The Latest: Grandma of missing boy has her fingers crossed

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Latest on xxxxxxx (all times local):

10:50 a.m.

The grandmother of an Illinois boy missing since 2011 says she’s trying not to get her hopes up after hearing that he might be alive.

Speaking from her home in northern Illinois, Alana Anderson says “there have been so many tips and sightings and what not and you try not to panic or be overly excited.”

Authorities are trying to confirm the identity of a 14-year-old boy told police in Newport, Kentucky, that he escaped two kidnappers in the Cincinnati area and ran across a bridge. He said his name is Timmothy Pitzen.

In 2011, then-6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen’s mother killed herself, leaving a note saying her son was fine but that no one would ever find him.

Anderson says her daughter was having problems with her fourth marriage and had battled depression for years.

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8:30 a.m.

Authorities are trying to confirm the identity of a teenager who told police he is an Illinois boy missing since 2011.

A 14-year-old boy told police in Newport, Kentucky, on Wednesday that he escaped two kidnappers in the Cincinnati area and ran across a bridge. He said his name was Timmothy Pitzen.

In 2011, then-6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen’s mother picked him up at school in Illinois, took him to the zoo and a water park, and later killed herself at a hotel, leaving a note saying her son was fine but that no one would ever find him.

Police from Aurora, Illinois, sent two detectives to the Cincinnati area, where the FBI and local police are investigating. The boy was taken to a hospital, but no information was released.