UPDATE: Eaton police said Scottie Morris has been found safe.
EATON, Ind. — Police have once again come up empty-handed in the search for missing 14-year-old Indiana boy Scottie Morris.
The teen disappeared on Thursday night from Eaton, a small town just north of Muncie. For days now, search parties have been combing through the small town with no luck.
“Right now we’ve checked everywhere we could possibly think of,” Eaton Police Chief Jay Turner said.
Turner said at this point they don’t see anything criminal about Scottie’s disappearance. However, his parents have been looked into and were given polygraph examinations.
“We’ve done several investigations, several interviews, and all that,” Turner explained. “We’re just trying to check all avenues. We’re not taking anybody off the table right now.”
In the first days after Scottie went missing, police searched vacant homes in the small town and have since started shifting resources to surrounding wooded areas.
On Monday, volunteer searchers trekked through several square miles of woods along the Mississinewa River, but still no sign of Scottie.
“It’s a good thing we didn’t find him,” said volunteer Buck Caudill. “Hopefully he’s harbored up somewhere and he’s safe.”
An incident command has been set up at police headquarters where agencies from around the state have come in to assist. Chief Turner said they’ve run out of places to look.
“He’s either been picked up by somebody and no longer in Eaton,” Turner said. “The only other thing I can think of is the schools are on break this week, and maybe a family went out of town and he went to their house.”
Chief Turner also addressed rumors on social media that he called “ridiculous” and “horrendous.”
One of these rumors is that Scottie’s parents shaved his head as a punishment, which Chief Turner said was not true. However, he confirmed they are looking into a shirt Scottie was wearing the night he disappeared which contained writing on the front as a kind of punishment.
“No matter what you think about how discipline was done there, that’s something we’re checking into,” Turner said. “I would ask that you please respect them.”
On Tuesday, Chief Turner said officers will be doing another sweep of vacant homes in the town. After that, they will reconvene and decide how to proceed from there.
“The thing is, it’s such a small town and he was just gone so quick,” Turner said. “Without any new tips or any new leads, it’s getting tiring.”
Anyone with any information on Scottie’s whereabouts is asked to call the Eaton Police Department at 765-396-3297.