Sebastian Rogers’ father reveals son told him he didn’t want to go home before his sudden disappearance

Seth Rogers said people have been trying to intimidate searchers – leading him to believe someone does not want him to find his son

Sebastian Rogers’ father choked up with emotion as he revealed that his son had told him he didn’t want to go home to his mother’s house not long before he disappeared.

Forty days into the search for missing autistic teenager Sebastian Rogers in Tennessee, Seth Rogers gave a new interview on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Wiping away tears, he said that, while the 15-year-old never communicated signs of abuse, he told him he didn’t want to go home to Hendersonville.

“I’ve asked him, ‘why don’t you want to go back?’” Mr Rogers told the podcast host. “He wouldn’t tell me, he didn’t say why, he just said he didn’t want to go back.”

Sebastian was living with Katie Proudfoot and her husband Chris Proudfoot when he disappeared overnight on 25 February.

In an update earlier this week, investigators said there was no indication of foul play in the boy’s disappearance and that all three parents had cooperated with the search.

In an interview last month, the Proudfoots were questioned about a report that the stepdad had once hit Sebastian with a belt. Mr Proudfoot said the incident happened a few years ago as a result of the boy lying to him.

As part of the current police investigation, Ms Proudfoot said she had taken and passed a polygraph test, while Mr Proudfoot had not taken one.

Sebastian Rogers has been missing for 40 days (TBI)

“I have offered and volunteered on many occasions to take a polygraph, but I was told directly by law enforcement that because of my whereabouts, I did not need one,” Mr Proudfoot said on 25 March, referring to the fact he was out-of-town when Sebastian vanished.

Nancy Grace asked him if he would complete one if she set it up for him and he said yes.

However, the host post said on Wednesday that this was yet to take place.

Mr Rogers also told Ms Grace that he had experienced people trying to stop the search for his son, including people following him and volunteers around trying to intimidate them. Others, meanwhile, have taken down flyers with Sebastian’s face on, he said,

“Somebody doesn’t want me to find my son,” he said.

His comments come just days after non-profit group the United Cajun Navy told The Independent that it had been forced to take its search private, following death threats made to its members.

Despite the search rumbling on more than a month, Mr Rogers said he remains determined to find his 15-year-old son and bring him home.

A renewed search is currently under way, with law enforcement scouring areas around the Proudfoots’ home, including nearby woodland and creeks.

“There are no significant events to report from the search efforts,” Sumner County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday night.

“We, along with the many other agencies involved, remain committed to investigating this case.”