LIVONIA, Mich. – A man walked into the Livonia Police Department Wednesday, exactly 25 years after D’Wan Sims disappeared, claiming he believes he could be that missing child.
D’Wan Sims was reported missing on Dec. 11, 1994 at the Wonderland Mall in Livonia. His mother, Dwanna Harris, told police he disappeared while shopping with her.
In the days after D’Wan Sims went missing Harris said she felt like she was being treated as a suspect. Now, she’s speaking with Livonia police about what happened that day in 1994 when she said her little boy vanished.
Harris is living out of state, but Livonia police said that she has spoken with them and the man who claims to be her missing son. She asked him things that only she and her son would know about D’Wan like his birth date and some birth marks he had as a child. The man was unable to answer her questions.
Police said the man also suggested that him and Harris meet each other at a police station, but Harris was not comfortable with that.
Baby photo of man who thinks he may be D’Wan:
In 1994, surveillance video revealed that Harris was at the mall, but didn’t show her son. That led investigators to believe he was never at the mall in the first place. The family became the focus of suspicion.
“I was here at the department and we looked at all of the video, we checked everything, and we never saw D’Wan with Ms. Sims,” Livonia police Captain Ron Taig said.
READ: Man thinks he may be D’Wan Sims, boy who went missing in 1994; Livonia police take DNA sample
The man has given DNA to Livonia police to be tested. Police said the missing boy’s mother, Dwanna Harris, is willing to work with them as the investigation unfolds.
The DNA the man gave police and DNA from D’Wan Sims is at a lab in Texas. Officials are going to test the man’s DNA against D’Wan’s, Harris’ and D’Wan’s fathers DNA.
Officials said results from that test can be expected in three to four months.
D’Wan Sims photo:
Police said they first heard about the man’s theory after he posted his belief about his identity on Facebook. He also shared concerns about what his parents told him about his childhood. He went to the police station a couple days ago.
“I guess what’s odd is that he claimed that he didn’t want any of this information out in the media and from what I understand he has put this out on social media,” Taig said.
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Age-progressed photo of D’Wan: