4 minSociety
Todd and Theo Sabatini Search Crossed Illinois and Wisconsin Before Safe Recovery
A missing-person investigation that began in McHenry followed verified sightings across state lines and ended in Milwaukee with father and toddler safe.
A routine Saturday walk became a multi-agency missing-person investigation after Todd Sabatini and his 22-month-old son, Theo, failed to return to their McHenry, Illinois, home and were later traced across state lines into Wisconsin.
Todd, 36, left with Theo around noon on Aug. 8. Family members told authorities that walking together was normal for the pair. By approximately 4 p.m., however, neither had returned. Relatives contacted McHenry police, who said the extended absence was not typical for Todd and that he had not taken the supplies expected for a long trip with a young child.
The early evidence raised immediate questions. Theo’s stroller was recovered behind a local business. Investigators then reviewed surveillance footage that showed Todd and Theo at a Jewel-Osco. Police also established that Todd tried to contact someone at Zion Lutheran Church and spoke with someone at a Taco Bell.
The sequence showed that the pair were moving through public places, but the case soon became a jurisdictional problem as well. McHenry police determined that Todd used a rideshare to travel into Wisconsin and reached the Greenfield Police Department. He spoke with an officer there, according to investigators, and at about 2 p.m. Saturday left the station on foot with Theo.
Police did not disclose what was discussed during that encounter. The detail became significant only as McHenry authorities assembled the later missing-person timeline and coordinated with Wisconsin agencies.
Officers entered Todd and Theo into law-enforcement databases and released identifying information. Theo had been seen in a blue shirt and dark shorts. Todd was described in a blue-and-black flannel shirt, gray tank top, jeans and Converse shoes. Police emphasized that Todd was clean-shaven, although some distributed photographs showed him with a beard.
By Sunday, investigators had what they described as reliable information placing the father and child in Milwaukee. McHenry police said they were conducting searches and follow-up work there while continuing to process tips and coordinate with agencies in both states.
Additional details reported after the recovery indicated that the route had included the Salem Lakes area before Greenfield. The same later account said Todd and Theo were seen in Milwaukee looking for food and other necessities and were observed on a Milwaukee County Transit System bus. Transit employees assisted detectives in the final phase of the search.
On Aug. 9, McHenry police announced that their detectives had found both Todd and Theo safe. The department publicly thanked the community and law-enforcement partners in Illinois and Wisconsin for the leads that helped locate them.
The pair were transported back to McHenry, received appropriate services and were reunited with family. Authorities said they were not seeking criminal charges at that stage, and the incident remained under investigation.
Police have not publicly explained why Todd did not return from the walk or why he traveled with Theo to Wisconsin. They also have not released details of his Greenfield police-station conversation. Those questions remain separate from the confirmed outcome: a toddler and his father were located alive after a search that required multiple jurisdictions to merge camera footage, witness contacts, transportation records and public tips into one continuous timeline.
For missing-person investigations, that coordination can be decisive. In this case, the route moved farther from McHenry even as investigators became more certain of where to look. The final recovery in Milwaukee ended the immediate danger, while leaving authorities to determine what had happened during the hours between an ordinary walk and a two-state search.
