Jefferson Hills Police Looking For Missing 15-Year-Old Jeno Moretti
By: KDKA-TV's Jennifer Borrasso
JEFFERSON HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) -- Jefferson Hills police are looking for a missing 15-year-old boy.
Rescue crews searched all day on Tuesday for Jeno Moretti, who disappeared over the weekend. Police searched near the Elizabeth Bridge after a reported sighting in the area. They also searched the Monongahela River below the bridge.
Elizabeth Borough Police Department Chief William Sombo said Jefferson Hills police interviewed several people, and all indications led to the bridge.
The search was suspended around 10 p.m. on Tuesday before continuing Wednesday morning. Officials have suspended the search until there is another sighting, though family and friends of Moretti continued their search on Friday.
They spent the day looking for him in nearby parks and woods.
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"We searched the river banks first by foot," said Chief Sombo. "Then we searched them by swift water rescue crews. And then we went to sonar and from the sonar, we went to the divers. And we had assistance from the Pennsylvania State Police."
The Jefferson Hills Borough Police Department says Moretti was reported missing/runaway by his family. He was last seen Saturday in the Floreffe neighborhood of Jefferson Hills, police say, and he was wearing a black shirt and possibly a black hoodie.
Moretti is also known to frequent West Elizabeth and the 885 Park area of Jefferson Hills, law enforcement says.
The teenager's family said they are worried because they say Moretti saw hurtful things posted about him on an Instagram page.
"There was a post on a TJ Instagram," said Moretti's legal guardian Lisa Karner. "People were talking mean about all kinds of kids. Then my daughter found the post. It said 'Jeno Moretti, no mom or dad.' That is what started the whole thing."
WATCH: KDKA's Jennifer Borraso reports
Before the search even began Wednesday morning, family and friends of Jeno Moretti stood close together, holding on tightly to each other.
"I wish he would just walk through the door. Very, very sad. I miss him," his best friend Shaye Nickelson said.
Nickelson says he's not surprised the search has intensified by the Elizabeth Bridge.
"I mean he liked to go on walks just to clear his mind. So hopefully, it's just a very long walk that he's on," said Nickelson.
"He may just be looking for his mom in Baltimore," Karner said. "He could just be looking for his dad in Wilkinsburg. So that is my hope right now."
Police describe Moretti as a light-skinned Black male who is 5-foot-6 with black hair and blonde tipped braids.
Thomas Jefferson High School sent a letter to families, saying counselors are available as police search for the missing 10th-grader.
Click Here To Read The Letter Sent To Parents
Call 911 with any information.