So as they pulled up to the school at about 7:45am they said their goodbyes. Tim hopped out of the car and Jim just recalls him saying, love you dad, see you later. This was the last time he ever saw his son.

[Mike]

I hate that part, man. That's. We tell so many terrible stories, but just like imagine your little son just, yeah, that was the last time you ever saw him. Like you just to hug him one

[Allison]

more time and you just the every single one of these stories, no one ever realizes that's the last moment.

[Mike]

If you did, you wouldn't let him go.

[Allison]

No. So from here, Jim dropped Amy off at her job. It was only blocks away and then he headed to his nearby office. So about two and a half hours later, it was 10:30am and Jim headed back to Greenman elementary to pick picked him up. So what they did each day, because it was just the half day classes, was Jim would go back to the school, picked him up, bring him over to a daycare center for after school care, and then he would go back to work and then picked him up in the evening. So on this day he pulls up to the school again. It's a typical day. He gets out of the car and all of a sudden the teacher that's standing there is like, oh hey Jim, what are you doing here? And he's like, what do you mean? She's like, Tim already got picked up from school. He was absolutely confused and had no idea what she was talking about. So he's trying to just like quickly put things together.

[Mike]

Is she joking? Like what's happened? That, that's impossible.

[Allison]

So after Amy arrived back at the school, this is something that Jim had no idea happened. She showed up at 8:30 in the morning and security footage showed Tim carrying his Spider man backpack because he was called out of class. The teacher said, hey Timothy, your mom is here. Gather your things, you're getting picked up. So he was walking toward the front office and Amy was just calmly standing there and she was waving at him as he approached. And the two then held hands, they turned, they walked out of the front doors of the school. So Jim is hearing this and seeing this and he was just so scared and highly confused, wondering why would Amy have come back to the school to pick Timothy up without letting him know and where did they go and why?

[Mike]

Well, you're my first inclination to be okay, maybe there was a doctor's appointment I forgot about. But then you're like, wait, she had vertigo. She didn't have like a way to

[Allison]

even have a car.

[Mike]

Car, yeah. So what's going on? Okay, like surely there's Some kind of a. You know, it's not like somebody random came in. I was wondering, did somebody look like Amy or something? No, it was his mom. And she got. That's insane.

[Allison]

Right? So school employees told Jim that when Amy came into the office that morning to sign Tim out, she indicated that they were dealing with a family emergency. And this made absolutely no sense to Jim because he was completely unaware of any kind of family emergency. Not to mention his wife hadn't called and said, hey, I'm coming by to get Tim because there's this thing happening.

[Mike]

Something happened.

[Allison]

So as he continued to call her over and over, trying to make sense of what was going on, never once did she pick up. He never talked to her again. So trying to make sense of what was going on, Jim rushed home to find his wife's Ford Expedition gone. So he started looking further into the house, and he was relieved by the fact that he saw Amy's luggage and was still there. So he was thinking, okay, maybe she was going through something. Maybe she just wants to clear her head and she'll be back soon with Tim.

[Mike]

This is like. That is. Has this happened before in their marriage? Like, if. If that happened with us, I'd be like, this is nuts. And I saw your luggage out.

[Allison]

Like, I'm like, oh, no, her luggage was not right.

[Mike]

It wasn't gone. But I don't know if it was out.

[Allison]

It wasn't.

[Mike]

Okay, so, like, I wouldn't even check for your luggage. I wouldn't be like, what, did she take her luggage and take our son somewhere like that. That.

[Allison]

No, but he's trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. It's.

[Mike]

It.

[Allison]

This is something Amy has never done before.

[Mike]

It wouldn't even enter my mind to check for your luggage.

[Allison]

Right. Well, I. Maybe it would maybe if this was happening. Yeah.

[Mike]

If I. Once I see it, I'm like, there's no explanation. She's not answering her phone. Yeah, that's true.

[Allison]

You have nothing else to go by. So when Jim called Amy's sister Cara, she also hadn't heard a thing. And she couldn't imagine where Amy had taken Tim.

[Mike]

And they had a pretty good relationship, right? Her and her sister?

[Allison]

Oh, yeah, her and her sister. They were. But then you come to kind of find out that was probably not telling a lot of people a lot of things.

[Mike]

Sure. I'm sure he'll tell us.

[Allison]

So Jim admitted that he and Amy had been arguing, you know, at that point in time when they all went to school and work that day. She, I guess had just come back from a girls trip from the Bahamas a week before. And this was, for whatever reason, he was not happy with this whole trip. I don't know if it was finance related. Like she had no business spending the money to go. I have no idea. But he wasn't happy about it. However, at the time, Kara wasn't worried when she got this phone call from Jim. She just figured her sister might want a little bit of space to cool off because she and Jim were arguing. Sure.

[Mike]

But with the sun. Yeah, like, come on, that's too far.

[Allison]

Yeah, I agree. So by Thursday morning, Jim's worry only grew because he was still unable to reach Amy and they still weren't back. So he decided to report them missing to the Aurora Police Department. So he called and you know, he was talking to the person and they were like, well, you know, it's only been 24 hours and Timothy is with his mom, she's his legal guardian, she has every right to be with him. So they said, just give it a little bit more time, maybe she's just mad at you and she'll be back this weekend. So Jim went back home and he began combing through the house just trying to find a clue that might give him some sense of where they could possibly be. So since Amy did have a history of depression, Jim checked the bathroom cabinet to see if she had taken her prescribed medications with her. This is Wellbutrin and Lexapro. So he came across two full bottles that had yet to be opened. So this was when he realized that not only had she not taken her medication with her, but she also hadn't been taking them as prescribed for some time.

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[Allison]

So at the time, Jim never worried that Amy would harm their son, but he did worry about their safety because Amy had suffered vertigo recently and he questioned the safety of her. Driving around and worried you know, she could potentially get into a car accident.

[Mike]

Why wouldn't he question that? I would question like anything's on the table. Yeah, he could definitely. She can harm him.

[Allison]

Like she's, I mean, would you ever think that I would harm our children

[Mike]

if you were on meds to prevent you from getting into depression and stuff? Anything's on the table.

[Allison]

Yeah. Depressed people don't just kill their kids.

[Mike]

I mean, I don't know.

[Allison]

So the morning that they dropped him off at school together, Amy had wanted to drive him to school herself in her own car. This was probably something they kind of bickered about that morning. And Jim's like, it's just not worth it. There's no reason why you should drive if, if you might be dizzy. So Cara has since retraced her sister's steps after Tim was dropped off at school that day. So about 20 minutes after Jim dropped her off at work, she told her co workers that she wasn't feeling well. And from her office she walked over to Greenman elementary to pick her son up. This was at 8:30 in the morning. This was only 45 minutes after Timothy had been dropped off at school that morning. So again, you know, they saw the video surveillance. It was really clear. Amy appeared to be very steady on her feet. She didn't look wobbly at all. It didn't look like, oh gosh, look, she's dizzy, she's suffering from vertigo. So from the school they then walked back home together and they drove off in her car. They headed toward Brookfield Zoo. And from Aurora, this is a 45 minute drive. So before they arrived at the zoo, Amy's alternator light came on. So she stopped off at a car repair shop. And this is in lagrange, Illinois. That's where I had my internship. And the helpful mechanic had said, oh, you're on your way to the zoo. How about I just drop you guys off there while I fix your car? You guys can be there. And they're like, okay, perfect. So after a few hours at the zoo, they left at about 3pm to pick up her now repaired car. So rather than coming home, Amy drove them to a water park that they had gone to many times before because this was a favorite place for Tim. This is the Key Lime Cove in Gurney, which is now the Great Wolf Wolf Lodge. So this is about an hour's drive north of the zoo. So they spent the night there. And surveillance video from the hotel depicted Amy and Tim walking hand in hand to their room. It looked very normal. So on Thursday morning, they headed to another water park, this time in the Wisconsin Dells. And this is a two and a half hour drive northwest from where they were at Key Lime Cove and then nearly three hours from where they lived in Aurora. So according to credit card receipts, at 11:30 in the morning, Amy stopped off at Shopco store in Racine, Wisconsin to get children's toys and clothing for Timothy. At 2:20pm she stopped off at Quick Trip gas station for gas and drinks. This is off of I94 in Johnson Creek. So Kara believes that her sister was so focused on just wanting to have fun with Timothy that she was only thinking from one moment to the next and not thinking about all the repercussions going on around her. So on Thursday night, she and Tim checked into the Kalahari Resort water park within the Wisconsin Dells. And when there was still no word from her by Friday, this was when investigators started to listen to Jim more and, and start to take the case more seriously. So on Friday morning, Amy and Tim ordered room service for breakfast at 7:30 in the morning to their hotel room. And then a couple hours later, they checked out at 10:10 in the morning and they were once again seen on surveillance, this time leaving the hotel. So as they got back on the road, they drove in the direction of Illinois. And based on their cell phone records, Amy pulled off near Rock. Excuse me, Rock Falls, Illinois. It's also right there by Sterling, Illinois. And this is a place that her family would eventually learned that she had secretly visited before. And I don't know if that was with cell phone pings and things like that, but she had just driven out there one day, maybe just to check things out. Out. So at this point, Amy was aware that her friends and family were highly concerned by her sudden, unexplained disappearance with Tim and the fact that they were all unable to reach her. I can't imagine how many phone calls went to her phone from her sister and Jim's brother and Jim himself.

[Mike]

So it's not like it was off. They saw it was on, it was triangulating and everything.

[Allison]

Yes.

[Mike]

So she saw these calls.

[Allison]

So while she was stopped in Rock Falls, she began calling people back. Just after noon on Friday, she first called the police, letting them know that she and Tim were just fine. So however, rather than calling Jim, Amy called his brother Charles, who lived in Waterloo, Iowa. And not only did he hear Tim in the background in the car, but he was also able to speak with Tim. And he mentioned that he was fine, maybe a little bit hungry, but he sounded very happy. So as Charles tried to understand what was going on and where she was, Amy explained that she only needed a little break. So when he suggested that she come out to Waterloo, Iowa, where he lived, she was kind of defensive. And she asked, don't you trust me? I'm not going to hurt myself or Tim.

[Mike]

Well, you brought that up. I wasn't even saying anything. And now that you brought it up, yes, I am worried.

[Allison]

I will tell you. When Charles heard her say these words, he believed her. He thought she was just going away for the weekend and she'd be back on Sunday. Tim would go back to school on Monday, and it would just all be behind them. So after Charles told Jim that, you know, he heard from Amy, because obviously Jim's brother knows that he's on pins and needles and he's terrified of where they are. And he recalls, you know, Jim felt this tremendous relief, like, oh, my goodness, they're safe. Thank goodness. So Charles was unable to tell Jim when he could expect them to come home, because when he asked Amy this question, she said, said, timothy is mine. I'll do with him what I want.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Allison]

So Cara believes that while her sister was driving from location to location, hotel to hotel, beginning on Friday, she made this decision that she was not going to come home. So rather than driving home, she drove to Rockford, illinois. This is 71 miles northwest of Aurora, where they lived. So now, on Saturday, May 14, this is three days after Jim last saw or heard from his wife and son. A housekeeper from the Rockford Motel approached motel room 108 to clean the room. And as she opened the door, she was met with a horrific, bloody sight. So hours later, Jim is sitting at home and he hears knocking on his front door. He opens the door to find two detectives from the Aurora Police Department standing on his porch. And at that moment in time, he just assumes that they were there to give him an update, you know, on where Amy was, what to expect, that sort of thing. But rather than that information, they were asking him if they could come inside. They wanted to talk to him. So I'm sure he felt tremendously scared. So when the officers asked him where he had been the night before, he told them that he just came home. He had some beers, he watched tv, and he fell asleep. He was just at home. He didn't want to leave home because he just wanted to be there waiting for Amy and Tim to arrive. So Jim felt like the floor was just dropped from beneath him. When the officers told him that they found Amy but she was deceased and Tim was nowhere to be found. So when it came time to identify his wife's body, he drove to the morgue with his mom by his side for support. And all the wild while, excuse me, he is sick with worry of where his son could possibly be. So at about noon on Saturday, this is back to the moment when the housekeeper is approaching the store. She began knocking at the door of room 108 and no one was answering the door. So she utilized her key to enter and she pushed the door open. But she realized that the security chain was engaged, meaning someone was still in the room because it can only be engaged from the inside. Through this small gap, she was able to see a great deal of blood. So she immediately backed away and called the police. So when officers entered the room, they found Amy Pitson with her throat slit and there was also slashes to her arm. They initially believed they were dealing with a homicide because sharp force constitutes to only 2 to 3% of all self inflicted deaths, deaths in developed countries. However, they could see though, that the room had no sign of forced entry. It had been locked with that security chain. And again, the window in the room didn't have any sign that someone had come in or out that way. So they realized at this point that they were dealing with a suicide man.

[Mike]

Throat slit, that is. I, I don't know if I've ever heard that for terrible self harm. I mean, you hear about the wrists all the time, right? That's crazy.

[Allison]

So based on the evidence in the room, investigators were able to establish that Amy had gotten undressed. She climbed into the bathtub and she began slashing at her arm with a box cutter. And likely growing desperate and impatient, she then climbed out of the tub. She stood in front of the mirror in the main area of the room, which is why the housekeeper was able to see her. When she opened the door, she wasn't in the bathroom. And at this point she slit her throat and she eventually collapsed to the floor. So Amy's sister Kara, she was living in Washington state at the time. And that Saturday she had gone to the beach and she'd left her cell phone in the car. So after she spent her time at the beach, she came back to her car and picked up her phone and realized that she had missed a slew of phone calls from her mom. So when she called her back, this was when she learned the devastating news. And you're not just hearing that your sister has taken her own life wife, but that her nephew is missing. And no one Knows where he is.

[Mike]

Yeah, I know. I mean, I can already guess that she killed him somewhere. She was saying goodbye to him by taking him to all his favorite places and then killing him. And then she couldn't live with herself, so she killed herself. Like, this is such a horrible, horrible situation.

[Allison]

So as investigators continued to process the motel room, they found little signs that Tim had even been in the room. And it's likely Tim had never been in that hotel room, or I should say motel. So once they were able to establish Amy's movements from Wednesday on, they found none of the toys or the new clothing that she had purchased for him along the way. Tim's Spider man backpack was also gone. So the only thing in the room that belonged to him was a T shirt that Amy had purchased for him while they were at Brookfield Zoo together. And that was on Wednesday. So they found Amy's driver's license, Tim's ID card, and a five sentence suicide note on the desk where Amy had even apologized to the housekeeper for the bloody mess that she left behind. So according to Kara, the note went on to say something to the effect of, I'm sorry. I know this will be hard on all of you, but in time, you'll get over it and you'll move on. I just don't feel like I've ever belonged in the world. And I felt that for a long time. I belong with Timothy. But in the end, that wasn't even enough.

[Mike]

Enough.

[Allison]

I need to go and I've taken him somewhere and he's with people who will love him and care for him, but you will never see him again.

[Mike]

Yeah, she killed him. Definitely.

[Allison]

Big fat BS, in my opinion. So when she mentioned Jim in the notes, she only expressed anger toward him. She called him a loser and other derogatory words.

[Mike]

Man, that would suck reading that.

[Allison]

So it was very clear to Jim that his wife was. Was focused on hurting him far more than she had been hurt by taking their son away from him. Because obviously, Tim is this miracle child who was just everything to them. So what more could be hurting him than having that person removed from his life and not knowing where he was? So those who loved Amy and Tim were left to wonder if she actually left him with someone. Or had Amy done the unthinkable? Had she killed her own child and then concealed his body somewhere?

[Mike]

Yep. 100.

[Allison]

So although Cara realized that her sister struggled with depression, she really didn't realize the extent because a lot of the times when people are struggling, they keep it to themselves. You know, there's a lot hidden behind the mask of a smile. She admits that Amy had tried to take her life twice before. So once before she met Jim, she drove her car to the railroad tracks. And I guess she was contemplating pulling her car out onto the tracks, but at the last minute, she changed her mind and she admitted herself to a hospital.

[Mike]

That's got to be so, so hard to live with. It's like every single day is a struggle.

[Allison]

I, I really, my heart breaks for people that struggle with depression.

[Mike]

I'm so sorry. And I know we said earlier, you know, not everybody with depression is able to kill their child, you know, and I'm not saying that at all. But I mean, if there is a possibility of violence or some sort, like this is, this was the one, you

[Allison]

know, I mean, no one would have ever imagined that Amy could have harmed her child a million years.

[Mike]

Like, I don't believe her soul would have wanted that, probably. You know, I hope, I hope no soul would actually want that. But, like, whatever functioning in her brain just like, wasn't firing. Right. You know?

[Allison]

Well, and I'll tell you in a little bit what investigators think it was. So the second time she tried to take her life was when she was actually dating Jim. So everything, all of this happened before Timothy was born. So apparently her and Jim had gotten into an argument, and she had taken a bunch of sleeping pills, and she was out at this park and she fell to the bottom of a ravine. And according to Cara, when this happened, a fisherman just so happened to find Amy. And not only had she broken a bone in her back, but she was also hypothermic. And had this fisherman not just come upon her, no doubt she would have died. And Amy spent the next two weeks recovering at a hospital. So prior to meeting and marrying Jim, Amy had three failed marriages. And after she married Jim, he admitted that there was an incident where he found out she was talking to one of her ex husbands. And he told her, you are free to make your choice, but I will be getting custody of our son. So according to Kara, Amy did worry about losing custody of Tim. And this was an idea that she was just, just unable to handle. So in the days after Amy's death, two letters arrived in the mail. One was to a friend, and another was to her mom, Alana Anderson. And to her mother, she wrote, I can't take the chance of Jim hurting Tim because of my choices. And honestly, I don't think that Jim was, from what I read in all my research, that he was capable of harming. His child.

[Mike]

Yeah, that was how her own brain wanted to process everything thing.

[Allison]

So the FBI and the national center for Missing and Exploited Children quickly got involved in the search for six year old Tim. Amy's blue Ford Expedition was just left sitting there outside of the motel room. And there was what FBI agents described as a concerning amount of blood inside of that car. And it was in the back seat. So when the results came back, it proved that this was Tim's blood.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Allison]

So they also recovered soil, grass and minerals from the tires, the undercarriage of the car, as well as the sideboards. Because they were hoping that this analysis could pinpoint the areas in question that she may have gone to that could then lead to finding Tim. So investigators poured over the notes, the phone calls that Amy made while she and Tim were gone, as well as evidence that was left behind to determine was Tim somewhere else or had something terrible happened to him. So they did find over the counter children's medicine in the motel room. Despite the fact that all evidence concludes though, that Tim hadn't been in that motel room. But they, she had the, the medicine on her. And this is something she could have potentially used to sedate him because apparently whatever medication it was had drowsy effects to it. So it's possible that she gave him this medicine so that he would be sleepy and more vulnerable to whatever it was that she did to him. So Amy's cell phone was missing, but it had pinged off of a tower five miles northwest of Sterling, Illinois, between 12 and 1:30pm on Friday. This was one day before her body was found in that motel room. And this is possibly the last location she and Tim had been at together. So with this information, investigators began searching state parks, wooded areas, all in the surrounding locations from where this last ping happened. But there was no sign of Tim. Not only had Amy turned off and gotten rid of her cell phone, but she had also gotten rid of her Illinois tollway I pass so that her car couldn't be tracked. So seven hours after her phone was turned off and stopped pinging and she got rid of it, she was seen alone on surveillance at Sullivan's Foods grocery store in Winnebago, Illinois. She was buying Ritz crackers and milk at about 8pm on Friday. Again, she is by herself in this footage. So whatever happened to Tim happened before this point. And this was not far from the motel where she was later found.

[Mike]

Oh, so this is like. Well, after she had talked to Charles,

[Allison]

the uncle, about seven hours.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Allison]

Yes. So the store is only maybe 55 miles from where she made the phone calls to the police and family. This was Sterling, Illinois, is where she had made all those phone calls. And now she's seen on surveillance in Winnebago, Illinois.

[Mike]

I almost feel sorry to cut you off. I feel like she was planning on doing something to Tim right after she talked to Charles. It was like a proof of life. Yeah, you want to talk to him? Here he is. Yeah, he's good. He's a little hungry. Okay. I'm about to kill him. Like in her head.

[Allison]

Right. So basically the point is from where her phone cut off and where she was seen on surveillance is only 55 miles away. But what happened in that nearly seven hour phone, you know, time frame? What did she do? So police believe that whatever happened to Tim happened during this time frame. Although the drive from Sterling to Winnebago was an Easy1 along I88 and I39, investigators theorized that she likely chose to drive along the back roads that twist and turn through hundreds of farms, past state parks and open spaces that truly amount to thousands of square miles to search where Timothy could potentially be.

[Mike]

Yeah, and I get in Illinois, there's nothing but like cornfields out there. We used to go to college out into Kelb, which is, you know, this is even further than out there. So like you could pick a random field and go dig a hole and it would be years before something.

[Allison]

Yeah. You would never find it. And even just the suburbs of Chicago, like I grew up in Homer township or Lockport, Illinois. To this day, it's still a lot of farms and stuff. Yeah, like we'll go visit, we'll go back to see everybody. And I'm like, man, it's still underdeveloped. There's like no traffic. Whereas here in the Tampa suburbs, if there's a plot of land, something's being

[Mike]

built on it, usually a storage space.

[Allison]

So lots and lots of land to be searched. Ton. If you're an H VAC technician and a call comes in, Grainger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Tons and tons beyond. What could, you know, be reasonable it's like a needle in a haystack. So it's very unlikely that Tim went to Winnebago with his mom at 7:25pm on that Friday. Amy purchased a pen, paper and envelopes at the Family Dollar. And then she walked next door to Sullivan Foods, which is where she was seen on surveillance. And then about three hours later, she checked into the Rockford Motel alone. She used her real name and her address and she requested a non smoking single room and she paid $40 in cash. So in the grocery store surveillance. Oh, and just real quick too, the lady who worked at the motel and checked her in said she did not at all seem stressed or frazzled. She was very calm, cool and collected, just as she appeared in the footage on Sullivan's Foods.

[Mike]

And she was not with Tim at this point.

[Allison]

She was not with Tim.

[Mike]

So she had probably most likely just killed her son and still not frazzled at all.

[Allison]

So in the grocery store surveillance, she wore different clothing than what she was seen wearing in the early ocean earlier video. Excuse me. When she was still with Tim. This is clothing. So the clothing she was seen on surveillance at Sullivan's Foods has never been found.

[Mike]

Yeah, because it was covered in blood mostly.

[Allison]

Right. So it's possible that she disposed of it in order to conceal a crime. But in the video, it's not like she was walking around the grocery store with visible blood all over her. Maybe it was a little bit, but you, no one was like, what's that lady doing? So based on the blood that was found in the back of the car, this was highly possible because otherwise why would she take the time to get rid of the clothing she was wearing in that video? So after Amy got back to her car in the parking lot, she sat inside of her car for some time. And Cara believes that her sister was contemplating what she would write in her suicide note, as well as the notes that she later mailed from the post office that was situated just across the street street from where she was sitting. So Jim turned to the media in hopes of spreading the word about his missing son so that if another family did have him, they would contact authorities or himself. So authorities hired a scientist, Skip Helahnick, who worked to help find Gary Ridgeway. This is a man that came to be known as the Green River Killer. So using advanced infrared microscopic micros microscopy.

[Mike]

Come on.

[Allison]

Microscopy. So this guy, Skip Pelahnik, he discovered hundreds of microscopic spheres of Imran paint on the clothing of six of Ridgeway's victims around Seattle. So because this type of Paint was very rare and exclusively used with a Kenworth truck factory where Ridgeway just so happened to work as a paint dealer. This is how he was tied to his crimes. So when Pelinick visited Washington, a Washington crime Lab back in 1985, to train staff members in discovering microscopic trace evidence, he offered his assistance in the case. But sadly, they turned him down. And it wasn't until 17 years later that they picked up the phone and said, hey, Skip, we need your help.

[Mike]

It. Was it because of cost or was it just like, no, we don't need the help. We got this.

[Allison]

I think it was probably, yeah, we don't need the help. We got this.

[Mike]

If it was like, listen, this guy costs like $7 million. We just don't have it in the budget. I get that. But if it's like, no, I want to help, and you're like, nope, then somebody should probably get in trouble for that.

[Allison]

So in the meantime, Ridgeway was able to commit more murders. So his murder spree. Crazy. It went on from 1982. He wasn't caught until 2001. He was arrested on November 30, 2001. He was convicted on. On 49 counts. 49 counts. A lot of first degree murder. All of his victims were female. He is suspected of killing more than 90 women.

[Mike]

I was gonna say, if it's 40, you found them for sure. There's definitely more.

[Allison]

And we're talking on Wikipedia, they list the victim's names and the dates when they were last seen.

[Mike]

That's probably worth an episode.

[Allison]

Crazy. I mean, we're talking days in between murders. Insane. And you look at the sky and think, holy crap. Crap, you did this. So in Tim's case, Skip Helahnick focused on soil samples from Amy's SUV that were found on both the inside and outside of the car, specifically on the back passenger seat where Tim's blood had been found. So he determined that the soil had been wet. And in the hours leading up to Amy's suicide, that makes sense because it had been raining. So based on the mud that was found on the undercarriage of the car, it was clear that she had driven off road. So the fact that seven hours went by in that gap of time of 55 miles, investigators are theorizing she took all these back ways, that this. The land is just sprawling. And not only did she do that, but she also had driven off road. I mean, what does that tell you? She was disposing of her son's body at that point. Yeah. So Pelahniuk found An unusual mineral that's called anhydrite. And based on its perfect condition, it had been recently mined. I actually saw a picture of it under the microscope. So anhydrite can be found in gravel that's used by construction crews who spray it along the sides of roads that are being paved. So that's helpful information, because then they can start to look at were some roads that she potentially drove down recently paved. There is one woman who thinks she knows based on everything. In this case, she has this field that she herself. She's just a mother herself, and she feels for this family. She has been searching and searching and searching this field. Thus far, she has not found anything.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Allison]

So according to forensic psychiatrists who have studied cases of what is known as altruistic filicide. So this is the mindset they believe Amy was in. When a parent rationalizes that killing their child is in the best interest of the child. These cases are often associated with suicide. And these parents have the mindset that they do not want to leave their child to face the cruel world alone, so they murder them before taking their own life. And the reason why Amy may have looked so composed in the motel when she was checking in, as well as on the surveillance video, is that she may have rationalized that she was actually doing the right thing for her son.

[Mike]

That's so gross and disgusting. And I know. It's like. It's like. It's, like, so lame and weak. I know, I know. And there's. It's a mental illness. I know that. But it's like, you have to, like, get yourself. Your mind, right? To be able to kill your own son. And it's like, it's such a victim. It's like a putting things in other areas mindset. Like, if we just blame ourselves for things, like, let's just, like, take responsibility, right?

[Allison]

We just watched the Elizabeth Smart documentary, and the lunatic who abducted her was rationalizing everything he did as from the word of God, Right? Like, this is what you're telling yourself.

[Mike]

The. The power in blaming yourself for everything. It sounds like it's terrible, right? But the power in it is you can change things, right? If you put it in somebody else, like, oh, it's because of his dad. He's gonna be in a terrible spot, and I'm just gonna kill him because it's gonna be better for him. It's like, no, you know what? You can put him in a better spot. You can go do something about it. Maybe you can divorce him and whatever. Like, if you feel Powerless then yeah, I get. And she's not thinking rationally. Obviously she's not but it's like we need more, just take more things on ourselves because we can make things change. Right.

[Allison]

We don't have to like just blame game. Right. So sadly time continued on and there was still no sign of Tim while the media began moving on to covering newer stories. However, In April of 2019, this is a little bit more than eight years after Tim was last seen. A 911 call was placed 342 miles away on the border of Ohio and Kentucky. And a frantic 14 year old boy told dispatchers that he had been kidnapped by two people who had been holding him against his will since 2011. He identified himself as Timothy Pitson. So Jim recalls the moment that he got this phone call from his sister who just so happened to be watching the news and seeing this. So the boy was found distraught by passersby who called 911 claiming that he escaped his kidnappers at a Red Roof Inn. So after he indicated that he had been trafficked and passed around, he was taken to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital for a medical evaluation. And he described his captors as white men who looked like bodybuilders. One had a spider tattoo on his neck and the other had a snake tattoo on his arm. So while investigators waited for DNA results to come back, they spoke with the boy about simple facts that hadn't been shared with the media, that really only Timothy himself would know if it was truly him. So when police asked him about the pets that he had when he lived with his mom and dad, he said that he didn't have any pets and this wasn't true. I think I said he had a dog and, and four cats.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean obviously you know, a lot of trauma so who knows if he can remember things. But again this is also sounds very far fetched.

[Allison]

So he also declined to have his fingerprints taken, which is concerning because you know if you who you say you are, you'd want to be found.

[Mike]

Right.

[Allison]

He, you know, also had his DNA samples taken and when the FBI got the results back it confirmed he was not Timothy Pittson or kid.

[Mike]

I mean he's looking for something, right?

[Allison]

Yeah. And so I'm watching this and I'm like that kid doesn't look 14.

[Mike]

What ski older looks like I have

[Allison]

a 14 year old. We have a 14 year old. She's yours too, right?

[Mike]

Correct.

[Allison]

I think so. And I'm like that is not a 14 year old. So the boy in question was actually Brian Reaney, who was 23 years old and had only just been released from prison for burglary and vandalism charges. And there's a big difference between a 23 year old and a 14 year old.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

So according to his estranged brother Jonathan, his brother had not been taking his prescribed psychiatric medications. And apparently Brian watched a TV show about Timothy, and since that time, he had just gotten obsessed about him and decided that he wanted to be him. So Reenie pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and he was given a two year sentence until he was released to his father's custody in May of 2022. So obviously Jim was just destroyed by this because he was holding out hope that this could be his child. So in 2021, 10 years after his sister's death and. Or, excuse me, 10 years after her sister's death and her nephew's disappearance, Kara decided to to retrace her sister's steps from the point of when Amy took Tim out of school on Wednesday, May 11, 2011, in hopes that maybe she could find some answers or some clues.

[Mike]

Oh, you hadn't. So she hadn't done that yet?

[Allison]

No. She wanted to maybe like get into the mindset that her sister could have

[Mike]

been in and see if something speaks to her.

[Allison]

Right. So a few years after Amy's death, a couple actually found her cell phone. She had ditched it behind this grain storage facility off of a highly remote road on the border of Illinois and Iowa. We're talking this is farm country. My brother had a baseball tournament in Davenport, Iowa. And I remember we were making the drive from Illinois and it's like nothing is there. So this is in Pleasant Valley Township. And Cara realized that this was actually a place that she and her sister had previously driven by. So it's odds are Amy had gone to these locations before, at least had some knowledge of them to say, okay, this is where I'm going to ditch my cell phone. So it was somewhere between Sterling and Mount Carroll, Illinois when Amy made her phone calls to family members. This was between 12 and 1:30pm on Friday, May 13, 2011, one day before her body was found. We know at this point in time, Tim was still with her. And her phone, either it went dead or she turned it off and then she tossed it behind this grain storage building so that she could no longer be tracked from this point. So obviously she didn't want to be tracked after this point because she was going to do whatever she was going to do with Tim. So Kara believes from here her sister drove north on Route 78 towards Dubuque, Iowa. This is a place her family often traveled when they were children. In the early 1990s, Amy had even lived with her grandparents in this area for a period of time. So she knew the location, but also she knew people who lived in the area. So it is Kara's belief that she could have potentially handed Tim over to another family. And she wants to believe that her nephew is alive and well.

[Mike]

Except there was Tim's blood all over the back seat.

[Allison]

I will tell you just about that. You actually segued me to this point. So in regards to the large amount of blood, there was a potential explanation for it. It Cara said that Tim had been prone to nosebleeds, and he actually had had a significant nosebleed before he vanished. And Jim confirmed this. Yes, he did have a recent nosebleed, and he described the blood as gushing out of his face. So blood found on the box cutter that Amy utilized to take her own life had none of Tim's blood on it. So she had not used that instrument to harm her son. So, like Kara, Jim also believes that his wife handed their son over to a loving person or people before she took her own life and feels in his heart that his son is still alive. And however, I will tell you, when investigators poured over all of Amy's electronic devices, they found absolutely no arrangements regarding a secret adoption. So Jim last laid eyes on his son when Timothy was 6 years old. He was in kindergarten. Yet this October 18th will mark his 22nd birthday. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, please contact the aurora Police at 630-256-5516. And as of December 31, 2024, there were 25493 active missing children records in the FBI's National Crime Information Center. And this number accounts for active cases at a specific point in time. Rather than the total number of children that were reported missing, this number is far larger. In 2024, that amounted to 349, 557. That is a lot of children. So despite the years of extensive searches, tips, false leads, there has never been one single confirmed sighting of Timothy Pitson after the day that he disappeared. That Friday was the last day he has ever been seen. Despite Amy's note, which indicated that he was safe and being cared for, there has been no evidence to support this for his family. That's left behind. The pain isn't just loss. It's the not knowing. They have no answers, no closure. Just a child that, in their mind, is frozen in Time as a six year old kindergartener. And that is the case of the disappearance of Timothy Pittson.

[Mike]

So incredibly sad. And it's easy for people like us, you know, people listening to true crime to be like, oh, that kid's dead. You know, but it's like you. We don't know, man. We can, you know, it's, it's, it's possible, like even. Yeah, all these stories we hear, most of them end terribly. But every once in a while, sometimes the person is alive and sometimes they're out there and I, you know, I would do the same. You know, you got to be optimistic. And worse, hope beyond hope that someday your son comes home. Right.

[Allison]

I mean, I don't blame Jim or Cara. My heart breaks for them. I watched a special on this case and Jim was interviewed the whole time. And the pain on his face is heartbreaking, you know, brings tears to my eyes. I'm the type of person, if I see someone cry, I'm gonna start crying.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

So it's just, it's tragic, the not knowing where your child could be. If he's alive, if he's dead. Said, how did he die? Where is he? But, you know, I understand nosebleeds. It would probably gush out, maybe get on your lap. But the significant amount of blood they found in that car was the nosebleed. That excess excessive and extensive.

[Mike]

Can't the like police like the blood splatter? People say, like, no, this is more than a nosebleed.

[Allison]

It's just, you know, is, as the

[Mike]

father, you're like, well, yeah, hopefully it was the nosebleed. Right. You want it? And I don't blame him. Like, you gotta try to keep some positive composure.

[Allison]

Of course. And I mean, it is interesting that he had, he was prone to nosebleeds. You know, did he have a, a couple back there? And that was the blood? Because, you know, our kids have never had a nosebleed, so their blood in extensive amounts in our car would not make sense. But the fact that they could make sense of it, you know, gives some hope that maybe it was the nosebleeds.

[Mike]

Yeah, but I mean, out of all these stories we've ever heard, this sounds like something unfortunately very, very terrible probably happened.

[Allison]

Well, and not to mention, Cara has retraced her sister's steps in the logical area she would have driven to. Tim's information has been spread to all those locations. Someone would have seen him. Unless he was being held captive in the house and not allowed to leave. You know, if he was going to School. If he was going to grocery stores, someone would have seen him, right?

[Mike]

Yeah. And I want to hear from the people listening to this or watching, like put in the comments, if you're on Spotify or YouTube, that you think that little Tim's still alive somewhere. I mean, obviously we know. Probably, maybe, probably not. I mean, that's where I'm leaning.

[Allison]

Obviously my heart is sadly saying I do not think he's still alive.

[Mike]

Yeah, leave us some comments. And I don't know, man, like the other thing I thought randomly, like we don't hear about nosebleeds as much anymore. Do you remember like in the 90s or in 80s, like a lot of people had nosebleeds. I don't know if it was just me.

[Allison]

I don't know. I mean, I've only had like maybe two in my life. And one was because we were like, I didn't sleep for like 48 hours because we drove from Illinois to Florida and I was delirious.

[Mike]

And you had a lot of cocaine that night.

[Allison]

Okay. Yeah. So what do they call that? The devil's dandruff?

[Mike]

Some. I don't call it anything, cuz I don't touch it.

[Allison]

Well, Mike, I've never touched it either, you jackass.

[Mike]

Real quick. So Amy, I want to really, really judge Amy, but there's also that line of mental illness, right? So I, I just wish that she could have just let him be. Obviously everybody wishes that they, she could just whatever she needed to do with herself, you know, that's, that's on her. But just leave your kids alone, man. Like, if you're struggling with like mental health, please just like any, like, don't touch a child. Please don't ever, ever, ever harm a child. You're never helping them, ever, ever, ever, ever by harming them.

[Allison]

And you know, talk to somebody, get help. And I can't imagine the dark space you'd be in to be in that mindset, but please just know that people actually do care for you more than you. I watch all sorts of videos on Instagram and you see people going to great length to, to protect other people. And that's when it's like, oh, wow, humanity actually is a beautiful thing.

[Mike]

And this community too. Like, if you're struggling with something, go ahead and like leave a comment somewhere. Like our, our community is pretty awesome. Coffee couple. Everybody's very supportive. So we, we appreciate like all of you guys. You know, we're just a little Bond PA podcast.

[Allison]

I'm PA and I'm on our cups if you're watching on YouTube, prove that.

[Mike]

It says it right there. That's proof. So.

[Allison]

So, you know, and you can look at the things that Amy did after she took Tim out of school. She took him to all of his favorite locations. And you could say, was this because she knew what she was going to do to him, that she was going to end his life and she wanted him to have a good time? Or, or did she view it as her last time with him, she was going to pass him off to another family and she just wanted to do fun things. You could look at that either way.

[Mike]

I could. But there would probably be some kind of proof that she was talking with somebody.

[Allison]

Well, and then that whole like altruistic filicide thing where those two things can oftentimes go hand in hand.

[Mike]

And I know there's a lot probably behind the scenes we don't know about the relationship between the husband and wife.

[Allison]

Right, right. And you know, you can't ever judge what's going on behind doors because nobody knows the truth behind a relationship. You and I are pretty darn transparent in black and white. There's nothing weird going on the scenes behind the scenes here.

[Mike]

Yeah, you guys kind of know us if you're watching the show or listen to us. If you listen to all of our episodes, you pretty much know exactly who we are.

[Allison]

Like, that's exactly. We're not hiding anything. There's nothing dark happening here. And our sister in law, she shared a fun statistic with us that Mike and I are high school sweethearts. We met when we were 16 and only 2% of. Of people end up marrying their high school sweethearts. Less than 2%, it says.

[Mike]

So you're. We're dealing with statistics here. I don't, I can't say the exact words.

[Allison]

It's less than 2%. And of those less than 2%, more than 54% end up divorcing before 10 years of marriage. And we have made it almost 24 years.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Allison]

Let's just high five, Mike.

[Mike]

So far, so good. Just don't screw anything up. It's not.

[Allison]

Don't screw it up.

[Mike]

It's not going to be you or me.

[Allison]

It's going to be you. Trust me, it's going to be you for sure. It's gonna be you.

[Mike]

It's gonna be me. Thank you so, so much for listening. We greatly appreciate all of you. We say it every time, but it's because it's true. So, you know, if you don't like it, then I'm sorry.

[Allison]

All right. So on that note, until next time, bye.

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