What if he had a mother who thought he was dead? It was his secret horror to fathom a mother elated at the sight of him. Because whoever her stolen boy had been, he was most certainly dead, and Caleb wanted him to stay that way.
This is kinda like Johnny Gosch, if anyone knows that case. A kit of people believe he was trafficked and doesn’t want to endanger his family, there was some pretty solid evidence behind it; if I remember correctly. His case was the reason kids started appearing on milk cartons(I wish they still did that)