Aaron Cody Stepp, known as Cody, was reported missing from his Columbus, Ohio neighborhood in the late afternoon of March 11, 1997. He was three years old and in the legal custody of his maternal aunt, Mickey Stepp, at the time; his mother Robyn Stepp was incarcerated and due for release the following day. The boy was described as a white male with blond hair and blue eyes, about 3 feet 2 inches tall and 39 pounds.

Investigators found troubling inconsistencies at the aunt’s home: no recent photos, clothing, toys, or other signs that Cody had been living there, and neighbors said they had not seen him for up to a year before the report. Authorities learned another child had been used to impersonate Cody at a doctor’s appointment a month before he was reported missing. Allegations have also implicated the aunt and maternal grandmother, Janice Stiles; Stiles’s family history includes the 1964 death of her two-year-old daughter, officially listed as bronchitis though an autopsy reportedly showed numerous burns.

Police have treated the case as involving possible foul play. There was an unconfirmed sighting in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, several months after the disappearance, and a 2008 search of a south Columbus neighborhood for remains produced nothing. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has issued age-progressed images. Does anyone have information about where Cody might have been living before March 1997 or about the people who cared for him?