Missing Middletown Teen Reunites With His Family

Just about now the parents of 17-year-old Nathan Carman are reuniting with their son in Virginia, after spending the last several days searching for the youth, who is autistic and went missing on Thursday, Aug. 11.

Nathan was found around 8:30 last night in Sussex County, Va., about 30 miles from the North Carolina border. He told the police who discovered him that he was on his way to Florida.

His family, who left their Middletown home to retrieve Nathan immediately after hearing of his whereabouts, is still not sure why he was headed South, but that’s one of the things his parents will be trying to find out over the next few days after they reunite with Nathan, said Sharon Hartstein, a family friend who has been acting as a spokesperson for the family. She said the family intends to stay in Virginia for a day or two with Nathan before heading home.

“They just want to decompress for a bit,” she said.

Nathan was unharmed and in good condition, officials have said. He made his way to Virginia by bus and had bought a scooter to continue his travels.  After police discovered him near an old store in Sussex County they brought him to the county jail where he stayed for the night, though not in a cell, Hartstein said.

“He was cooperative with the police,” she added.

The family is speculating that Nathan, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism, might still be distraught over the death of his horse, Cruise, in December. He may have thought, Hartstein said, that there are more horses in Florida.

When police found him, officials said, Nathan was carrying two pictures of himself with his horse.

Hartstein said that for some children with Asperger’s, a relationship with a family pet can be just as emotionally binding as with a family member. So the loss of a pet, she said, can be devastating.

“For kids with Asperger’s the loss of a pet is the equivalent, and sometimes even more, to the loss of a parent.”

She said his parents will be working on a plan for how to keep him from leaving home again.

Nathan went missing last week after he failed to return from a bike ride to Westbrook, where he told his family he was going to do some fishing. The family set up a Facebook page devoted to finding him, searched New Haven over the weekend after a surveillance camera captured images of Nathan in that city, and held an emotional press conference yesterday pleading for any information on his whereabouts.

Hartstein and Nathan’s family released a statement today thanking the police and the community for its help in locating the teen. You can read the statement at the top of this story.