Finding Him
She was so taken aback when she noticed the boy, and she couldn’t believe what was going on. The police said they’d arrive as soon as possible, but she was so jittery, she couldn’t sit still. She asked fellow hotel staff members if they had noticed anything amiss, but nobody had.
Finding Him
Calling The Cops
When the cops finally showed up, she had no new information. She hoped they would be able to figure things out, and she told them everything that had happened. She was then surprised when they didn’t seem to be taking things very seriously. They brushed her off, saying that his parents were probably around the hotel somewhere. Once she showed them what was under the blanket, they finally started listening…
Calling The Cops
Under The Blanket
Lauren was a hardworking employee who always did her job no matter what, each day following her routine without question. Everything was disrupted that one day when she reached roomed 403 and saw what was in there. Though people had left behind strange things in hotel rooms before, nothing compared to this situation.
Under The Blanket
Things Left Behind
She was working her way through the fourth floor, and she was not expecting anything unusual when she reached number 403. At first, she just saw someone lying under the blanket, but she didn’t fully understand what she was seeing. Instinctively, she closed the door, thinking she was interrupting a guest who may have booked a later checkout time. She went down to the lobby to see what was going on with the room.
Things Left Behind
No Late Checkout
When she got down there, she was informed that the guests had actually checked out early that day, long before the official checkout time. She was absolutely taken aback, so she decided to head back up there to see what was going on. She slowly opened the door and announced that housekeeping was there. There was no answer. She was terrified by what this could mean.
No Late Checkout
Something Was Strange
As she slowly approached, she realized that there was a little boy there, who could not have been more than 10 years old, and he was asleep under the blanket. At this point, it was already noon, and check out was at 10am, so how was he still here? She tried to wake him up, but he wouldn’t. She started to worry, and she called the front desk, but they had no idea who this boy could be.
Something Was Strange
Everyone Was Confused
Lauren didn’t want to immediately call the police before getting a better understanding of what was happening. Since the boy seemed to be safe at the moment, she didn’t immediately call the police. She started asking other employees about the situation, but nobody had any idea what could be going on. She felt that she had to help, and she decided to take a sick day to investigate and stay with him. She started doing some research on her laptop, looking through missing persons reports to try to find something.
Everyone Was Confused
Checking Out The Situation
Unfortunately, Lauren’s search didn’t yield many results. She checked to see if the boy had maybe woken up in the meantime, but he was still sleeping. She was getting worried about this, why was he sleeping so deeply through all of this?
Checking Out The Situation
Who Was He?
She tried to figure out who the boy was and how he seemed to have been left behind somehow. She got a bit closer to him, and she noticed that on his blanket read the initials “G.J.” in embroidery. She was worried about waking him up, but somehow he slept through this as well.
Who Was He?
Getting Some Clues
She then noticed that something was sticking out of the blanket. She looked closer and realized that it was a piece of paper. She took a better look to see what it said and was taken aback. She then decided it was time to call the cops. She explained the situation but asked them to remain discreet and hold the sirens. She didn’t want to scare the boy in case he did wake up.
Getting Some Clues
A Scary Turn
While the boy was safe at the hotel, it wasn’t clear how long he could stay there. What would happen once he finally woke up? She finally heard a knock on the door, and she saw two police officers that arrived on the scene. She opened the door and let them in before explaining the whole situation to them.
A Scary Turn
Getting Frustrated
Initially, the officers were confused by the story, and because they had a lot of experience with missing children cases, they didn’t really take her seriously. They told her that the child’s parents must be somewhere in the hotel, and continued to be unfazed by her story.
Getting Frustrated
Not So Serious
Lauren was taken aback. Why weren’t they taking her seriously? They kept telling her to just look for the child’s parents at the hotel. She began to get frustrated with them, which is why she decided to show them the note. That’s when everything changed.
Not So Serious
Interested All Of A Sudden
Now that she had showed them the note, they all of a sudden sprang into action. They decided to run several tests on the note and they told Lauren they would get back to her soon. In the meantime, she was still watching the sleeping child.
Interested All Of A Sudden
It Was Strange
Lauren felt like the whole exchange with the police had been quite bizarre. Why had they left the child behind? It was also strange that they didn’t seem confused or worried about the fact that this child had been asleep for hours without waking up throughout this whole ordeal. Did they know something?
It Was Strange
Sudden Realization
She felt like all she could do for now was to watch the boy and make sure nothing happened to him until his parents could be located. She would make sure they knew that this wasn’t okay. Suddenly, she had a realization and she jumped to action.
Sudden Realization
Checking The Footage
How did none of them think to check the security camera? Surely they could have been who the boy had entered the room with on the footage. Maybe if she could find the tape, she could help unravel this mystery, even on her own.
Checking The Footage
Hard To See
She found the central security room where she might be able to find the footage. While the security cameras showed everything in real time, she realized she would have to rewind and look for the boy, which would take a lot of time to do.
Hard To See
Begging Security
Meanwhile, the only security guard with access to the room was only on the premises in the evening until the early morning. She decided to call him and ended up begging him to come in earlier that day in order to help her out with the security footage.
Begging Security
The Exception
At first, he didn’t seem too excited to come help, but when she explained the situation about the boy, he knew he had to help. As a father to two young boys, he knew he had to help out. He knew he could not let a young boy continue to be alone in the hotel. Who could have done this to him?
The Exception
Going Back Far
Lauren had no clue when the boy had arrived in the room and since when he was there on his own, so they had to painstakingly start looking at the footage from the moment she arrived there. It took a very long time, and she was starting to feel like it was hopeless, when they finally found something.
Going Back Far
Days Went By
They realized that the hotel room door was completely shut for four entire days, which didn’t make any sense to Lauren, since she had checked this morning and the guests of the room apparently had check out that same day. Something was not making sense, and she was determined to figure out what the deal was.
Days Went By
The People In The Room
Finally, they saw two people leaving the hotel room. Lauren did not recognize them, but upon further scrutiny she could see some features getting clearer to her. Suddenly, she noticed something.
The People In The Room
Not The Ones Who Checked In
When she had asked the front desk employees about the people who checked out earlier, their descriptions didn’t match the people who she saw in the video footage. What on earth was going on, and were the hotel employees in on this?
Not The Ones Who Checked In
Bringing Him In
As they continued to play back the footage, they found the security footage of the same two people coming into the hotel room and this time they had the little boy with them. They were actually carrying him in their arms as they entered the room.
Bringing Him In
During The Night
Lauren checked and saw that the couple, along with the young boy, had checked into the hotel at about 3am that night. There was nobody else on the floor of the hotel, and there wasn’t even anyone at the check in desk when they came. This was especially strange, since they had a key to the room without seeming to check in officially.
During The Night
What Was Going On?
As they continued to watch more footage, Lauren and the security guard noticed that the people that had checked out that morning had also check into the hotel a week before, but they never went to the room. Perhaps they had given their key to the second couple?
What Was Going On?
Nothing Online
The more they watched, the more confused Lauren became. She checked the IDs of all of the people who had checked in to the room, but she couldn’t find anything about them online. In fact, the police didn’t find much about them either.
Nothing Online
Calling Reinforcement
Lauren realized she reached the limit in what she could research about the situation on her own. She had just one more thing she could do next, so she gathered all of the information she had collected and she called the police once again. This time, they seemed more willing to listen.
Calling Reinforcement
The Breakthrough
They actually informed Lauren that a few officers were on their way back to the hotel. They had made a breakthrough and were heading back to her and the boy. They had used the note that Lauren found under the blanket, and it helped them figure something out.
The Breakthrough
They Finally Listened
Lauren was glad that she was finally being taken seriously and that it seemed like steps were finally being taken to help protect the boy, who seemed to be asleep still. She agreed to meet the cops by the room so that they could let her know what they found out.
They Finally Listened
Not Interested
What was strange to Lauren was the fact that once they met her, they still seemed to show zero interest in the wellbeing of the boy. They seemed excited to let her know what they discovered, but she was also eager to let them know what she had found out on her own.
Not Interested
They Were Excited
Lauren launched into her findings, and the more she told them, the more excited they seemed to be. They were all smiling, and before Lauren could even finish giving them her full report, they began high-fiving one another. What was going on? Why were they so excited? She even was a bit offended by how upbeat they were, as if once again they weren’t taking her seriously.
They Were Excited
Grabbed Him
What happened next absolutely stunned her. When the officers noticed that Lauren was taken aback by their reactions, he walked over to the young boy and he grabbed him by the neck. Lauren was shocked, and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Grabbed Him
Training Dummy
She wasn’t sure what to do, and she was ready to defend the boy, but then the police officer finally let her know what was going on. With a smile on his face, he informed her that the boy wasn’t real and was just a realistic police training dummy.
Training Dummy
An Explanation
She could not believe her ears. This whole time, the boy was a training dummy? She thought about the fact that they were actually the ones who planted the dummy there in the first place. In fact, different officers were the ones who placed the doll there.
An Explanation
Special Training
The local police was taking part in special training sessions where the trainer set up a very realistic case that was meant to be solved as if it were a real life situation, and in this case it was a missing persons case. They were assigned to find a young boy that had gone missing and was “left behind” at a hotel room with a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.
Special Training
All A Setup
The entire checking in and checking out process was all planned in advance, and the police officers that were with Lauren now were all assigned to the case this morning. Since they were so focused on solving the case, that’s why they seemed disinterested in helping her at first. However, when Lauren showed them the note, they realized that this was the case they were meant to solve, which also explains why they were so excited, as they had solved the case in no time.
All A Setup
Should Have Known
In fact, the hotel’s owner was aware of the situation the whole time and even agreed to let it happen. However, he did not communicate this fact to the hotel’s employees, including Lauren. She was absolutely fuming that she was not let in on the news, and felt that she had been through an emotional rollercoaster for nothing.
Should Have Known
Suing Them
Lauren decided that she would sue the police for emotional damage, and she ended up being successful. She was compensated for her emotional turmoil and suffering. The hotel manager that knew about the situation but didn’t tell his employees was also fired from his position.
Suing Them