Missing Maple Park teen found safe, reunited with parents

A missing Maple Park teen was found safe in Genoa and reunited with his family, police said.

Police had been searching for the 14-year-old since he went missing early Monday, July 29. Maple Park Police Chief Randy Endean had said that based on a note he left for his parents, police considered him an endangered runaway.

“He is no longer missing, and the outcome was positive,” Endean said.

Maple Park and Genoa police, along with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, had combined efforts to find him, as they had information that the missing boy was in Genoa, Endean said.

By Thursday, Aug. 1, the boy reached out to his stepmother, who then contacted Endean, who still was in Genoa looking for him.

“We were finally able to locate him, and he was finally wiling to give up his running,” Endean said. “We were able to meet with him at the Subway in Genoa by my agreement to purchase him a sandwich because he was hungry. ... I developed a positive rapport with him so he would not run away again.”

The boy ate a 6-inch sandwich and drank a soda while sitting in the Genoa-Kingston Fire Protection District ambulance – getting some much-needed air conditioning, Endean said

From there, the boy was taken to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, where he was evaluated before reuniting with his parents, Endean said.

“I am appreciative of the communities of Genoa and Maple Park that came together, with the Kane County sheriff patrol and investigation divisions and Genoa officers,” Endean said. “I was up in their town, on foot and in a car, spending many hours of great concern looking for this young man. I’m very appreciative of all the residents who were equally concerned to continually call if they had a sighting. One of the fathers of one of the children we talked to was also searching because he was deeply concerned.”