Middletown Police: Missing Teen Found Safe in Virginia

Update: 10:36 p.m., Middletown Police have confirmed that Nathan Carman was located in Sussex County, Virginia, at 8:30 p.m. Monday, 30 miles north of the North Carolina state line. He was found to be in good health and unharmed.

Sussex County Deputy John Ogburn was called on a report of a suspicious person near an old store. The caller reported seeing a youth with a motorized scooter hanging around. The deputy found him and discovered he was trying to find a safe place to sleep for the night. 

Middletown Police say he was carrying a social security card with the name Nathan James Carman, along with some cash. The deputy ran the youth’s name through the National Crime Information Center database and found he was listed as missing. 

Deputy Ogburn says Nathan had two pictures of himself with his horse that recently passed on. The scooter Nathan had was reportedly purchased in Hopewell, Va., which is near Richmond. 

Ogburn reported that Nathan arrived in the Virginia area by bus and had plans to travel to Florida on the scooter. 

Middletown Police lead Detective Daniel Petrulis is working with the Carman family to reunite them with Nathan.

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During the course of Nathan's disappearance, more than 2,000 people signed up for the Find Nathan Carman Facebook page. The page, after news of his recovery was posted, was filled with good wishes and joyful posts. One page member, Willie Molski, wondering whether others wanted to pitch in to buy Carman a new horse, a sentiment that was quickly taken up by others. His parents feared that the death of Carmen's beloved horse earlier this year may have contributed to his decision to leave home.

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Update: 10:23 p.m. The Courant/FOX CT is reporting Nathan James Carman has been found safe in Virginia.

Earlier: The family received its first tip this evening regarding Nathan — a possible sighting at Mystic Seaport, longtime family friend Sharon Hartstein told the Middletown Press. "This is the first lead that makes sense," she told the Press. "He knows the area and he likes animals."

Middletown Police are following up on the information.

Earlier story:

The family of a Middletown teen missing since Thursday has extended its search nationwide in an effort to get the word out to as many people as possible.

At a sobering and at times emotional press conference Monday afternoon at Middletown Police headquarters, longtime family friend Sharon Factor Hartstein said a Facebook page has been set up, Find Nathan Carman, after yesterday's search in New Haven turned up no leads.

Nathan's father Clark was there.

"I combed all of New Haven with all the help that came down in the rain — it was amazing. You’re out there, walking in the rain, checking the union station there, checking all the cabbies that were coming and going, given them flyers, asking them ..."

Harstein encouraged people to tell everyone they know about Nathan.

"[The Facebook page is] where we need people to post, repost, ask your friends and family to post, share the description," Hartstein said. "We need this to go viral, to go nationwide as soon as possible," she pleaded.

"Chances are he’s still here, but we’re not sure. We have to go beyond this because we have no substantiated leads that I am aware of since Thursday," Hartstein said.

Working quickly and urgently is the key to finding Nathan, she explained.

"The sooner and wider and nationwide we can get this, the more people that know about it, the more in the forefront of people’s minds this will be."

Clark indicated yesterday Nathan's grief over losing his horse Cruise in January may have spurred his disappearance. He elaborated today.

"The special partner he had died," Clark said, brought to tears. "So for him, that was his friend. He has no friends." Cruise, Clark said, "had colic, specifically an intestinal problem, he was taken to Tufts and died there. Nathan was there when he died."

Nathan's horse was boarded in East Haddam at Fox Ledge Farm on Daniels Road. The owner, Ann Guptill, says Nathan has not been there since April but she is on the lookout for him.

Although, Clark says, Nathan has a replacement horse, Cruise was special. "He had him four to five years, but they were like this," he said, placing his pointer and middle finger close together.

"He loved that horse, that was a bond ... it’s like the Horse Whisperer," Clark said.

When asked how he and Nathan's mother Linda are holding up, Clark was blunt. "Not real well. It’s been what, five days now? Difficult ... difficult."

He made a plea to the cameras in the hopes Nathan would be watching — a message just for his son.

"Come home," Clark said, as tears welled up in his eyes. "We all miss him so," he said in a whisper. "Don’t be afraid to contact us or the police. I’ll come get you anywhere."

Hartstein said for Nathan to ride his bicycle long distances was not unusual. "Most kids think nothing to take the car to go to Six Flags," she explained. "For him, it was his bike."

"He routinely rode his bicycle 27 miles to the farm in East Haddam," Clark said. However, "this is so much out of character for him. He always left a note."