Missing Highland Park Boy Returned Home

A 12-year-old Highland Park boy missing since last Friday afternoon was found early Monday morning and returned home in good health, police report.

The student ran away from home shortly after he was dropped off by his school bus after school Friday, according to . He went into his house, changed his clothes and took off.

The boy's grandmother and legal guardian called the police a few hours later. Police began an intense search that included help from North Shore and Chicago police officers, Highland Park volunteers and a helicopter.

"It was pretty extensive investigation over a couple of days," Schwarz said Monday.

A collaborative effort

This was the second time the 12-year-old had run away from home. He ran away in January and took a train to the 7900 block of South Shore Drive. Police checked with nearby train stations, checking recorded surveillance videos. They found nothing helpful. They put out a critical reach bulletin that goes to all the police agencies in the area.

"We had a runaway boy and we were concerned, obviously, because of his age," Schwarz said.

The boy's grandmother called relatives in Chicago, but they said they hadn't seen him. Metro police patrolled trains in the city while Highland Park officers checked nearby parks, bike paths and beaches. Edgewood Middle School staff helped police contact the boy's classmates, though none knew where he might be. Police checked nearby hospitals to see if any unidentified children had been brought in.

Then, on Sunday, police used a helicopter borrowed from northern Lake County to scan the area. 

Still, they couldn't find him.

At Navy Pier

On Sunday, members of Highland Park's volunteer-based Community Emergency Response Team began going to local businesses with photos of the boy. No one had seem him.

Then, at 3 a.m. Monday morning, Chicago police found the boy at the Navy Pier. He had taken the train into the city, though little more is known about what else he did in the two and a half days he was missing.

"The grandmother described him as being a street savvy young man capable of taking care of himself," Schwarz said.

Police are currently working with the grandmother, the boy and other social service agencies to "identify underlying issues" that may have caused the boy to run away.

"We do have runaways every now and then, but it's a little unusual for someone this young to do so for an extended period of time," Schwarz said. "That's what concerned us."

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