Teen says he\'s boy who vanished eight years ago

This is the last time Timmothy Pitzen was seen in public.

Nearly a decade ago.

Checking out of a Wisconsin waterpark with his mother Amy.

She had pulled her 6-year-old son out of his Illinois school and taken him on a road trip visiting a zoo and the park.

Days later, she committed suicide in a motel room.

And left a note saying her son was somewhere safe with people who love him.

She wrote, "you will never find him." Now, eight years later, police are hopeful they have located the boy.

Authorites are investigating whether a teen found wandering in Kentucky on Wednesday is Pitzen.

SOUNDBITE: UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS, SAYING: "He looked like he had been beat up, yes.

Punched in the face a couple of times.

You could see the fear on him and how nervous he was and he kept pacing and he just looked odd." The boy reportedly told police he was Timmothy Pitzen and that he had been held captive by two men for seven years and had escaped, running across a bridge from Ohio into Kentucky.

SOUNDBITE: KARA JACOBS, AUNT, SAYING: "We were shocked, overjoyed but scared at the same time.

We've always felt strongly that this day would come, it's hard to realize it's happening when it does come." His aunt says DNA results which will verify if the teen is Timmothy are expected as soon as Thursday afternoon.

SOUNDBITE: KARA JACOBS, AUNT, SAYING: "We always felt strongly that Tim was still alive, regardless of what anyone said, I knew he was alive." SOUNDBITE: ALANA ANDERSON, GRANDMOTHER, SAYING: "We never stopped thinking about him and we love him and we will do everything we can to bring him back to a good life." Timmothy reportedly described his captors as body builder types.

He says they were staying at a Red Roof Inn and that the men drove a Ford SUV with Wisconsin plates.