Homeless couple takes care of missing 17-year-old with special needs for 3 weeks, teen now found safe
HOUSTON - A missing 17-year-old boy with special needs has been found safe by his parents. The teen was last seen at his family’s River Oaks apartment on Westheimer and Kirby on December 10.
For the last three weeks, Kate Byrum-Kocurek and her husband, Brandon, have been frantically searching for their missing son, Micah.
Houston Police, the Texas Center for the Missing, Texas EquuSearch, and an entire community online have also been sharing flyers, calling nearby businesses, hospitals and shelters, hoping to find the 17-year-old with multiple learning disabilities.
On Wednesday evening, Kate received a picture that changed everything.
"Someone on the neighborhood app had been following our posts, and he just texted me. He's like I don't think that's him, and I was like, that's him! That's my son!" Kate said.
Kate and Brandon sped over to the area and miraculously discovered Micah just five miles away in southeast Houston.
Turns out a homeless couple found Micah the day after he went missing and took him under their care, even during the arctic freeze.
The couple has asked to keep their identities and location confidential.
"That couple had been feeding him and taking care of him. They don't have electricity or anything, and they don't have social media, so they didn't know that he was being looked for. They fed him every day. The lady was taking his clothes and washing them. They found him warmer clothes. He’s in really good condition. Those people, they're his angels. They're my angels," Kate said.
Micah was found safe on the evening of December 28, just three days before his 18th birthday, where his case would’ve drastically changed.
"Once they turn 18, you lose your ability as a parent to be able to obtain certain information, or to have much input. Because they say, well, he's an adult," Kate said.
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Micah spoke to FOX 26 on Thursday and said he's happy to be home as well.
"I hope that we can find more people, because I know there's a lot of other kids that went missing that aren’t as lucky as I am to get found," Micah said.
Kate said she had stopped going to her cancer treatments to focus on the search. She now plans to resume her treatments now that Micah's been found safe.
She advises other parents to make sure their kids memorize their cell phone numbers and home address so that this situation doesn’t happen to anyone else.