AURORA, Ill., May 29 (UPI) -- A national missing children center is urging searchers in Illinois to stay vigilant for a 6-year-old boy missing since his mother committed suicide.
Officials from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Virginia are urging the public to keep watching for the Aurora 6-year-old whose mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen committed suicide in a Rockford, Ill., hotel around May 13.
Fry-Pitzen left a note saying her son was left with unnamed people, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday.
"There are a lot of people out there that think that if you don't find the child in 24 hours, or in two weeks, that you won't find the child. That's just not true," said Ernie Allen, president of the center.
The center is working with local, state and federal authorities to find Timmothy Pitzen who is described as 4-feet, 2-inches tall, weighing about 70 pounds with brown eyes.
Aurora police say the next organized search is scheduled after Memorial Day and will surround a cell phone tower and the small northwest Illinois town of Sterling, the last location to receive a cell phone signal from Fry-Pitzen.
"We're trying to send a message that there is hope," Allen said. "Our firm belief is that somebody out there knows something and they'll come forward."
