A 13-year-old boy, Elijah Gumbus, has been missing for over a month after vanishing without a trace at a car wash in Tolleson, Arizona. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) revealed on Tuesday that Elijah was last seen at around 7 a.m. on August 31, while he and his mother were on a road trip from California to Louisiana for her work.
According to surveillance footage obtained by USA Today, Elijah and his mother stopped at the Weiss Guys Express Wash in Tolleson to clean out their car. The footage shows Elijah, dressed in a red shirt and white sneakers, suddenly jumping out of the vehicle and running off toward the nearby highway. He has not been seen since that moment.
Elijah’s mother claims to have seen him getting into a stranger’s maroon SUV shortly after he ran off, but law enforcement has been unable to verify this part of her account, according to 12News. Despite an ongoing investigation, no new leads have emerged in the search for the missing teen.
Tolleson Police and NCMEC are now turning to the public for help, asking for any information that might lead to Elijah’s whereabouts. Authorities believe Elijah could still be in Arizona or may have traveled to nearby states such as California, Louisiana, Nevada, or Illinois.
Neither Elijah nor his mother have any known connections to Arizona, which has made the investigation more challenging. While Elijah’s parents have a history of custody issues, police have confirmed that the teen is not with either of them. Tolleson Police Lt. Lee Garrett stated that they are exploring all possibilities, including the idea that Elijah may have run away.
“There’s a lot of areas there that he could have either met with somebody or taken off or hid or something like that, but at the moment, that’s the only information that we had and the only surveillance that we had in the area that was able to pick him up in the direction of travel,” Lt. Garrett told 12News.
Garrett also described Elijah as “not a very big kid, so he’s somebody that would stand out. He’s got a very young face,” hoping that someone might recognize him. “If he’s on the streets, or if he’s with somebody he shouldn’t be, then they will call 911 immediately.”
Elijah is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, according to KTLA5. Anyone with information about Elijah’s whereabouts is urged to contact NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST or the Tolleson Police Department at 1-623-936-7186.