Missing Teenage Boy Safe After Found 120 Miles From the Port

We are learning more about the 14-year-old American boy, Aydin Brown, who went missing after leaving a Princess Cruises vessel at a German port.  

Aerial view of a coastal port city with a Ferris wheel and buildings near the shoreline. Inset image of a person wearing headphones in the top left corner, possibly related to the search for a missing American teenage boy located 100 miles away.
(Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

As we reported yesterday, local police found him safe on Saturday, July 6. That evening, he was reunited with his mother and grandmother.

Brown vanished on Thursday, July 4. He was last seen leaving the Caribbean Princess as it was docked at Rostock-Warnemünde, a town approximately 150 miles north of Berlin, Germany. According to police, Brown and his grandmother argued, prompting the teenager to leave the vessel.

After discovering his absence, Brown’s family reportedly feared that Brown had been “lured” from the dock. 

Brown remained missing for three days. He was finally found unharmed last Saturday in Brandenburg at around 10 p.m. His location,120 miles from the port, was identified using public CCTV footage and cell phone pinging. Police also distributed copies of Aydin’s photo.

“Intensive investigations and the analysis of technical data led the Rostock criminal police to track down the youth, who had been staying near Potsdam,” Rostock’s police department told NBC News.
Two photos show a young person with shoulder-length hair, wearing headphones and a gray hoodie. The left image is outdoors with a blue sky, while the right image is a surveillance video still of the missing American teenage boy found 100 miles from home.
(Photo courtesy of MISSING HEARTS ADVOCACY INC/Facebook)

Local authorities mentioned that he was with a 19-year-old and agreed to meet when he was located. They added, “There is no evidence of a criminal offense.”

Brown’s cousin, Amy Kopischke, helped spread the word on social media and asked the online community for help. Upon learning that he had been found, she wrote, “Thank you to everyone praying for his safe return to our family!! He was found safe!! And will be returned to his family this evening!!”

Princess Cruises thanked local officials. “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to German authorities for their swift response and exceptional efforts in locating Aydin after he disembarked in Warnemunde last Thursday morning,” its statement reads.

In April, an elderly passenger with dementia also vanished and remains missing.

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