A Northern California teenager, missing for over two-and-a-half years, was found in Utah last weekend and has been reunited with his family, according to multiple reports.
For more, stream KNX News now.
Connerjack Oswalt, 19, was reported missing from his home in Clearlake, Calif. on Sept. 19, 2019 and was last seen one week later in Willows, Calif.
Oswalt, who was diagnosed with Autism in 2014, has a history of running away, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
After multiple years of unsuccessful leads, community members in Park City, Utah, about 38 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, reported seeing an individual pushing a shopping cart in recent weeks, according to KSTU. Deputies checked in on the man multiple times, but because he hadn't committed a crime, they did not learn his name.
Eventually, the Summitt County Sheriff's Office received a call about the same person sleeping outside a shop. Deputies arrived on the scene to find him cold and shivering and convinced him to warm up inside their police car.
While the man did not give officers his name, he did consent to them running a fingerprint scan, which revealed a warrant out of Nevada for a misspelled "Connorjack Oswald."
Authorities suspected there was something more to the situation. They researched through information in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database and eventually found a profile match for Oswalt.
Police contacted his family, which had moved to Idaho after their California home was severely damaged due to wildlife. They had been searching for him ever since he went missing in 2019, and dealt with a lot of "false hope," his stepfather, Gerald Flint, told KSTU. Upon hearing from law enforcement, Flint drove from the family’s home in Idaho Falls to Park City and was able to confirm Oswalt's identity.
"There wasn't a dry eye in the room and we're talking law enforcement, family members, they've been reunited with this individual they haven't seen for three years when he was 16, he's now 19," Sheriff Martinez told the station.
Oswalt is now safe in a treatment facility and his family told KSTU they are relieved that he is "okay."
"We're just grateful that he's safe and he's alive and we have our son back. That's the most important thing ever for us," his mom Suzanne told the outlet.
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