Missing Westbury teen found safe in Manhattan

Spotted a week after police search for him ended at Hempstead Lake State Park

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The search for missing Westbury teenager Louis Germosen is officially over after his stepmother posted on Facebook last Saturday that he was found in Manhattan, where he was working on his music.

“After [an] awesome tip, and hours driving around NYC, Luis & I have Louis,” Germosen’s stepmother, Suzy Bayer, wrote on Facebook. “God is Good, Louis is alive & OK. Thank you to everyone for your help and [prayers] and thank you to the young lady that spotted him, and kept him with her till we found them.”

Nassau County Police confirmed that Germosen was found but did not provide any further details.

Germosen, 19, had been last seen leaving his Westbury home on June 28, family members said. His cousin received an anonymous text message on July 8 saying the family should “check pond thoroughly,” referring to Schodack Pond, off Peninsula Boulevard south of Hempstead Lake, on the border of Rockville Centre and West Hempstead.

In response to the cryptic text, New York state, state park and Nassau County police searched Hempstead Lake Park for several days, finding nothing. Authorities had stopped searching the park on July 13, police said, but the case remained active.

Family members feared Germosen may be dead and told news outlets that though their son was not a member of MS-13, an El Salvadoran gang that has murdered as many as five teenagers across the South Shore in recent years, he may have been hanging out with members of the group.

Bayer had not responded to the Herald’s request for comment at press time Tuesday.