Missing Tennessee teen Sebastian Rogers' mother defends leaving neighborhood after ‘threatening’ messages
Tennessee teenager Sebastian Rogers has been missing for more than a month since he left his bedroom in Hendersonville on Feb. 26, barefoot and with a flashlight.
The Sumner County Sheriff's Office issued an Amber Alert for Sebastian, a 15-year-old boy with autism, last month after he was last seen in the area of Stafford Court.
"Honestly, we don't know where he is. . . . We haven't found any substantial evidence to locate where he's been or where we went. That's why we're pleading for help," Sebastian's mother, Katie Proudfoot, told "Fox & Friends" on Thursday morning.
Katie overheard noise coming from Sebastian's room on the evening of Feb. 25 and told him to keep it down. The next morning, he was gone.
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Following the teenager's disappearance, Katie drove about three hours away from home to meet up with her husband and Sebastian's stepfather, Chris Proudfoot, prompting some to wonder why she would travel so far from the area where her son was last seen.
"We are posting fliers every direction we can. But at the same time, there were quite a bit of people that were sending some very threatening and hateful messages to us. They're following us. They're driving past our house at all hours of the day or night, disturbing the neighborhood, and the neighborhood is very upset and concerned. They're worried about their safety at this point," Katie said, adding that she felt that leaving the neighborhood would help calm things down.
Seth Rogers, Sebastian's father, told WSMV that he is searching the Natchez Trace State Park in West Tennessee, because he fears his son may have been "dropped off" there, but he did not specify why he thought so.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is encouraging Hendersonville locals to "to check their property, their outbuildings, under decks, inside boats or cars …anywhere a teen may be able to hide." First responders covered about 2,000 total miles within the first few days of their search for the missing 15-year-old, according to the agency.
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"At this stage in the investigation, there are few clues to indicate what happened to Sebastian, or where he may be," the FBI said in a March 22 update. "There is not proof at this time that there is any criminal element involved in his disappearance. But also, there is not any proof that there is not a criminal element involved. So agents and investigators are reviewing any possibility at all that may indicate where Sebastian is."
Sebastian is described as a white male, standing 5 feet, 5 ininches tall, weighing 120 lbs., with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants and glasses.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Sumner County Emergency Communications Center at 615-451-3838 or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.