Authorities are investigating a teen's claims to be missing boy Timmothy Pitzen who vanished without a trace in 2011.

The 14-year-old claims to have escaped two kidnappers who have been holding him hostage for eight years.

Timmothy hasn't been seen since his mother took him out of school and took her own life while they were on a three-day holiday.

He was six when his father dropped him off at primary school in Aurora, Indiana on the morning of May 11, 2011. Soon after he was picked up by his mother Amy Fry-Pitzen who took him on holiday for three days before she died in a hotel room in Rockford.

She left behind notes saying Timmothy was safe but claimed he would never be found again.

The boy escaped from a Red Roof Inn, a US discount hotel, where he says he was being held by the two kidnappers, according to an Ohio police report filed on Wednesday. The boy was unsure where the hotel was.

After escaping, the boy said he ran and "kept running across a bridge" until he reached Kentucky in Ohio, according to the police report.

His face was bruised and he was "very scared and agitated", according to residents from Newport, Cincinnati who encountered the boy when he was found.

People who live near West eighth and Columbia in Newport saw the 14-year-old boy today.say his face was bruised and he was very scared and agitated. One woman says the boy told her he'd been running for two hours and that he had been passed around for seven years. @Local12 pic.twitter.com/WtrCOfPjEH

— Brad Underwood (@BUnderwoodWKRC) April 3, 2019

A witness told CBS the boy told her he'd been running for two hours, explaining he'd "been passed around for seven years".

In the report the boy described two kidnappers, saying they drove a Ford SUV with Wisconsin licence plates.

Local police searches of a Red Roof Inn and other nearby motels revealed nothing.

"We have no idea if this is Timmothy Pitzen," Aurora Police Sergeant Bill Rowley said.

"We don't know if it's a hoax. Obviously, everyone's hopeful, but we have to be super judicious."

The eerie disappearance of six-year-old Timmothy in 2011 left investigators following thousands of leads but unable to locate the boy. According to police reports, his mother checked into the motel without her son.

Suicide notes left by the mother stated her son was safe with people who would look after him, but she warned he would never be found.

"We'll have to vet this out," Sergeant Rowley said. "Now we have a grandmother, dad and aunt wringing their hands, hopeful. We are hoping this isn't a hoax because just imagine the let-down."

"This could be the story of a decade," he said. "But if it's not, it'll be a horrible let-down."