AURORA, Colo. – Aurora Police announced Tuesday that a missing at-risk 13-year-old teen was found safe by a passerby who recognized the teen.
Juan Campos-Rocha was spotted at Civic Center Park in downtown Denver around noon after the teen's photo circulated and a search intensified.
Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said that a passerby flagged an off-duty officer at the park. That officer was able to help identify and take Juan into the Denver Police Department headquarters.
"Thank you for everybody's help, throughout social media, through the community, the volunteers that helped us, we can finally relax and we're excited to get him home," Campos-Rochas' mother said in a press conference.
The teen had been missing since Sunday afternoon when he disappeared from his home near the 1600 Block of North Galena.
"We're still going to have to interview him and figure out what he was doing over the last day and a half," Aurora Police Department Police Chief Nick Metz said.
Police used search dogs and drones and enlisted the help of other agencies as they expanded their search. It was confirmed that Juan was located and in custody only minutes before Chief Metz took the podium at a scheduled press conference.
Aurora Police and family were concerned, because the teen is developmentally disabled. Police say he had gone missing before.
In this case, police say they were lucky to have found the missing teen so long after the original report was disseminated. They pointed to the family, saying they were smart to take a recent photo of the teen.
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