Police search in new area for missing 6-year-old Timothy Pitzen comes up empty

(CBS/WBBM/AP) AURORA, Ill. - Police who were searching in the Sauk Valley area of Western Illinois for missing 6-year-old Timothy Pitzen came up empty, according to a report.

Pictures: Missing 6-year-old Timothy Pitzen

A total of seventy officers from Aurora, Ill., the boy's hometown, and local police departments searched every Interstate through the Dixon-Sterling-Rock Falls area for 5 hours looking for Timothy, reports the Kane County Chronicle.

Police turned their focus to this area because cell phone records show the boy and his mother drove through Sterling and Rock Falls between noon and 1:30 p.m. May 13, Aurora police said.

Timothy has been missing since Friday, when his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, was found dead inside a Rockford, Ill. motel room after apparently slitting her wrists.

Earlier in the day, Amy had pulled Timothy out of school, and took him to the zoo and Key Lime Cove Resort in Gurnee, Ill., near the Wisconsin border, CBS station WBBM.

"He said him and mom were on vacation," said James Pitzen, Timothy's father, to WBBM.

But later in the day, Amy committed suicide. She left behind a note saying that Timothy was fine, and in the care of unnamed people. Police say Amy's past included mental illness.

Her car has been located and the family says the fact that Timothy's car seat and backpack were not inside may be a positive sign that the boy is with somebody else, reports the station.

"I have a feeling that he's somewhere safe, that he has not been hurt or injured in any way, and that the people who have him don't know what's going on," James Pitzen told WBBM.

Timothy is described as 4-feet-2-inches tall and 70 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing green shorts and a Spider-Man backpack.

Anyone with information is asked to call Aurora Police at 630-256-5500.