INDIANAPOLIS — The last time Kaeden Swanigan's family last saw him was nearly two weeks ago.
"I spent my day-to-day with him. Every single day. We had a routine Monday through Friday and the weekends. I wake up to him every morning," said his mom, Whitney Taylor.
Taylor says she reported him missing to IMPD on March 25.
And as each day would pass, Taylor said she would follow up with police to get updates.
"Every time I would go to the police station, I would get turned away. Every time I would call, no one would answer," Taylor said.
When the family says they weren't getting answers from police, they took matters into their own hands — scouring the woods and going door-to-door asking people if they saw Kaeden.
That's when family came across security video of who they believe was Kaeden bailing out of a moving car police were pursuing.
13News reporter Chase Houle reached out to IMPD twice regarding Kaeden's case. The first email he sent was Friday morning.
Houle asked police why they considered him a runaway and if he had a history of running away.
About four hours later, Houle reached out again, this time asking for an interview or a statement after speaking with his family to address claims of being brushed off by police.
Instead, police sent an incident report.
In that report, IMPD confirmed on Sunday, March 24, officers pursued a stolen vehicle Kaeden was allegedly in along with two other people in the 3900 block of Shadow Pointe Lane, near Guion Road and West 52nd Street.
Officers looked at nearby surveillance cameras to get a description of the vehicle. Within five minutes of sharing the vehicle's description, officers located the stolen vehicle, which had three juveniles inside.
According to IMPD, officers followed the stolen vehicle nearby to the Village Trace neighborhood, where the juvenile suspects ran from the car.
Officers ran after the alleged driver and one of the passengers of the stolen vehicle. According to IMPD, officers did not chase the third passenger, later identified as Kaeden.
Police took the driver into custody, and he was arrested on preliminary charges of theft of motor vehicle, resisting law enforcement and reckless driving. According to IMPD, officers then found the second suspect and took him into custody.
After detaining the two suspects, officers searched the area for Kaeden but were unable to locate him.
Police took two people into custody.
Kaeden wasn't one of them.
After 10 days and continuous pleas to police for help from Kaeden's family, Indiana conservation officers pulled his body from a retention pond near where he was last seen.
"I'm just, I'm lost for words at this moment. Never would I have imagined something like this would happen to my teenage son," said his dad, Andrew Swanigan.
Now, Kaeden's family sits on the couch, holding and supporting one another, hoping more families with missing children are heard.
They're also reflecting on the love he had for his mom and the boy who would chase his sisters down the hallway.
"He was a 15-year-old little boy, man. Charismatic. Listened to his music. Grow his hair out. You know, just wanted to be a cool little guy, man. You know? That's just what he was, man," Swanigan said.
Kaeden's cause of death is still being looked into by the Marion County coroner.
Investigators from the Critical Incident Response Team are taking the lead on the death investigation. Anyone with additional information about the incident is asked to call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.