Missing Since October 5, 2000 from Roseboro, North Carolina Help Find Tristen Myers
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: July 16, 1996
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue eyes. Myers has scars on the left side of his neck and on the top of his head. He has a speech impediment. His leg has been previously broken. Myers's nickname is Buddy. Some agencies spell his first name "Tristan."
Myers may require medical attention, particularly psychiatric attention. He had severe behavioral problems at the time of his disappearance and was thought to be suffering from attention deficit disorder, though the condition had not been formally diagnosed. He is described as emotionally and physically underdeveloped.
Myers moved to Roseboro, North Carolina in August 2000 to live with his great-aunt and great-uncle. He wandered away from his family's residence on October 5, 2000 while his great-aunt was napping and has never been heard from again. Myers was accompanied by his dogs Sasha, a black Doberman puppy, and Buck, a tan three-legged Chihuahua mix, at the time of his disappearance.
An extensive search was conducted in a ten-acre section of wooded land near Myers's home shortly after his disappearance. No evidence concerning his whereabouts was located and the search was scaled down on October 10, five days after he was last seen. Buck returned to Myers's house later that day and the search was resumed, but authorities were unable to locate the child. Sasha walked back to the house on October 14. Neither dog showed any signs of having been in the woods. Myers never returned.
Myers's great-aunt and great-uncle say he was angry and disruptive while he lived with them. He hit other children and bit and scratched himself. He attacked and killed one of their dogs eleven days prior to his disappearance, and was taken to a psychiatric hospital to undergo a battery of tests. Doctors found that Myers was emotionally and physically underdeveloped, but they were unable to do a complete evaluation of him as he could not seem to understand simple directions, and could speak only a few words. Three days after being released from the hospital, Myers wandered away from his guardians' home. A neighbor found him half a mile away at a farm and returned him. Three days after that, he vanished for the final time.
In February 2003, authorities thought Myers had been found when a man named Ricky Quick abandoned a six-year-old boy, whom he said was his son, Eli Quick, at a hospital in Evanston, Illinois. Eli was unkempt, filthy, and generally appeared to be uncared-for. He suffered behavior problems, was unable to answer simple questions about his background, and spoke of several different mothers. Authorities notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, suspecting that he might be a missing child. Eli bore a strong physical resemblance to Myers, and had similar scars and a speech defect like Myers has. However, DNA testing proved conclusively that he and Myers were not the same person. Eli was eventually identified as Timothy Robert Trandel, whose mother, Laura Ann Trandel, had given him to Ricky when he was an infant. Timothy was given over to the care of an aunt afterwards; Laura's parental rights were terminated and Timothy's aunt applied to adopt him. She is already raising several of Laura's other children.
Myers was born in Mississippi, the child of a fifteen-year-old exotic dancer and an unknown father. His mother was killed in March 2004, when she was ejected from a moving vehicle in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Myers's grandparents originally had custody of him, but he was sent to live in North Carolina with other relatives after his grandfather accidentally ran over him with a car while drunk. A year later he went to live with his great-aunt and great-uncle. He disappeared from there.
Authorities believe Myers was probably either abducted by a stranger, or fell into a pond and drowned. His case remains unsolved.
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the Sampson County Sheriff's Office at 910-592-4141.
