Home security video shows activity outside Sebastian Rogers’ home on night he vanished
Sebastian Rogers, 15, disappeared from his home on the morning of 26 February
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Security camera footage appears to show unusual activity outside Sebastian Rogers’ Tennessee home where the teenager disappeared from in the middle of the night over two weeks ago.
The 15-year-old with autism was last seen by his mother and stepfather when he went to bed on the night of 25 February. When his mother went to wake him up for school the next morning, he was gone, she said.
Sebastian is believed to have wandered off in the middle of the night with a flashlight, barefoot and alone.
Now, home security video footage exclusively obtained by WTVF shows two specks of light outside the family’s home in the Hendersonville neighbourhood around 3.10am in the middle of the night when the teen went missing.
Sumner County Sheriff’s chief deputy Eric Craddock told the news outlet that there are several clips that have come in that investigators are reviewing for more clues.
One clip shows a pitch black Stafford Court neighbourhood with two lights that appear to be people with flashlights moving toward each other before moving off screen.
While it’s believed Sebastian walked off in the middle of the night, his father Seth Rogers told reporters during a vigil on Sunday that his son is not the type to just wander off on his own.
“In order for him to do something that’s out of the normal, something would’ve had to happen that he felt like he just couldn’t deal with it anymore,” Mr Rogers told WTVF in his first interview during a prayer vigil on Sunday.
Sebastian’s disappearance has gripped the hearts of the Hendersonville community from the moment the AMBER Alert was issued.
A massive search for the teenager was launched by the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office which lasted about a week before it was scaled back as they transition to the investigative side of the case, with detectives adding they have “no reason” to believe Sebastian isn’t alive.
Days later, authorities combed a landfill in Kentucky where the trash from Sebastian’s neighbourhood ended up, but “no leads or evidence” were found.
But his father believes there are missing pieces to this puzzle.
“With the information that I’ve gotten from Sumner County and TBI and the fact that dogs aren’t 100 percent, they’re not picking up his scent,” he said.
“One dog tracked him to a construction area over there and it just disappeared and it’s confusing. There’s missing pieces to the puzzle and I’m having difficulty solving this.”
Mr Rogers added that it makes “absolutely no sense there’s been no trace of him.”
“I’m hoping he’s still alive,” the father said. “That is my main hope right now.”
Sebastian’s mother and stepfather Chris Proudfoot spoke out the morning they discovered he was missing.
When Ms Proudfoot found her son’s bed empty, she called her husband, who was at work.
“I can’t find him,” she said, and when he asked, “What do you mean you can’t find him?” She replied, “He’s not in the house.’”
Ms Proudfoot said she searched the entire residence, but her son was gone.
“My son doesn’t run and he’s not a runner. He’s never run away before,” she said, addressing the possibility that he could have wandered off. “I don’t know why he walked out that door.”
“On one constant rollercoaster ride of helplessness and hopelessness,” Chris Proudfoot added. “Many other emotions all in one and it’s a never-ending world because it doesn’t stop.”
The couple has received backlash for not speaking out earlier, to which they say they shouldn’t be judged because no one knows what they’re going through.
“You don’t know, and I don’t wish you to ever know,” they said. “Just be kind to people. It’s just that simple.”
“There’s answers to questions right now that we are searching for desperately and we just don’t have that,” his stepfather added.
Sebastian’s mother, who said she is just hoping to bring her son home safely, had a message for him.
“We love you so much, and we want you to come home and you’re not in trouble,” she said. “I just want my baby to be OK.”
Anyone with information on Sebastian’s whereabouts is encouraged to contact Sumner County Sheriff’s Office Detective Carter at 615-442-1865 or bcarter@sumnersheriff.com.