Katie Proudfoot recalls the evening of Sunday, February 25, 2024, as a typical one at home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Her 15-year-old son, Sebastian Rogers, got ready for bed around 9:00 p.m., said ‘I love you’ to his mom and his two dogs and then headed to his bedroom for the night.
Katie remembers hearing a noise come from Sebastian’s room around 10:00 p.m.
“I hollered out to him and he answered me,” Katie said. “I didn’t think a whole lot of it.”
About an hour later, Katie went to bed. She had no idea her life would be very different in the morning.
Monday morning, Katie went to her son’s room. “It was about 6:00 in the morning when I went to wake him up for school,” Katie said. “I went in his room, and I was like, ‘Dude, time to get up.’”
“Normally, he will, like, turn and look, and he didn’t. And I realized he wasn’t in his bed,” Katie said.
The following moments are every parent’s worst nightmare. “I looked everywhere in and around the house and I couldn’t find him,” Katie said. “I checked his bathroom and he wasn’t in there. And I was like, ‘OK. Well, maybe he went to the kitchen,’ you know, ‘Maybe he got up before me.’ And so I went through the house. And when I didn’t see him, is when I was starting to panic a little bit,” Katie said. “And I ran through, like, literally every area of the house. Everywhere. And that’s when I really started to panic.”
Katie says she jumped in her car and began driving around the neighborhood. Katie also called her husband, Chris, Sebastian’s stepfather, who was out of town on a business trip at the time. “It’s, like, terror,” Katie told Dateline. “What happened? Where did he go?”
“I was in my car and I stopped and I asked one of the ladies walking her dog, and she was like, ‘No, I haven’t seen him.’ And it really, like, started to kick in at that point,” Katie said.
Katie says she then headed to Sebastian’s school and got on a three-way call with Chris and the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office. By the time she got there, she was told to turn around and head home because law enforcement was headed to their house.
“It was just, like, more and more people were coming and everyone was looking, and every time someone came back and they didn’t have him –.” Katie couldn’t finish the thought.
Sebastian is on the autism spectrum. “You wouldn’t recognize him as a special-needs person just by looking at him,” Katie said. “He is smart and capable and functional, but he does have areas that he struggles in.”
Katie told Dateline that Sebastian does respond differently in certain situations. “He does have that sensory issue with loud noises, specifically, like, spontaneous ones. So he does avoid sudden loud noises,” she said.
He also hates bugs and would avoid any area where he saw one, according to his mother.
What Sebastian loves is water. “Swims like a fish,” Katie said.
Related: As part of Autism Awareness Month, Andrea Canning sits down with a retired police captain who is training first responders on how best to interact with people with autism.
The search efforts for Sebastian were immediate and intense. “This was a very large scale response,” Sheriff Eric Craddock of the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office told Dateline via email.
Craddock directed Dateline to the TBI Newsroom for more information. “That morning, the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office issued a missing persons report to begin efforts to locate Sebastian. A TBI Endangered Child Alert was pushed out, and was then elevated to a statewide AMBER Alert,” the website states. Due to Sebastian’s love of water, “Pools in the neighborhood were searched. Dive teams were brought in, and bodies of water around the neighborhood and beyond that area were searched, including caves.”
In his email to Dateline, Sheriff Craddock elaborated on what resources were used in the search for Sebastian. “Everything. Foot, K9, Drone, Air Assets (Fixed Wing and Helicopter), Horse, Mounted Patrol, USAR, Resources from across the state and federal government assisted with the case,” he wrote. “The search during the week he went missing was extremely large scale.”
The sheriff’s office even employed some unconventional search methods in its attempt to locate Sebastian. Notably, they encouraged those participating in the search to play Sebastian’s favorite music in an attempt to draw him out. “This advice was called in by a citizen. I tried, and will continue to try, anything to bring a resolution to this case,” Craddock said.
Despite the intense search efforts, no clues were turned up that led authorities to Sebastian’s whereabouts.
According to Sheriff Craddock, the AMBER Alert for Sebastian is still active.
Katie believes that, wherever Sebastian went, “he had every intention of coming back home.” He was excited to start taking agriculture classes at school. “They actually have animals in the school that the kids will work with as they advance through the classes,” Katie said. “And that was what he really wanted. He wanted to get in there and start working with the animals.”
Sheriff Craddock wants to assure the public that the investigation into Sebastian’s disappearance is active and ongoing. “Our team is committed to following every lead, analyzing every piece of evidence, and uncovering the truth about what happened to Sebastian Rogers,” he wrote in a statement to Dateline. “We understand the community’s deep concern and the desire for answers, and we share that concern. However, I urge everyone to rely on verified information from law enforcement rather than online speculation. Misinformation can hinder the investigation and distract from our efforts to bring Sebastian home.” The sheriff would not comment on whether authorities suspect foul play or have any persons of interest in the case. “Our priority is finding Sebastian and bringing resolution to his family and this community,” he wrote. “If you have any credible information, we ask that you come forward and report it to the appropriate authorities. Together, we will seek justice and the truth.”
At the time of his disappearance, Sebastian was 5’5” and 120 lbs. He would be 16 years old today. He has brown eyes, blonde/brown hair, and was last known to be wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, and black-framed glasses. The Proudfoots believe Sebastian may not have been wearing shoes when he disappeared. “Every pair of shoes in this house have been accounted for,” Chris Proudfoot told Dateline. “All the shoes that I can think of that we had in the house.”
Katie and Chris want to make the public aware of some of Sebastian’s identifying features and tendencies. He has large freckles on the back of his neck, and walks on his toes. He also has a unique run, putting his arms slightly behind his back and leaning forward. They urge anyone who thinks they see Sebastian to not approach him, but instead take pictures and call 911. “Let law enforcement handle it if somebody spots him, but please stay vigilant,” Chris said.
The TBI Newsroom asks anyone with credible information about Sebastian to reach out through the TBI tip line at 1-800-TBI-FIND. If the tip includes a possible sighting, pictures should be sent to [email protected]. “The Sheriff urges any photographic information be sent immediately, as time may be of the essence in relevant sightings,” the website states.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of Sebastian Rogers.
If you have a story to share with Dateline, please submit it here.