Сops Can’t Trace Boy Who Didn’t Return from School, Week Later Dog Brings Mom His Backpack – Story of the Day

Kate and Justin were terrified when their 8-year-old son Tommy vanished from school. Despite a week of searching, the police had no leads. Then, on the seventh day, their dog found Tommy's school bag with his belongings and a chilling note that said, "FIND HIM IF YOU CAN!"

Kate sat tearfully on the front porch, her Golden Retriever, Max, beside her.

"Max, where is Tommy? What happened to my boy?" she cried, looking at the empty gate her 8-year-old son should've entered hours ago.

Max had gone to fetch Tommy from the bus stop as always, but he'd returned alone. Kate initially thought Tommy's dad, Justin, might have picked him up, but that wasn't the case. Justin was still at work, and a call to the school made Kate realize Tommy had left the campus long ago. Alone.

Kate's anxiety deepened as she continued to stare at the gate. Clutching Tommy's teddy bear, she wept, praying for his return.

Suddenly, a car pulled over outside the gate. It was Justin, back from the police station.

"Justin, did they find Tommy? What did the police say?" Kate asked, trembling.

Justin's face was etched with worry. "They're still looking, Kate. We just have to hold on a little longer."

Kate broke down. "Tommy is just eight, Justin! I'm so worried. Please, find our boy!"

Justin tried to comfort Kate, promising to do everything to bring Tommy back, and they went inside. Sensing the despair, Max curled up on the doormat, waiting for Tommy.

The night wore on, filled with phone calls to friends and family. But no one had any clue about Tommy. Eventually, Justin called his parents, Barbara and Frank.

"Tommy's missing? How could you let this happen?" his mother fumed.

"Mom, this isn't the time. We need to find Tommy," Justin responded, cutting the call short.

Barbara and her husband, Frank, drove to their son's house, distressed over their grandson's disappearance. When they arrived, Barbara confronted Kate, who was sobbing on the couch. "Kate, how could you let this happen? You were supposed to take care of our grandson! How can you be so careless?"

Barbara's words cut deep into Kate's heart.

"I didn't let this happen, Barbara!" Kate retorted in tears. "I can't believe you're blaming me. We need to focus on finding Tommy. Please, just leave me alone!"

As tension filled the house, Kate and Justin consoled each other, hoping for Tommy's safe return. Suddenly, their dog Max barked at the door, and the doorbell rang.

Kate rushed to the door, hoping to see Tommy, but instead, she was greeted by Officer Fredrick and his team.

"Good evening, Mrs. Turner," he said. "We're here for Tommy. Can I come in?"

While struggling with emotions, Kate led the cops inside and recounted Tommy's last moments at home and his journey to school. The officers asked to see Tommy's room, where they found no clues.

"Do you have a recent photograph of your son?" Officer Fredrick asked.

Justin handed over Tommy's photo, and Kate described what her little boy had been wearing the last time they saw him.

The officers and the community launched a thorough search. They interviewed Tommy's classmates, too, who lived in the neighborhood.

"He was happy...told me he was excited about something…" one classmate shared.

"Did he tell you what he was excited about?" Officer Fredrick asked.

"No. The bell rang before that, and we were excited to go home. Tommy was the first one to run out of class."

The cops knocked on another door. Then another. And another. But none of Tommy's friends had any breakthrough to deliver that could help the cops find the boy's whereabouts until they arrived at one last house.

Finally, one of Tommy's friends hesitantly revealed, "He told me he was happy about meeting 'Candyman,' his imaginary friend."

"Jesus, there's nobody called 'Candyman,' Officer...it's a fictional character Justin and I created..." Kate gasped. "Whenever Tommy threw tantrums, we'd tell him that 'Candyman' would not bring him any more candies…to get him to behave."

The night's investigation led to a dead end.

The next day, a tense exchange unfolded in the principal's office as Kate confronted the principal.

"The children are your responsibility. How could you be so careless? My son just vanished from your school in broad daylight!" Kate snapped.

Justin tried to calm her down while the police requested to check the CCTV footage. In the security room, they watched Tommy running in the corridor.

"It's him...that's our Tommy!" Kate exclaimed, pointing at the footage.

Their hope turned to confusion as Tommy was seen entering the gymnasium and leaving through the back door. The principal explained that the door led to a rear courtyard and playground area closed for construction.

In the playground, the parents desperately searched for clues. The cops noticed a partially constructed wall with a gate leading to the main road. They asked construction workers about Tommy, showing his picture, but none recalled seeing him.

Then a young worker approached them. "I think I saw this boy walking through this gate...we were having lunch in the cafeteria, and I came back to get my phone," he said.

The parents, filled with hope, pressed for more details.

"He was alone, looked a little nervous...I saw him walking towards a car, smiling and waving as he approached. He got in, and the vehicle drove away," the worker recounted.

"Do you remember anything about the car? The color or the driver?" Justin pleaded.

"No, I didn't pay much attention. I think it was a white car, but I'm not sure. That's all," the worker replied, leaving Kate and Justin hanging on to a thread of hope.

"Could it be kidnapping?" Justin whispered to Kate. He was an affluent realtor in the city and thought maybe somebody had abducted his son for a ransom. "But why would he approach the car with a smile?"

"Wait, what if our son knew this person? Justin, that's it! That's it! Maybe it's someone he knew...someone we all know who took him? But who?"

However, Officer Fredrick decided not to jump to any hasty conclusions yet, although Kate's assumptions made sense. The cops assured the couple they would continue to search for their son and left it for the department to investigate further.

As days passed, the search intensified but yielded no results. CCTV footage near Tommy's school was unhelpful due to malfunctioning cameras, deepening the mystery.

Kate's despair grew. "Is he even alive?" she cried one day, clinging to Tommy's shirt.

Trying to be strong, Justin reassured her. "He's alright...he'll be home soon." But deep down, Justin had started losing hope, too. Their grief was interrupted when Barbara and her husband apologized for past accusations, sharing in the family's pain.

In the midst of their sorrow, they realized Max was missing.

Frantically searching the neighborhood, they found Max returning with Tommy's backpack, which contained a chilling discovery: a mutilated doll's head with a menacing note reading, "FIND HIM IF YOU CAN!"

Horrified, Justin and Kate rushed to the police station. Seven days had passed since Tommy's disappearance.

Stunned by the evidence, Officer Fredrick called for immediate investigation and backup.

The police combed the area where Max had discovered Tommy's bag but found no additional leads, even with the help of K9 units. The only clue was footage of Max retrieving the bag.

"Please, officers, find our son. We're terrified for Tommy's life after seeing the note and that...doll," Justin pleaded, breaking down.

Kate, numb with shock and despair, locked herself in their room, refusing to speak. The discovery of Tommy's clothes and shoes, along with the note and mutilated doll's head, had shattered all her hopes.

"Kate, come out of the room...Kate?" Justin banged on the door, but Kate's response was heart-wrenching. "Leave me alone! I want my son back, and you...and those cops...you can't even find him!"

Later, a sudden realization hit Kate. She bolted out of the room and the house, Justin following her, and stopped near the crumbled building where Max had found Tommy's bag.

"This building...I remember this place...Justin, do you remember that terrible accident last year?" she asked.

"Yeah, I remember. Some kids were playing here...including Tommy," Justin replied, confused about the connection.

"Think! How did Tommy's backpack end up here, in the same spot and around the same time he was injured last year? It's like someone is trying to tell us something," Kate pondered, sensing a connection between the accident and their son's disappearance.

"It's GRACE! No wonder Tommy recognized the person in the car! She was injured when the wall came down, remember? But I was so eager to save Tommy...when she asked for help, I left her! I left her to die!" she exclaimed, feeling a pang of guilt. "What if it's some sort of...revenge? Remember how she stared at me when she left our neighborhood?"

Justin, now alarmed, agreed to call the cops. The officers soon found that Grace, the former neighbor, had recently moved to another building on the same street. When they arrived at her new home, they learned she'd vacated it a week ago.

"We need to track her phone's location…we might have a lead," Officer Fredrick suggested urgently.

Finally, a lead came. "Grace's phone was last active near the woods on the outskirts of town. We're heading there right now. We need more backup," Fredrick relayed, sparking a glimmer of hope in the darkest hour.

Tension hung in the air as Kate and Justin sped behind the cruisers towards the thick woods. As they inched closer, their hearts raced, fearing things far more sinister than they had ever imagined.

"Mr. and Mrs. Turner, please stay right here while we look," Officer Fredrick told the couple.

But Kate's desperation to find her son pushed her to the edge. While Justin and the cops were busy checking for updates, Kate ventured into the thick woods, ignoring the warnings from the police.

"Tommy...Tom...Tommy, where are you, honey? It's Mommy. TOMMY…are you out there?"

Suddenly, a blow to her head knocked her unconscious.

Kate woke up bound in a dark cabin and found herself face-to-face with Grace.

"Oh, Kate, dear! You've finally woken up!" Grace's voice was chilling. "Oh, by the way, I've finished him!" Grace laughed menacingly.

"NO!...No, please, no!... Where's Tommy?" Kate cried.

Grace circled Kate, her laughter echoing. "Cry some more for me! CRY! Just like I cried for help that day when you left me under that wall! I lost everything because of you, Kate! You ignored my cries for help, causing my miscarriage. I lost my husband! He left me because I couldn't give him another child! You destroyed my life while you enjoyed yours," Grace accused.

"Grace, I'm sorry for your loss. Look, I didn't know you were pregnant! I'm sorry again. Please, leave my son," Kate begged.

"Relax, I won't kill your son. I'm going to take him away and raise him as mine. And now, it's time for you to die," Grace pointed a gun at Kate.

Just as Grace was about to pull the trigger, the cabin door burst open with police storming in.

"Drop the weapon!" Officer Fredrick commanded.

The police found Tommy in another room. He was alive but bound. The cops freed Kate and Tommy, and the parents finally reunited with their son.

"Thank you, Officer Fredrick," Justin said gratefully as Grace was taken away.

"It was your wife's smart move, sharing her location with you before venturing into the woods," the officer replied.

At home, Max joyfully greeted Tommy. Amidst laughter and tears, the family celebrated Tommy's safe return.

"We missed you so much, Tommy," said Justin and Kate in unison.

"I missed you too. I'll never sneak out again or talk to strangers," Tommy promised.

The nightmare finally ended with Justin and Kate promising to trust their instincts and stay strong together, no matter what came their way.

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If you enjoyed reading this story, you might like this one about a woman who sent her daughter to her mom's for summer, only for the older lady to end up dead and the young girl to go missing. Would the woman find her daughter before it was too late?

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