NEWS

Missing 11-year-old Nashville boy found in Atlanta

Ann Zaniewski
azaniewski@gannett.com
  • An 11-year-old boy who disappeared from his Nashville home Monday night and was seen on surveillance video boarding a bus has been found safe in Atlanta.
  • Nathan Long told police that he took a Megabus to Atlanta, said Kris Mumford, a Metro Nashville Police spokeswoman.

An 11-year-old boy who disappeared from his North Nashville home Monday night has been found safe after traveling about 250 miles to Atlanta, authorities said Wednesday.

Nathan Long told police he took a Megabus to Atlanta, said Kris Mumford, a Metro police spokeswoman. Atlanta police officers saw Long walking in the downtown area early Tuesday morning.

For reasons that aren’t clear, Long told the officers he lived in Indianapolis and couldn’t recall his relatives’ phone numbers, according to a report from Atlanta police. He was placed under the care of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services.

A caseworker from that agency who learned of Long’s disappearance in Nashville sent a photo of him Wednesday afternoon to detectives here. They and Long’s mother positively identified him, Mumford said.

Mumford said a juvenile court hearing will be held Thursday in Atlanta to determine whether Long should be released to his mother.

Officials from the bus company, megabus.com, said they’re investigating the incident.

“Megabus.com policy is that all children under 17 years of age must be accompanied by an adult (17 years of age or over) when traveling on megabus.com,” Sean Hughes, associate director of corporate affairs, Coach USA North America, said in an email. “Unaccompanied children under the age of 17 are not permitted to travel on megabus.com.”

Long was last seen around 6 p.m. Monday leaving his home on 26th Avenue North in the Cumberland View public housing complex. His siblings told police that he took his backpack after emptying it of school supplies.

Police said surveillance video showed Long boarding an MTA bus at 7:15 p.m. Monday at 28th Avenue North and Buchanan Street. He took the bus to the downtown MTA terminal at 400 Charlotte Ave.

Mumford said it’s unclear why the boy left home or went to Atlanta.

According to the police report from Atlanta, Long told police that his mother had put him on a bus from Indianapolis to Atlanta. The boy said his mother had a meeting to go to and would meet him there later, the report says. The boy said his mother told him to look for a hotel whose name starts with the letter “J.”

There are conflicting accounts of what Long initially told police. Mumford said the boy did not tell police his real name, instead saying his last name was “Harris,” which is his mother’s last name. The police report said the boy told his real name but said his mother’s last name was “Long.”

Long gave Atlanta police an Indianapolis home address. Officers tried multiple times to reach his mother, the report says, and also contacted Indianapolis police about the case.

Mumford said Long’s mother used to live in Indianapolis. She is not under investigation, Mumford said.

The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services has not been contacted about the case, said communications director Rob Johnson.

Long, a student at Nashville Computer Science Academy, was familiar with riding MTA buses. On Friday, when he was on fall break, Long took an MTA bus to East Nashville, where he visited his former school, Rosebank Elementary, according to police. He brought doughnuts and told teachers he was there to volunteer.

His mother was notified and came to the school to get him, police said.

Reach Ann Zaniewski at azaniewski@gannett.com.