By Jim Hagerty
Reporter

NEWPORT, KY– The person who told police in Kentucky Wednesday that he is long-missing Timothy Pitzen is not a teen, but a man from Ohio, an FBI spokesman in Louisville said Thursday afternoon.

Authorities say the person who claimed to be Pitzen, who went missing in 2011, is 23-year-old Brian Michael Rini, of Medina, Ohio. The announcement comes about an hour after DNA testing showed the Pitzen is not the person who told police he escaped two muscular kidnappers at an Ohio Red Roof Inn and ran across a bridge into Kentucky.

A woman told police she saw Rini on a Newport street Wednesday morning, and that he asked her to call 911. The woman said his face was bruised.

Police believe at the time Timmothy was reported missing, Amy Fry-Pitzen, 43, picked up the 6-year-old from his school in Aurora and took him to a zoo and water park in Wisconsin before killing herself in a Rockford hotel room on May 15, 2011. Her wrists had been slit.

Fry-Pitzen left a note saying Timmothy was fine but that “no one would ever find him.”

“To be clear, law enforcement has not and will not forget Timmothy, and we hope to one day reunite him with his family. Unfortunately, that day will not be today,” the FBI said in a statement. “The Aurora Police continue to lead the investigation into the Timmothy’s disappearance. The FBI will continue to support this investigation in any way possible. Anyone with genuine information about the case is asked to call the Aurora Police Department at 630-256-5000 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).”

The FBI in Louisville and Cincinnati, along with the Aurora Police Department, Newport Police Department, Cincinnati Police Department, and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, were involved in the investigation.

As of this report, it is not clear whether Rini will face criminal charges. R.