2.5 years, no arrests, no suspects: TN father describes ‘nightmare’ since teen son’s disappearance in exclusive interview

What This Story Is About

• The father of Sebastian Rogers, a missing Tennessee teenager who has autism and a rare condition that causes intellectual disabilities, is speaking out after a nearly two-and-a-half year investigation led to no public leads.

Why It Matters

• Sebastian Rogers’ 2024 disappearance sparked Tennessee’s largest-ever search for a missing child in state history.

What Happens Next

• The lawsuits will now make their way through the federal court system as Seth Rogers vows to continue searching for his son and hold the agencies accountable.

For Context

• Seth Rogers has filed two federal lawsuits against the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, alleging both agencies failed his son — one before his February 2024 disappearance and one during the investigation that followed.

Catch Up

• Unlike the sheriff’s office complaint, which argues investigators failed to pursue critical leads after Sebastian vanished, the DCS suit claims the agency failed to take protective steps that could have prevented Sebastian’s disappearance in the first place.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Seth Rogers has been living in a “nightmare” for nearly two-and-a-half years.

In February 2024, his 15-year-old son Sebastian Rogers suddenly disappeared. He left his mother and stepfather’s house without his shoes or cell phone. Despite his disappearance fueling one of Tennessee’s largest searches for a missing child in state history, there have yet to be any arrests, named suspects or even persons of interest.

“People say I’m strong and I’ve got a lot of patience ... but they have no idea,” Seth Rogers told WSMV4 in an exclusive interview. “Being strong? I’m not strong. I’m just determined to find my son.”

Sebastian has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, severe combined-type ADHD and 6Q27 Chromosome Deletion Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder linked to intellectual disabilities and developmental delays. Court filings and Seth have confirmed that the teen required extensive support services and never left home by himself.

For Seth, Sebastian is more than just his son, but his “saving grace.”

“Before him, I was probably heading down the wrong path in life. Then I had a child. It was like God gave me a purpose in life, and he still is,” he told WSMV4. “I just got to find him.”

Finding his son has proven difficult. Knowing his son’s typical behavior and seeing no suspects in the case has left Rogers with more questions than answers.

“For him to leave that house without his shoes, without a coat, without his backpack, without Legos in his pocket, taking his [Nintendo] Switch or grabbing his phone, he would have had to be running,” Rogers said of the day Sebastian disappeared. “Somebody’s in the house and he’s trying to get away.”

It doesn’t help that he believes the investigation itself was botched.

This week, Rogers filed two lawsuits — one against the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office and another against the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services — saying both agencies “failed” Sebastian.

According to Rogers, DCS issues date back before Sebastian disappeared. At the time he went missing, Sebastian was living with his mother, Katie Proudfoot, and his stepfather. Rogers alleges that DCS had opened and shut multiple cases involving Sebastian without ever letting Rogers know, or properly addressing the situations.

He alleges the sheriff’s office failed to secure his ex’s house as a crime scene and accused authorities of not communicating with him for more than a year about the case.

But he’s not done searching for Sebastian and he believes his son is still alive.

“The weight of the world that I feel on my shoulders every day, unless you’ve been in the situation of your child missing and not knowing where he’s at, you don’t have a clue,” Rogers said. “...He’s alive. He’s just lost.”