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Missing Ohio Teen Found A Year After Witnessing His Father's Murder
Jacob Caldwell was found living in a home with four adults following a credible tip, police said.
After being missing for more than a year, an Ohio teenager has been found safe, according to multiple reports.
Sugarcreek Police Department Chief Michael Brown said Tuesday that authorities carried out a search warrant at a house in Miami Township in Montgomery County at around 11:30 p.m. on Monday, WKEF in Dayton reports. Police found Jacob in the basement of the home, where four adults were living. Brown said that while the teen was not “secured or locked in” the basement and he could access other parts of the house freely, it seems like he did not go outside or socialize with anyone his age while there, according to WKEF.
While Jacob appeared healthy, if unkempt — authorities suspect he hadn’t had a haircut since he went missing — Brown noted that he didn’t attend school for a year, and basically spent the past 12 months watching TV, playing video games, and sitting inside, according to ABC News. Brown added that he didn’t know if the teen was “traumatized ... someone else is going to have to make that evaluation,” WKEF reports.
Jacob did not resist being taken into custody at the Green County Juvenile Detention Center, where he’s being held on a warrant out of Beavercreek, according to WKEF. As for the adults, who ABC News reports were not relatives but acquaintances of Jacob’s mother, Brown said it’s unclear what charges they’ll face.
Brown said his office received a tip about Jacob’s whereabouts following the posting of new billboards last week. The person who called it in didn’t want to be identified, but Brown said the info they provided “seemed very credible” because of how detailed it was, WKEF reports.
Jacob ran away after he witnessed his father, Robert Caldwell, being shot and killed on August 15, 2017. Robert was killed after recently being granted full custody of his older children from ex-wife Tawnney Caldwell, WRGT reports. In March, authorities announced that six people, including Tawnney, had been indicted for federal crimes. The FBI at one point offered a $15,000 reward for any information about Jacob's whereabouts.
Tawnney Caldwell is currently behind bars, according to ABC News.
[Photo Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation]
