NEWPORT, Kentucky (WKOW) — In what appears to be a hoax, the person who identified himself to police as a missing boy last seen in 2011 in the Wisconsin Dells, is not Timmothy Pitzen.

The FBI on Thursday afternoon said that DNA results have been returned indicating the person in question is not Pitzen.

Police say the man who claimed he was Pitzen is actually Brian Michael Rini, 23, of Medina, Ohio.

State prison records indicate Rini was released from a correctional institution last month after serving a sentence for burglary and vandalism.

A local investigation continues into this person’s true identity, according to the FBI.

The Aurora Police continue to lead the investigation into the Timmothy’s disappearance.

“Although we are disappointed that this turned out to be a hoax, we remain diligent in our search for Timmothy, as our missing person’s case remains unsolved,” Aurora police said in a statement.

“We know you are out there, Tim,” Pitzen’s aunt Kari Jacobs said Thursday. “And we will never stop looking for you.”

She also asked for compassion for the impostor.

“We hope people join us in prayer for the young man who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen,” Jacobs said. “There’s far too many lost children in desperate need of help.”

Aurora Police Sgt. Bill Rowley said his department has received thousands of tips about the missing boy over nearly eight years, but this was the first time someone claimed to be the child. Rowley says it’s likely Rinni will face consequences over the hoax, although there’s been no charge brought against him at this time.

Anyone with genuine information about the case is asked to call the Aurora Police Department at 630-256-5000 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

Aurora police and the FBI began investigating the case Wednesday as being possibly connected to Pitzen’s disappearance.

Pitzen was dropped off on May 11, 2011 at school in Aurora, Illinois by his father James “Jim” Pitzen.

He was picked up shortly after by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, who took him on a three-day trip to the Dells. The last known video of the missing boy was from the Kalahari Resort in Sauk County May 13, 2011.

Timmothy’s mother was later found dead by suicide in a motel room in the nearby town of Rockford, Illinois, with a note stating that Timmothy was safe, but would never be found.

Aurora police say two detectives from the Aurora Police Department went to the Cincinnati area to assist the FBI with the investigation. One of the detectives is a cold case investigator.

According to the Newport, Kentucky Police Department, a resident called to report a suspicious person:

“In the early morning hours a resident in Newport called and said can you check this person out? It was In the west end of Newport in the residential area…he was just milling around,walking around, looked odd…and they called the police and said this person looks out of place. He was by himself. We don’t know how old he is…he looks like a juvenile…he’s currently under medical care.”

One woman who lived in the area said the boy she saw looked scared.

“He looked like he had been beat up, punched in the face a couple times, you could see the fear on him and how nervous he was and how he kept pacing. He just looked odd,” she told WCPO-TV.

A police report from Sharonville, Ohio states officers were sent to search for kidnapping suspects, after reports from a 14-year-old boy who said he had just escaped two kidnappers who had been holding him for seven years. The report said his name is “Timothy Pitzen”.

The report states:

“Timothy described the two kidnappers as two male, whites, body-builder type build. One had black curly hair, Mt. Dew shirt and jeans, & has a spider web tattoo on his neck. The other was short in stature and had a snake tattoo on his arms.”

The men were said to be driving a newer model Ford SUV with Wisconsin license plates. It’s white with yellow transfer paint and has a dent in the left back bumper.

Police say the boy had escaped and ran across a bridge into Kentucky. Police searched local motels but did not find anything.