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Family’s search for teen ongoing

Police continue to follow leads to find Mickey Nedimyer, 14

Mickey Nedimyer

The search for a missing Altoona teenager is approaching three months, and police are still seeking any promising leads that might lead to bringing him home.

After not coming home after school early in October, Mickey Nedimyer was reported missing by his parents.

A week later, Altoona police located the 14-year-old with the help of employees from a local restaurant, his mother, Caitlin, told the Mirror.

Mickey was then home for a week and Caitlin said he seemed normal during that stretch. Although he didn’t open up about why he left in the first place and why he didn’t come home on his own, Caitlin said he was part of the family like nothing happened.

The night of Oct. 28, the family was watching a movie together, and everything seemed fine as they all went to bed. Caitlin said her husband, Sean, and one of her other sons fell asleep on the couch, and when everyone woke up in the morning, Mickey was nowhere to be found.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has created fliers to aid in the search for missing teen Mickey Nedimyer. Courtesy photo

He was once again reported missing, and police tried to follow the same avenues that led to finding him the first time, but he’s still missing.

Trying to understand

When trying to understand why her son decided to leave the house, not once but twice, Caitlin recounted how Mickey seemed to spiral after not making Altoona Area’s eighth-grade baseball team.

Mickey has been a student-athlete for years, and Caitlin said failing to make the team wrecked her son.

Not long after that news, his parents caught him with marijuana on a couple of occasions, which led to some confrontations. Caitlin said drugs are “not something we allow in our home.” Mickey was once again caught with weed days before he left the house the first time in October, and Caitlin said that likely was a catalyst for him deciding to run away.

Through tears, Caitlin said kids these days are under a lot of pressure, particularly due to social media.

Some have commented on her Facebook posts that this type of thing is expected in Altoona because Altoona “has a problem,” but runaways are not limited to Altoona, she said.

“I don’t think people understand,” Caitlin said. “It’s not like when I was growing up.”

She said her husband has tried to stay strong through the ordeal, but it has taken a toll on all of them, especially her other three sons.

Rumors spread around school, and Mickey still has a lot of friends in the district, so his brothers end up being the ones who have to field all the questions and the misinformation.

The family spent the holidays without him.

Caitlin said she is hoping the fliers posted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children help bring new information to light.

Ongoing efforts

The NCMEC is a nonprofit agency which works with law enforcement and families to try and find missing children around the country.

The organization posts fliers in several big retail and grocery chains, including Walmart. According to its website, the foundation has helped police locate more than 376,000 children since its founding in 1984.

Caitlin said it took 10 weeks after Mickey’s second disappearance before the family heard about the organization. She immediately sent in his information and before long, posters appeared in Walmart and Sam’s Club.

While thankful that there will be more exposure and more of a chance for promising leads thanks to the posters, Caitlin said she had a panic attack when she went to Sam’s Club recently because she “couldn’t bear” seeing his face on the wall.

The Altoona Area School District has also included a short notice in its emails and daily communication throughout the district asking for leads and information to help find Mickey, according to district spokesperson Paula Foreman.

“We will continue to proactively assist in any way that may be requested by local law enforcement,” Foreman said.

Police process

Altoona Police Sgt. Matthew Plummer said APD and Detective Josh Wilson, the officer in charge of Mickey’s case, have followed up on countless leads since the department took his case in October.

There have been several reported sightings as well, but by the time police showed up on scene, there was no sign of the teenager.

Plummer said any time there is a phone call with a potential lead, Wilson follows up on the information immediately. He has even been out and about in the community, handing out NCMEC fliers personally to try to get the word out.

“We do take those seriously,” Plummer said. “Every piece of information we receive, we’re following up on.”

The only encouraging part of the investigation has been that there does not seem to be any threat to Mickey’s well-being, Plummer said.

“There has never been any information that he is in any type of danger,” he said.

If there did seem to be a threat to his life, Plummer said there are different approaches and strategies the department would be able to employ in that situation.

But since that doesn’t seem to be the case for Mickey, those approaches won’t be on the table unless something changes as the search goes on.

While he said this wasn’t necessarily the case in Mickey’s situation, missing juveniles and missing persons sometimes are more elusive because they do not want to return home unless it’s of their own accord.

“Sometimes the people just don’t want to be found,” Plummer said.

Mickey’s case will remain open until he is located, Plummer said.

Caitlin will also be fighting to find her son every day until he comes home. In the meantime, she said she continues to check in regularly with Altoona police to see if there are any updates. If she doesn’t check in personally, Caitlin said she doesn’t hear from the department for weeks at a time, since investigators won’t call unless there are concrete updates to share.

Caitlin said no one knows where Mickey is, saying he may or may not be in Blair County. But she and Plummer both encourage anyone with any information regarding Mickey’s whereabouts to call Wilson at 814-949-2517.

Caitlin wanted to make it clear that running away should never be an option for children. It’s extremely painful for both the family and the parents.

“Running away is not normal. This is not OK,” she said.

Mirror Staff Writer Nate Powles is at 814-946-7466.

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