LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — A man has told police that he may be a Detroit boy reported missing by his mother at a suburban shopping mall a quarter-century ago.
The man, whose name has not been released, told police in the suburb of Livonia that he believes he is D’Wan Sims, whose mother said she last saw him Dec. 11, 1994, at Wonderland Mall, WDIV-TV reported.
He has given police a sample of his DNA. Police have not released any information about where he says he has been for the past 25 years or why he has finally come forward.
“I guess what’s odd is that he claimed that he didn’t want any of this information out in the media and from what I understand he has put this out on social media,” Livonia police Capt. Ron Taig said.
D’Wan now would be 29. He still is listed as missing on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children website.
Dwanna Harris told police that D’Wan disappeared while they were shopping just before Christmas. Surveillance video showed Harris inside the mall, but there were no images of D’Wan.
“I was here at the department and we looked at all of the video, we checked everything, and we never saw D’Wan” with his mother, Taig said.
Sgt. Shelley Holloway told the Detroit Free Press in 2009 that investigators were “pretty confident D’Wan never made it to Wonderland Mall.”
Harris told reporters in 1994 that her son was 4 and that “he’s alone and he needs to come home to his mother.”
“The only thing that I want the public to know, is that my only concern is finding my son,” Harris said. “Whoever has my baby, I know he’s safe, and I know you’re taking good care of him … What I’m hoping is that someone may have ran across my child. We’ve got your Christmas ready, so, just come home.”
The Associated Press left a message at the police department seeking comment on the case. The Detroit Free Press reported in 2009 that D’Wan’s mother had changed her name and moved to North Carolina.
A similar case regarding a man claiming to be a long missing child made headlines earlier this year.
In April, Brian Michael Rini claimed he was 14 and told police in Kentucky that he was Timmothy Pitzen, an Aurora, Illinois, boy who disappeared in 2011 at age 6. Authorities said Rini told them he escaped captors who sexually abused him.
Federal authorities said they were suspicious after Rini refused to be fingerprinted. DNA testing quickly revealed his true identity. Rini had been released from a state prison in March after serving more than a year on burglary and vandalism charges. Prison records show he was accused of making up stories during his time there.
When confronted with the DNA results, Rini said he’d watched a story about Timmothy on ABC’s “20/20” and wanted to get away from his own family, the FBI said. Authorities said he twice earlier portrayed himself in Ohio as a juvenile victim of sex trafficking.
He faces trial next year on charges of aggravated identity theft and lying to FBI agents.
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