Sebastian Rogers is Missing: What Goes Bump in the Night?

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[00:02:40] Hey everyone, my name is Nikki Young and this is Serial Napper, the true crime podcast for

[00:02:56] naps. I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep or perhaps to give

[00:03:01] you nightmares. It was the morning of February 26, 2024 and it was supposed to be a day like

[00:03:08] any other. At around 6am, Katie Proudfoot walked into the bedroom of her 15 year old

[00:03:13] son Sebastian Rogers in order to wake him up for school. To her shock, she found his

[00:03:19] room empty and he was gone, not in his room and nowhere to be found elsewhere in their

[00:03:25] Tennessee home. Yes, Sebastian was a teenager and of course, sometimes they can be notorious

[00:03:32] for sneaking out or leaving without telling their parents where they're going. But in

[00:03:36] Sebastian's case, his absence was particularly alarming. Sebastian is a bright young man,

[00:03:44] but he also has high functioning autism and he wasn't known to ever leave the house on

[00:03:48] his own. Katie called her husband, Sebastian's stepfather, who was working out of town at

[00:03:54] the time, and he alerted the police to their missing son. Both state and local authorities,

[00:03:59] as well as search parties spearheaded by Sebastian's father, Seth Rogers, have utilized drones,

[00:04:05] helicopters, and canine to try to locate the teen, but it has been months without any

[00:04:12] sign of Sebastian. With no obvious signs of foul play, it begs the question, how can a

[00:04:19] 15-year-old run away, leaving absolutely no trail behind? We're going to talk through

[00:04:25] the timeline, the searches, and a possible recent sighting of Sebastian with the hope

[00:04:30] that someone out there knows something that might help to bring him home. So let's jump

[00:04:37] right in. Sebastian Rogers was born on December 7th, 2009, the same day as his paternal grandfather's

[00:04:44] birthday. For the first six months of his life, he was often sick and was in and out

[00:04:49] of the hospital. The medical bills were piling up, so his mother, Katie, decided to join

[00:04:55] the Navy so that she'd have a stable income and health insurance, while his father, Seth,

[00:05:01] became a stay-at-home dad. Pretty early on, Sebastian's parents noticed that there was

[00:05:07] something different about him. He was an energetic little boy who quickly learned that he could

[00:05:13] crawl around to get just about anywhere he was going, but he struggled with his speech

[00:05:18] and his fine motor skills. Ultimately, it would be learned that Sebastian was born with

[00:05:23] a rare genomic condition known as chromosome 6q27 deletion. According to the National

[00:05:30] Institute of Health, this condition can quote, result in intellectual disability, facial

[00:05:36] dysmorphism, and organ dysfunctions. Sebastian would also be diagnosed as autistic, and of

[00:05:42] course, autism is a spectrum and Sebastian was high-functioning. His mother noted that

[00:05:48] sometimes Sebastian would hit and bite himself and throw himself to the ground. He also struggled

[00:05:54] to communicate in social situations. He didn't really understand what was appropriate and

[00:05:59] not appropriate to talk about. This didn't stop him from attending school and going to

[00:06:04] class with peers his own age. He was incredibly bright, he just learned differently. And he

[00:06:11] was even about to receive an award for his work with the Future Farmers of America just

[00:06:16] before he went missing. Sebastian also had sensory issues, very common with neurodivergent

[00:06:22] people and he hated getting his hands dirty. He was also a picky eater who refused to eat

[00:06:29] meat during his younger years, but eventually he came around to enjoying chicken nuggets.

[00:06:34] He also loved vegetables and oatmeal, sushi, tofu, and everything breakfast. Sebastian

[00:06:41] enjoyed playing video games like Modern Warfare, he enjoyed cooking, building things with his

[00:06:46] Legos, and fishing with his dad, though he refused to touch the slimy fish, and I get

[00:06:52] it. While Sebastian was very much a loved little boy, the love was lost between his

[00:06:58] parents Seth and Katie, and they divorced. It's alleged that the divorce was a messy

[00:07:05] one. His mother would remarry a man named Chris Proudfoot, who became Sebastian's stepfather

[00:07:11] and had a daughter of his own that he brought to the relationship. Despite no longer parenting

[00:07:16] together, Katie and Seth would share custody of Sebastian, with Seth having custody of

[00:07:22] him every other weekend and on holiday breaks. But for the most part, Sebastian lived in

[00:07:27] Tennessee at the home of his mother and stepfather.

[00:07:31] February 25th, 2024 would be the last time that Seth spoke to his son. They had a two

[00:07:38] and a half minute phone conversation the day before Sebastian went missing. Seth would

[00:07:43] later say quote, It was a normal Thursday, and I called him at about 3.30. He was already

[00:07:50] home from school. It was a typical conversation like ones that they had had before. He asked

[00:07:56] his son how his day was, how school was going, and if he had any homework. Then he told him

[00:08:02] that he loved him before saying goodbye for the last time.

[00:08:07] According to his mother Katie, a few hours after that, they had gone out for dinner together.

[00:08:13] Her husband Chris didn't join them because he was away all weekend in Memphis, Tennessee,

[00:08:18] about three and a half hours away. Chris worked as a crane operator and he had a job on a

[00:08:24] construction project at St. Jude's Hospital. By this time, Katie had left the Navy and

[00:08:30] she was working as an installation technician, which allowed her to stay closer to home.

[00:08:36] Sebastian and his mom returned home after dinner and at around 9pm, Katie tells Sebastian

[00:08:41] that it's time to go to bed. He's got school in the morning.

[00:08:46] About an hour later, at around 10pm, Katie said she heard a thud noise coming from her

[00:08:51] son's room. She didn't go up to check on him, but she called out to Sebastian and

[00:08:57] he responded, then she yelled to him that it's time to go to sleep. That would be

[00:09:02] the last time that she would hear her son's voice.

[00:09:06] Katie says that she stays up until midnight talking to her husband on the phone, but she's

[00:09:11] getting tired and she's starting to fall asleep, so he tells her to take the dogs and

[00:09:16] to go to bed. She puts the dog in their kennel for the evening and then she goes to sleep

[00:09:22] in the master bedroom, which is located on the opposite end of the house as Sebastian's

[00:09:27] room.

[00:09:28] The next morning, Katie goes to her son's bedroom to get him up for school at around

[00:09:32] 6am, but he's not in his room. She searched the rest of the house for Sebastian, but he's

[00:09:38] nowhere to be found in the house. All of his shoes are still by the front door, so wherever

[00:09:44] he went, he did it barefoot. His Nintendo Switch and his phone were left behind. The

[00:09:51] only thing that appeared to be missing was a yellow flashlight that Sebastian was known

[00:09:56] to play with, so perhaps he went out into the night with this flashlight in hand.

[00:10:01] Katie called her husband Chris on the phone to tell him Sebastian is missing and she can't

[00:10:06] find him anywhere, and Chris is the one to call the authorities.

[00:10:11] I just want my baby to be okay. I don't know where he's at.

[00:10:17] Pretty normal, he was playing in his room. When I told him to go to bed, he did. He said,

[00:10:27] goodnight mom, I love you. And he's not a runner. He's never run away before. I don't

[00:10:38] know why. I don't know why he walked out that door.

[00:10:44] At approximately 11.17am that Monday morning, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issues

[00:10:50] an endangered child alert, which states that Sebastian was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt,

[00:10:56] black sweatpants and glasses. A massive search for Sebastian, including more than 200 searchers,

[00:11:03] is launched, and they use every tool in their tool belt, including canine units, mounted

[00:11:09] officers, drones and helicopters. Sebastian is not the kind of child to run away or to

[00:11:15] leave home on his own. It's just something that he wouldn't do. So the next day, authorities

[00:11:21] change the alert to an Amber Alert. When an Amber Alert is issued, it means that the

[00:11:27] police believe that the child is in immediate danger and possibly could have been abducted.

[00:11:34] Investigators ask residents living in Sebastian's neighborhood if they could check their security

[00:11:38] cameras and doorbell cams to see if maybe they could have captured anything. One neighbor

[00:11:44] does come forward with something interesting that their security camera captured in the

[00:11:49] early hours of February 26th at around 3.10am. This particular camera points towards the

[00:11:56] back of Sebastian's home in a common area. It's really dark and grainy and difficult

[00:12:03] to make out exactly what is in this video, particularly because their neighborhood doesn't

[00:12:08] have any street lights. What is seen on the video is two specks of light that appear to

[00:12:14] be people holding flashlights. You can't actually see the people or make out who they are, you

[00:12:20] just kind of see these two specks of lights bouncing around in the dark. This is interesting

[00:12:26] to investigators because again, they believe Sebastian left home with a flashlight in

[00:12:31] hand. However, this tip has never been confirmed to be Sebastian, so we don't know if this

[00:12:37] has anything to do with his disappearance.

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[00:16:25] is active. Could it have been someone with Sebastian? Did Sebastian leave home with someone

[00:16:33] else carrying a flashlight? His father, Seth, is almost certain that his son wouldn't

[00:16:39] just go with a stranger or get into a vehicle unless he knew the person. Sebastian was known

[00:16:44] to be very skeptical of new people. Unfortunately, the police didn't have a whole lot to go on.

[00:16:51] There weren't any signs of a struggle at the house or of foul play. The search dogs that

[00:16:57] they utilized hadn't even been able to pick up a scent trail. Four days into the search,

[00:17:03] the police decide to drain a pond which is located just east of Sebastian's home but

[00:17:08] they don't find anything. While Sebastian's biological father, Seth, was boots on the

[00:17:13] ground assisting with every search effort, the public quickly began to scrutinize the

[00:17:18] behavior of Sebastian's mom, Katie, and stepdad, Chris. Most notably, Chris and Katie didn't

[00:17:25] appear to be helping with any of the search efforts. In fact, they had left town and were

[00:17:31] now staying in an RV camper. Stepdad Chris had to go back to work and his wife, Katie,

[00:17:37] decided to go be with him during that time. I don't want to judge the decisions made

[00:17:42] by a mother who is legitimately missing their child, but I do know that if one of my children

[00:17:47] ever went missing, I would not stop looking for a single second. I don't think I would

[00:17:52] be able to sleep knowing that they were just out there somewhere and I was sitting at home.

[00:17:58] But to be fair, the Proudfoot's said that they left town because of all of the threats

[00:18:02] that they were receiving and speculation around their possible involvement in Sebastian's

[00:18:07] disappearance. They just didn't want to deal with it.

[00:18:11] You're not in this situation. You don't quite understand. I wish people would step back,

[00:18:19] take a different wide open view, and not assume what they know. It's just better to stick to

[00:18:26] the facts. Mom, myself, and the father have worked very fully and cooperatively with all

[00:18:33] agencies across the board. We have anything that they've wanted, we have provided.

[00:18:39] It's important to note that law enforcement has said both Katie and Chris had been cooperative

[00:18:44] throughout this investigation. But that didn't stop the court of public opinion from pointing

[00:18:49] their finger directly at the couple, particularly when it came out that there was a CPS report

[00:18:56] from a few years before Sebastian went missing involving him and his stepdad. According to

[00:19:03] the Proudfoot's, there was a situation where Sebastian was caught lying and his stepdad

[00:19:09] swatted his butt with a belt. Do with that information what you will.

[00:19:14] Sebastian never told anyone that he was being abused at his mother and stepfather's home,

[00:19:20] but his bio dad Seth claimed that shortly before he went missing, Sebastian told him that he

[00:19:26] didn't want to go back to his mother's house. He wouldn't say why, just that he

[00:19:31] didn't want to go back there. I'm not suggesting that Sebastian Rogers was being abused, and

[00:19:37] I'm not inferring that his mother and stepfather are involved in his disappearance. I'm just

[00:19:42] telling you what has been said about their living arrangements.

[00:19:46] On March 7th, the police decide to search the landfill in White Plains, Kentucky as

[00:19:50] a precautionary measure. This is where the trash from the Proudfoot's home would have

[00:19:55] been taken, so they want to see if there's anything there that might be helpful in determining

[00:20:00] what happened to Sebastian. They don't find anything useful, and the search for Sebastian

[00:20:06] is scaled back. Investigators really don't have much to go on.

[00:20:11] The United Cajun Navy joins the search efforts, but their help is short-lived. They have to

[00:20:17] pull out due to threats made to their volunteers. Which I can't understand. Like, what kind

[00:20:23] of threats are being made to volunteers who are helping to search for a missing boy? They

[00:20:27] shared a statement, and I'll read a portion of it here for you now.

[00:20:31] Anyone who deliberately impedes the investigation and search for Sebastian Rogers will automatically

[00:20:38] be considered a person of interest, especially when we know those individuals have extensive

[00:20:44] criminal records. We are finalizing some intel that we will be turning over to law enforcement,

[00:20:51] and then we will begin the process of exposing those who actively tried to stop this search.

[00:20:57] These people are dangerous criminals, and the good people in and around Summer County have

[00:21:03] a right to know about the evil embedded in their community. That is powerful. And wild.

[00:21:11] And honestly, I look forward to hearing more. Sebastian's father, Seth, has also said that

[00:21:16] he's had people trying to stop him from searching for his son, even intimidating

[00:21:21] him and his team of volunteers. There have even been people taking down flyers and posters

[00:21:28] with Sebastian's face on it. Why? Like, what is the motive there? Is there a reason

[00:21:34] that these people don't want Sebastian to be found?

[00:21:38] Almost a month later, investigators announced that they have found a pair of glasses that

[00:21:43] they believe may have belonged to Sebastian. These glasses looked like the ones that Sebastian

[00:21:49] always wore, but ultimately this piece of evidence is ruled out as belonging to Sebastian,

[00:21:55] so it's another dead end. I can't imagine how incredibly frustrating it must be for

[00:22:00] Sebastian's parents to have so little evidence pointing to what happened to their son. It's

[00:22:06] wild to think that this 15-year-old teenage boy was able to leave home in the middle of

[00:22:12] the night and not leave behind a single clue.

[00:22:17] In mid-April, Sebastian's bio-dad Seth decides to take matters into his own hands, and he

[00:22:22] hires his own private investigators. Sadly, he's really working alone in these efforts,

[00:22:29] and he says that his ex-wife and her husband, they haven't had any communication with

[00:22:34] him. And that's heartbreaking. Their divorce was allegedly tumultuous, but if there was

[00:22:41] ever a time to come together, it's when your baby is missing.

[00:22:45] The lack of progress in this case is maddening. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, a photo

[00:22:52] pops up online, and it appears to show Sebastian Rogers at a park in North Carolina. Now if

[00:22:59] you're listening to the audio version of the podcast, you're obviously not going

[00:23:03] to be able to see the photo, but I will post it on my Facebook. It is crazy how much the

[00:23:08] teenage boy in this photo looks just like Sebastian. His father, Seth, even claimed that, in his

[00:23:16] opinion, this was Sebastian. The location of this park is about 6 hours away from where

[00:23:22] the boy went missing. The woman who took the photo also thought that this person looked

[00:23:27] like Sebastian, and that's why she took it. She said she gave the photo to TBI, the

[00:23:32] Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, but when she didn't hear back from them, she decided

[00:23:37] to post the photo online. When Seth saw the photo, he drove to the park and he asked them

[00:23:43] if he could see any surveillance video footage that they had from the day that the photo

[00:23:47] was taken, but according to him, they said they couldn't show it to him because it was

[00:23:53] an active investigation. While Seth would say that he didn't recognize the clothing or

[00:23:59] the shoes that the teen in the photo was wearing, they could have been new. Unfortunately, just

[00:24:05] days ago, law enforcement released a statement saying that after careful investigation,

[00:24:11] the boy in the photo is not Sebastian Rogers. The boy's mother has come forward to identify

[00:24:17] the picture as her son, so it's not Sebastian after all. And just like that, one of the

[00:24:24] best potential leads in this case is squashed. Sebastian's mother, Katie, has said that

[00:24:31] she believes someone has taken her son. In an interview on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,

[00:24:37] she said quote, I feel like if he had been close to the house or had walked off that

[00:24:42] we would have found him by now with as many people as have been searching. Katie also

[00:24:48] said that she has taken and passed a lie detector test, but that her husband and Sebastian's

[00:24:54] stepfather, Chris, had not taken one yet. Chris told Nancy Grace, I have offered and

[00:25:00] volunteered on many occasions to take a polygraph, but I was told directly by law enforcement

[00:25:05] that because of my whereabouts, I did not need one. Remember, he was away at a job site the

[00:25:11] weekend that Sebastian disappeared. He was about three hours away from the home, which

[00:25:16] I assume could be backed up with evidence like cell phone records. Nancy Grace asked

[00:25:21] him if he would complete one if she set it up for him, and he said yes, but it's unclear

[00:25:27] if he's actually taken her up on that offer. His statement also contradicts another one

[00:25:33] of his comments that he posted on Facebook, where he says that he actually has taken a

[00:25:37] test and he passed it. I don't know what the truth is here, but neither of them has

[00:25:43] been named a suspect in Sebastian's disappearance, and it's important to keep that in mind.

[00:25:48] We can speculate all day, but law enforcement has even gone as far as to say that there

[00:25:54] isn't even any evidence that something criminal had happened to Sebastian. As a side note,

[00:26:00] Sebastian's bio dad Seth has in fact taken a polygraph test and he has passed. This summer,

[00:26:06] Seth was going to take full-time custody of Sebastian where he was going to begin online

[00:26:11] schooling, which would have been a more effective method of learning for him. But now, Seth

[00:26:17] is tirelessly searching for his teenage son, who hasn't been seen or heard from since

[00:26:22] the night of February 25th when he went to bed at his mother's home in Tennessee.

[00:26:28] There is no indication that he is no longer with us, but there is no indication that he

[00:26:34] is still with us. So, the search continues.

[00:26:38] I'm hoping he's still alive. You know, that's my main hope right now, is that he's not deceased.

[00:26:47] I mean, I keep praying that he's alive. I keep praying that somebody's going to see him,

[00:26:52] that somebody's going to call 911. And if somebody has him, you need to give him back.

[00:26:58] He's my son and he doesn't belong to nobody, but damn it, he's mine. And he's mine.

[00:27:06] Anyone with information about Sebastian Rogers' whereabouts is asked to contact the Summer

[00:27:11] County Emergency Communication Center at 615-451-3838 or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.

[00:27:23] That's it for me tonight. If you want to reach out, you can find me on Facebook at Serial

[00:27:28] Napper. I also have a Serial Napper true crime discussion group. It's called Serial Society

[00:27:33] and I'll have the link in my show notes. I'd love to chat with you about this case and

[00:27:37] all of the other cases I cover plus everything else true crime.

[00:27:41] You can find my audio on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. I post all

[00:27:46] of my episodes in video format over on YouTube, so go check it out. And if you're watching

[00:27:50] on YouTube, I would love if you could give me a thumbs up and subscribe. I'm over on

[00:27:55] X, formerly known as Twitter, at Serial Underscore Napper and I even post things on TikTok. Serial

[00:28:00] Napper Nick and that's all one word.

[00:28:03] Until next time, sweet dreams, stay kind, especially in the comments. Bye.

[00:28:12] you