Coniorjack Oswalt had disappeared from Clearlake, California in September 2019 at the age of 16
Police footage captured the emotional moment of a California mother who was told that her autistic teenage son had been found alive three years after he was reported missing.
Conrarjack Oswalt disappeared from Clearlake, California on September 28, 2019, at the age of 16 – but he was found earlier this month in front of a gas station near Park City, Utah, more than 700 miles from his old home.
It is unclear what the teenager did during the three years he disappeared – and the situation remains under investigation.
Oswalt, who was diagnosed with autism in 2014, was spotted by Summit County Sheriff’s Office staff who saw him shivering late at night in the cold.
They have received signals from residents that the boy has been traveling around the area in a shopping cart for several weeks.
The young man initially refused help, but changed his mind when police visited him again last Saturday.
Oswalt was found trembling in front of a gas station in a store earlier this month
Police offered to let him warm up by sitting in front of their patrol car
The boy was taken by Utah police 700 miles from where he disappeared
“You look like you’re shaking,” police said as they approached. ‘Are you cold? Do you want to come sit in his car and warm up for a minute? We can’t leave you sitting in front of the door here all night.
Officers asked the teenager to sit in their patrol car to keep warm while asking questions about his identity. He also agreed to have his fingerprints scanned.
Oswalt tells police he doesn’t want to be taken anywhere but to sit in the car to keep warm.
For some reason, Connorjack “either refused or could not tell them his name,” but Summit County police made sure he received the necessary care.
One of the police officers started searching the database of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Utah police then searched for records of missing persons and found a match
Another of the original photos shared by worried parents in 2019
Days later, the boy’s stepfather traveled to Utah to verify his identity.
Bodycam footage from the police shows the man sitting in a police interview with the boy’s mother on the speaker.
She described “a very characteristic birthmark on his neck”, which police confirmed she had found.
The police show then showed the man a photo of the original missing poster three years earlier and asked him to compare it to an image taken the previous week.
Mother Susan and stepfather Gerald Flint are very happy to find their son
A police camera captured the moment the boy’s stepfather confirmed that it was him
The stepfather’s reaction is visceral, and he immediately becomes emotional when he realizes that this is the teenager they lost years earlier.
At the other end of the line, Oswalt’s mother asks, “Is that him?”
“A little older, but yes!” He replies.
“Oh, wow! My darling is alive! she cries that the mother can be heard screaming before she bursts into tears of joy, knowing that her son has finally been found. ‘My God!’
Oswalt is already receiving care and is expected to reunite with his mother soon.
“My darling is alive!” Oswalt’s mother, Susan, exclaimed before crying.
Susan’s mother told CBS: “We searched all over California. We are just grateful that he is safe and alive and that our son is back. This is the most important thing for us.
Oswalt’s stepfather, Gerald Flint, added: “Honestly, I’m still confused by the situation. We have had many false hopes for the last two and a half years.
Flint drove from Idaho Falls, where the family had moved since his disappearance, to Park City for personal identification.
Commenting on the moment Oswalt reunited with his family, Sheriff Justin Martinez said: “There was no dry eye in the room. They reunited with this man they hadn’t seen in three years when he was 16. He’s 19 now.
“While we were dealing with this man, he was never aggressive towards law enforcement, but he was resistant to law enforcement,” Martinez told FOX 13 News.
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