The 14-year-old boy who vanished after being dropped off by his brother at school has reportedly been found safe.
The dramatic case of Liam Stark’s disappearance made headlines after he was dropped off at William Floyd High School in Long Island, New York last week but never made his way into the school building.
Stark was taken to school by his brother on the morning of October 17, only for surveillance footage to then show him leaving the grounds and walking to a Dunkin’ Donuts before vanishing.
His family reported the teenager as missing at around 2:30 p.m. local time that same day.
“According to the school’s cameras, he started walking to the school and then you can watch him contemplate if he’s going in or not,” his mom, Christy Stark, told News 12 at the time.
Even more worryingly, the boy was seen wiping away tears before making his decision to leave the school grounds. His mother revealed that he has been going through personal trauma recently, expressing her belief that he was perhaps trying to handle it on his own as opposed to seeking help.
“I think that in a very wounded way, this was his ‘I can make it,’” she said, as per News 12. “I am sending love to him, and I hope he can feel it wherever he is and that it can help him come home.”
Christy said she wasn’t aware Liam was missing until one of his brothers told her he hadn’t seen him on the school bus home. She suggested that maybe the teen was “slouched down in a seat,” but it transpired he hadn’t ever gotten onboard.
“That’s when the alarms went off,” she said, per Patch. “I said, ‘I have to call the police!’ He had all that time to be wandering; we were really late to the game, to find him.”
In a relieving turn of events, Liam and his family were reunited after he was missing for the entire weekend. Christy told Patch that her son had left a message on Monday night, but due to the sheer volume of calls she was dealing with in relation to his disappearance, she didn’t hear it until later.
“He called saying he was in the Bronx and he missed us. When I heard it, I was freaking out,” she said. “My other son was telling me to breathe.”
Christy and Liam’s brother raced to the Bronx, with Liam calling her as they were on the way there. “I kept him on the phone until we got there,” she recalled, according to Patch.
When they arrived, a man standing on the street who’d heard of Liam’s disappearance spotted the missing teen and wanted to help bring him home.
“‘Are you Liam?'” Christy said the man asked her son.
When he realized Christy was Liam’s mother, he reportedly told the teen: “”I’m a father. Your family is always going to be there for you.'”
Christy revealed that Liam had been sleeping on park benches and had called her from a public library. When later asked by hospital staff what had encouraged him to return home, he replied: “‘Because I missed my mom.'”
The mom added: “This happy ending was the result of the amount of love that was shown by so many people. Hold your loved ones closer tonight. Check in on anyone that’s struggling. Keep spreading this love every day. You all showed me the best of humanity.”
Join us in sending prayers to the Stark family. We’re delighted that Liam returned home unharmed.
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