According to police, Tabeson wanted a free ride to the U.S. to see his mother and sister in New York City. The classmate, Oumar Nkeng, gave his official documents to Tabeson. The boy who police thought was Nkeng was last seen at the airport on Dec. 18. The teenager made connecting flights from West Africa to Cincinnati, then missed a connecting flight to Memphis, where Nkeng's mother, Jacquelyn Ennis, lives, WLWT reported. Ky. The next morning, he left for the airport on a shuttle bus but missed his flight.
Witnesses say the boy was last spotted on the shuttle bus and at the airport.
Later reports indicated that the boy was seen heading towards New York City in a bus, but he may have exited the bus anywhere between Cincinnati and New York City. Police realized what had happened in April, when Nkeng contacted the Cameroon embassy to request permission to visit his mother in Memphis. He told embassy officials that his passport and other documents were stolen when officials discovered that he was missing in the U.S. Nkeng then admitted giving his papers to Tabeson. Police said that a picture that was given to the media in December of Nkeng was actually Tabeson. Nkeng's mother had not seen her son in nine years and assumed that the picture was that of her son.