A Lindenwood teen originally believed to have been kidnapped has been found unharmed at the Jamaica Long Island Rail Road station, a police source said.
A massive search for 13-year-old Griffin Dreger ensued after family members and neighbors reported that they believed he had been kidnapped while taking out the trash before going to school Friday morning. The police source said the boy was not kidnapped; he had run away.
Griffin, who just turned 13 and is a student at St. Thomas the Apostle in Woodhaven, was leaving his home at 152-02 Cross Bay Boulevard in Lindenwood around 6:30 a.m. when his mother asked him to take a bag of trash to a dumpster about 150 yards from where his mother was parked. The dumpster is out of sight from where his mother was.
“He never came back,” his neighbor Annmarie Hegarty said. “They went out looking for him, and the police said on a security video you see him throw the trash in the dumpster and then get spooked by something. He starts running and runs out of the video.”
One neighbor said they heard screams around that time, but Hegarty said police have not determined whether the screams were from Griffin or a member of his family when realizing the teen was missing.
After family and friends believed him to be kidnapped, Griffin Dreger, 13, was found unharmed at the Jamaica LIRR station Friday.
Hegarty described Griffin as a “very sweet, very responsible boy” who lives with his mother, a teacher at St. Mary’s, and his father, who works for a fire alarm company.
“He’s a straight-A student; he wants to go to St. Francis Prep,” she said. “He plays football, he’s smart, he’s funny. He’s usually home studying or playing video games.”
Neighbors noted that they had seen a “weird white van” that had been driving around the neighborhood “watching kids last week.” One woman had taken down the license plate number and gave it to police.
