BERNARDS — The 17-year-old boy who went missing from a residential treatment and education center in Utah is safe at home in New Jersey with his family, his father said.

"He walked in the door around midnight, and we were all sobbing" Gregory Mayer's father Greg Mayer said by telephone from Basking Ridge Tuesday morning. "We're emotionally drained. I can't imagine having gone through something like this."

Until his return, the boy had last been seen by his parents on Feb. 21 when he unexpectedly disappeared after a family movie outing near the Discovery Ranch in Mapleton, Utah where he was staying. He had no money, no ID and no cell phone, but his parents believed he was trying to make his way back home.

Dad Greg Mayer said that he and his wife Debbie Mayer had gotten calls from Utah where people spotted their son at a Mormon temple, a Mexican restaurant and other places, but the calls were always too late to stop the boy from moving on.

By last Tuesday the leads on his son had grown cold, but then the parents began getting calls from people at highway rest stops and bus stations, Mayer said.

"Just yesterday we started to feel like he was making his way back," Mayer said.

Mayer said that his son traveled all the way from Utah back home on his own, working odd jobs like cleaning up yards to earn money for food, bus and train tickets.

"We think he was in Utah for about a week," Mayer said. "He walked a lot, took trains, buses, hitchhiked and got rides from truckers. He found places in bus shelters to sleep. He roughed it."

Mayer said he and his wife were thankful he was lucky enough not to run into any dangerous strangers along the road.

"He met a lot of nice people who helped him," Mayer said. "There's a lot more nice people out there than not."

Once they knew their son was safe at home, the first thing they wanted to know was what drove him to walk away from the center and take the long, solitary journey back home rather than calling for assistance.

"He said he just didn't like the regimented schedules, and having to be confined," Mayer said. "It just wasn't something he wanted to deal with." BEGIN RELATED LINKS

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Mayer said his son didn't call home because he was afraid his parents would make him go back.

"We would have at first," Mayer said. "But after the first couple of days, we decided if he wants to come home this badly, we'll have to do what we can here in New Jersey.

Mayer said the family is just going to take it one day at a time.

"He's come back a new kid," Mayer said. "We want to start with a new slate. We're thrilled to have him back."

Mayer said that on Tuesday his son was sleeping late, something most of the family hope to do after what is expected to be a day of visits from friends and family who helped mount the social media, press and telephone campaign.

Mayer said that this was a learning experience for him and his wife, and he's thinking what they learned might be of value to other families in similar situations.

"I'm sort of thinking we might have to do something with all this stuff we put together," Mayer said. "I know how scared we were at first, but then we just pushed through."