14 DAY TRIAL // Richard Wayne Landers Jr., who went missing from Indiana in 1994, when he was 5 years old, has been found alive, sources say.
19 years later, Landers is living in Long Prairie, Minnesota, and the 24-year-old is not only healthy, he is married and plans to start a family of his own.
As a young boy, he disappeared from Wolcottville, Indiana, having been abducted by his own grandparents. They had moved and taken the child with them, following a legal dispute over custody, in July that year.
Police looked for paternal grandparents, Richard E. and Ruth A. Landers, until 2008, according to RTV 6. Arrest warrants were issued in their name, and the boy was included in a missing children list.
Parents never gave up looking for him, though. It was in September 2012 that they provided law enforcement with the necessary clues to get ahold of their son.
New info led them to a man living in Long Prairie, who displayed physical similarities to their son. Detectives dug deeper and found out he was using Landers' birth date and Social Security number.
"The man's driver's license photograph even appeared to bear a potentially similar resemblance as to how the missing boy might look today," a state police rep told reporters.
The grandparents were located as well, having been living in the state of Minnesota. There is no information on what legal action the boy's parents will take against them. They are currently trying to rebuild their relationship with the son they thought they lost.
"It's nice to put closure to this case, and now the family can begin the process of reconnecting with their loved one," LaGrange County Sheriff Terry Martin adds, in a news release.