Chief: Someone may be helping missing teen stay hidden

A missing teenager, who ran away days after seeing his father shot to death, is getting help from someone to stay out of sight, according to Sugarcreek Twp. Police Chief Michael Brown.

Jacob Caldwell, formerly a Centerville student, ran away from his grandparents Sugarcreek Twp. home Aug. 21. It had been six days after Jacob and his two brothers were with their father, Robert Caldwell, when he was shot to death the afternoon of Aug. 15 outside an office building at Linden Avenue and Woodman Drive in Riverside.

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Jacob is listed as an “endangered runaway” because he is a witness to a homicide. Brown said when he was reported missing, investigators reviewed surveillance video and spotted the teen at a business on Wilmington Pike.

“We did see him in front of Walmart, walking around … kind of gives one the impression that he was waiting for a ride,” Brown said.

A few leads came in early, but they did not pan out.

Brown said “there is some comfort” in that it appears Jacob left on his own and he wasn’t abducted. Because there have been so few sightings, Brown said it appears someone is helping him stay hidden.

The investigation expanded beyond Ohio when detectives visited the maternal grandmother’s home in Kentucky, but Jacob wasn’t there.

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Brown said investigators have been in daily contact with the father’s widow and his parents, who have temporary custody of Jacob and his two brothers, but the mother’s side of the family is not cooperating with investigators.

Brown said the mother has retained an attorney who has advised police not to talk to her without the presence of a lawyer.

Attempts by this news organization to reach Jacob’s mother were unsuccessful. This news organization is also working to learn to name of the attorney police say is representing the teen’s mother.

Sugarcreek Twp. Detective Lesley Stayer said there is concern for the teen’s welfare in-part because it’s not known how he is mentally and emotionally processing the experience of seeing his father fatally shot.

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Jacob has blond hair and blue eyes and weighs about 100 pounds. He, along with his two brothers, witnessed the fatal shooting of their father. The suspect in the case, Sterling H. Roberts, 34, is in custody awaiting extradition from South Carolina, where he fled from Ohio authorities.

Roberts has not been formerly charged in Caldwell’s death. He faces charges in South Carolina, where he allegedly fired rifle shots at a deputy while trying to avoid capture.

Police said prior to the shooting, there was an ongoing custody battle between Robert Caldwell and the boys’ mother, and and court had granted custody to Caldwell only days before he was shot to death.

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A member of the Caldwell family said the family is not ready to speak about the case at this time.

If you see Jacob or can help in the investigation, call Sugarcreek Twp. police at (937) 848-6161.

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