Home / Dallas News / WATCH LIVE TIMMOTHY PITZEN CASE: Brian Rini, man accused of claiming to be missing Aurora boy, charged by FBI

WATCH LIVE TIMMOTHY PITZEN CASE: Brian Rini, man accused of claiming to be missing Aurora boy, charged by FBI

NEWPORT, Ky. — A 23-year-old man who police said claimed he was an Aurora boy missing since 2011 has been charged with lying to a federal agent, authorities announced Friday.

Police in Kentucky said Brian Rini lied about being Timmothy Pitzen when he was found wandering the streets two days ago.

Rini’s brother, Jonathon Rini, said that Brian has mental health issues.

“‘I hope he gets help and I hope he goes to prison for this. Or at least an institution,'” he told WEWS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland.

Jonathon said he has not spoken to his brother in years.

“He’s been doing stupid stuff, not the serious, but stupid stuff for as long as I can remember,” he said.

Brian Michael Rini.

Police in his hometown of Medina, Ohio said he has an extensive criminal history with their department that’s more than nine pages long. Rini was released from an Ohio prison less than a month ago after serving more than a year for burglary and vandalism.

Pitzen’s family members called the events of the last 24 hours “devastating” and said it has been “like reliving that day all over again.” Pitzen’s maternal grandmother said she would pray for Rini and hold out hope that Pitzen is safe.

“To be clear, law enforcement has not and will not forget Pitzen, and we hope to one day reunite him with his family. Unfortunately, that day will not be today,” the FBI said in a statement.

Police in Aurora, the Illinois town where Pitzen went missing, echoed the FBI’s statement: “Although we are disappointed that this turned out to be a hoax, we remain diligent in our search for Timmothy, as our missing person’s case remains unsolved.”

Residents in a Newport, Kentucky, neighborhood — just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati — called police after Rini was found wandering the streets. He approached a woman in a vehicle asking for help.

A woman who stood with the man until police showed up said he looked confused and rattled.

“He looked like he had been beat up, punched in the face a couple of times,” one of the residents said. “You could see the fear on him and how nervous he was and how he kept pacing. He just looked odd.”

From her front window, Felicia Hall’s mother watched.

“One of our neighbors, he came up to one of our neighbors and told him, “Please call the cops, I’m tired. My stomach hurts. I’ve been running for two hours. I’m tired,” Hall said

FBI agents from Louisville and Cincinnati said they were coordinating with the Newport Police Department, Cincinnati Police Department, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Aurora Police Department on a missing child investigation.

Timmothy was last seen at Wisconsin Dells with his mother. Aurora police said they have received hundreds of tips in the nearly eight years since he went missing.

On Wednesday, the man said his kidnappers were two white men with a “body-builder type build” and tattoos, according to a Sharonville (Ohio) Police Department incident report. He said he escaped and kept running across a bridge in Kentucky. They had been staying at a Red Roof Inn, but he said he did not know where.

The report says that the men were driving a “newer model Ford SUV, bearing unknown Wisconsin plates, with a 2nd row, white in color with yellow transfer paint, and a dent on the left back bumper.”

READ: Sharonville PD incident report 

The man was not spotted in Sharonville, but they do have a Red Roof Inn and had been made aware of the incident as investigators searched for all Red Roof Inn hotels in the Cincinnati area.

People in Aurora were hoping the teen is Timmothy Pitzen. Many have been following this case since the boy disappeared from the suburb.

The Melendez family who lives in Timmothy Pitzen’s old home on North Highland in Aurora now bought it from Timmothy’s dad six years ago.

They said they were told Timmothy was missing when they closed on the home and so they decided to keep a portion of the backyard the way it was.

Pedro Melendez said when he re-did his patio, he cut out a two-by-two section of cement where Timmothy made an impression of his hand and footprint. The year when it was made permanent in ’09 remains as well.

“My wife always thought that he’s alive and he’s somewhere and if he knows that it’s there that he can come back and see it,” Melendez said.

Melendez said Wednesday someone knocked on their door to tell them that Timmothy may have been found alive and his wife Jaqueline almost fainted. He said he believes it is him.

TIMMOTHY PITZEN DISAPPEARANCE TIMELINE

On May 11, 2011, surveillance video captured Timmothy’s mother, 43-year-old Amy Fry Pitzen, picking him up from Greenman Elementary School in Aurora. She told the school there was a family emergency.

Police said Pitzen took her son to Brookfield Zoo and to Key Lime Cove in Gurnee. On May 12, they checked into the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells.

Timmothy and his mom were last seen together on the morning of May 13, checking out of the resort.

Police said Pitzen then checked herself into a motel in Rockford, Illinois, that night. She appeared to be alone.

She was found dead on May 14. She had taken her own life.

Police said Pitzen left a suicide note that said, “Tim is somewhere safe with people who love him and will care for him. You will never find him.”

In August 2011, police disclosed they found a “concerning” amount of blood in the back seat of Pitzen’s SUV after her death. Tests showed the blood was Timmothy’s. Authorities also released a video clip of 6-year-old Timmothy playing a make-believe guitar, hoping that the boy’s disappearance would remain in the public eye.

In 2013, Pitzen’s cellphone was recovered from a roadside ditch near Rockford. Police said there was no useful information on the phone.

In 2015, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children released an age progression of what Timmothy would look like at 10 years old. A woman in Rockton, Illinois, thought she saw a boy resembling the image, but it wasn’t him.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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