BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN (PIX11) — A 13-year-old Brooklyn boy who disappeared after taking out the trash late last month returned home on Wednesday and was taken to Brookdale Hospital for evaluation, police said on Monday.
The teen’s mother had flown to New York City from Kansas City, Missouri to search for her son who was staying with his father in Brownsville.
“He went to Harlem on the train,” the boy’s mother told PIX11 News Monday morning. “He rode the train back and forth for four days.”
The mother said the boy, a middle school student, only returned to his father’s house to get some clothing. The 13-year-old had left after a disagreement with his stepmother concerning a basketball team tryout.
“I called his mom and then I called an ambulance to make sure everything was OK,” the father told PIX11 News. “They took him to Brookdale Hospital and discharged him Friday. The mother said she’s going to take him.”
The boy’s mom told PIX11 on Monday that he is back with her, living in Missouri. The boy had been staying with his father for more than a year while she dealt with medical issues in Missouri.
The mom said the boy was not aware the media was publicizing his disappearance after an appeal by the Black and Missing Foundation and, later, the NYPD.
“Thank you for getting his story out,” the mother said to PIX11 News’ Mary Murphy.
The father said he felt badly the boy had left his Brownsville home, where his older brother continues to live along with his younger, half-siblings.
“I wish that I could have him,” the father said. “It hurts because I put my heart into it.”