By NC WANTED Staff

Posted: Mar 30, 2007
Updated: Jan. 14, 2010

SAMPSON COUNTY — In August 2000, Tristen “Buddy” Myers left Louisiana and moved to Roseboro, North Carolina to live with his great aunt and uncle, Donna and John Myers. Tristen’s birth mother was only 15 when she had him. His father was not in the picture. But nearly three months after the young boy came to Sampson County to be with his new family, the unthinkable happened.

On October 5, 2000, Tristen and Donna had just returned from a day in town. Donna started Tristen’s favorite Barney video. He lied down on the floor and fell asleep with two wrestling figurines in his hands. Meanwhile, Donna lied down on the couch and dozed off herself. Minutes later, she woke up when the phone rang. It was her husband. While the two were chatting, Donna scanned the room and noticed Tristen was gone. She hung up and searched inside the house. She ran outside and called his name, but Tristen, his puppy and the Myers’ Chihuahua, Buck, were nowhere to be found.

“I figured he went outside to play. Outback, playing with the dogs. I figured he had gone outside and was going to come right back in,” Donna told NC WANTED.

Minutes turned to hours and Donna still couldn’t find Tristen. Her daughter-in-law came over to help look for the boy. They eventually called 911.

Thousands of searchers ranging from sheriff’s deputies to the Army's 82nd Airborne division assisted in the search for Tristen, all without luck.

Then five days after Tristen’s disappearance, the Chihuahua, Buck, returned home. But Tristen wasn’t with him. Five days after Buck came back, the puppy made his way home. But once again, Tristen didn’t return.

A few years later, Donna and John received a phone call that changed their lives. They learned of an orphan boy living in the Chicago area who matched Tristen’s exact description. His name was Eli Quick. The similarities between the two were uncanny. Besides both being the same age and having the same eye color, they both had scars on the left sides of their necks, scars on the top of their skulls and had both broken the same leg at the same point in time. Sadly, DNA results revealed the boy was not Tristen “Buddy” Myers.

This didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and the Myers’ still haven’t lost hope that Tristen will come home one day.

“It’s been so many years you know a lot of people have just forgotten. But we want to let people know that he's still out there. Some place. And we still want him home,” Donna said.

Investigators are still treating this as a missing person’s case. A few years ago, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created an age progression photo that shows what Buddy would look like today.

On July 16, 2009, Tristen turned 13.

When he was last seen, Tristen was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes. At age 4, Tristen was 4’0” and weighed 50 pounds. He has blond hair and blue eyes.

If you have any information about this case, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.