He Was Only 15 — But Temar Boggs Refused to Look Away When a Little Girl Disappeared

It began as an ordinary summer afternoon in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Fifteen-year-old Temar Boggs was not a police officer. He had no special training, no emergency equipment and no expectation that, before the day was over, people across the country would be calling him a hero.

He was simply a teenager spending time with friends.

Then word began spreading through the neighborhood: a five-year-old girl named Jocelyn Rojas was missing.

Within hours, what had started as an ordinary July day would turn into a desperate search involving police officers, firefighters, neighbors and volunteers. And in the middle of it, two teenage boys on bicycles would make a decision that helped bring a frightened child home.

The story has been repeatedly condensed online into a simple image: a 15-year-old boy sees a suspicious car, chases it for 15 minutes and saves a kidnapped little girl.

The verified story is even more remarkable.

Temar was not alone. His friend Chris Garcia was with him during the crucial pursuit, and both teenagers were later officially honored for their actions.

What distinguished them was not superhuman strength or some impossible act of bravery.

It was that when they learned a child was missing, they chose not to look away.

A Five-Year-Old Vanishes

On July 11, 2013, five-year-old Jocelyn Rojas disappeared in Lancaster Township, just outside the city of Lancaster.

According to contemporary reports, Jocelyn had been outside when she vanished. Police believed that a man had approached her and lured her toward his vehicle by offering to take her for ice cream.

Her disappearance was reported during the late afternoon.

ABC News, citing local authorities, reported that Jocelyn's mother reported her missing at approximately 4:20 p.m. Associated Press reporting placed the incident at around 4:30 p.m. The difference is minor, but both accounts establish the same terrifying reality: a very young child had suddenly disappeared from a residential neighborhood.

For a parent, there may be few situations more frightening.

A child who had been visible only moments earlier was gone.

People began searching.

The response quickly expanded far beyond Jocelyn's immediate family. Police officers, firefighters, K-9 teams and residents poured into the area.

Lancaster Township Fire Chief Ron Comfort told ABC News that more than 100 police officers, firefighters and K-9 personnel participated in the effort.

This was no casual neighborhood search.

Authorities were treating the disappearance with urgency.

Every street, car and unexplained movement suddenly mattered.

And among those who heard what was happening was Temar Boggs.

“We Made Our Own Little Search Party”

Temar was a 15-year-old high school freshman living in the area.

According to reporting originating with LancasterOnline, he had been spending time near the Lancaster Arms apartment complex and had even been helping move a couch that day when news of the missing child reached him and his friends.

He did not know Jocelyn.

He did not know her family.

There was no personal obligation requiring him to become involved.

But Temar and several friends decided to help anyway.

He later explained that the teenagers gathered their friends and created their own small search group.

That seemingly simple decision is one of the most important parts of the entire story.

The boys could easily have assumed that the adults would handle it.

There were already police officers in the neighborhood. Fire crews were searching. Experienced professionals had dogs, radios, vehicles and organized procedures.

What difference could a group of teenagers possibly make?

Temar and his friends did not know the answer.

They searched anyway.

Contemporary reporting said the group checked areas around the neighborhood, including places authorities thought a young child might have wandered.

At some point, most people would have been forgiven for concluding that trained professionals were better equipped to continue.

But Temar had a feeling that the little girl was nearby.

He and Chris Garcia got onto bicycles and kept looking.

That decision would matter enormously.

The Car That Did Not Look Right

During their search, Temar noticed a vehicle behaving in a way that attracted his attention.

Reports described it as a reddish-purple or maroon-colored sedan.

The car appeared to be moving through the neighborhood in an unusual pattern, turning along side streets and changing direction.

According to accounts later carried by CNN and local affiliate WGAL, Temar and Chris followed.

As the teenagers got closer, they saw something that changed the situation instantly.

There was a little girl inside.

And she appeared to match the description of missing five-year-old Jocelyn Rojas.

ABC News reported that Temar and Chris recognized Jocelyn from the description authorities had circulated.

Now the boys faced an entirely different decision.

Searching for a missing child was one thing.

Following a vehicle they suspected might contain an abducted child was something else entirely.

The person driving could have been dangerous.

The boys were on bicycles.

The adult they were pursuing was inside a car.

They had no way of knowing how the driver would react if he realized they had seen him.

But they kept going.

Fifteen Minutes on Bicycles

The pursuit reportedly continued for roughly 15 minutes.

That detail appears consistently in multiple contemporary accounts.

Temar later told reporters that whenever they followed the car down one street, the driver would turn or change direction, and the teenagers would continue after him.

CNN's account, republished by WTVR, described the chase as lasting approximately 15 minutes before the driver apparently realized the teenagers were not going away.

UPI reported the same basic sequence: the two boys spotted Jocelyn in a car roughly half a mile from where she had disappeared and pursued the vehicle until the driver stopped and released her.

Consider the imbalance.

A car against two bicycles.

An unknown adult against two 15-year-olds.

The driver could accelerate faster. He could travel farther. The boys could become exhausted.

Yet bicycles had one important advantage in that neighborhood: the teenagers knew the streets and could continue maneuvering through the area.

More importantly, they refused to stop.

Temar later suggested that he was prepared to do something even more dangerous if necessary to stop the vehicle. Fortunately, it never came to that.

The driver made the choice that everyone desperately hoped he would make.

He stopped.

And he let Jocelyn out.

“I Need My Mom”

For a frightened five-year-old, everything that had happened during those hours must have been overwhelming.

But once outside the vehicle, Jocelyn saw the teenagers who had been following the car.

She ran toward them.

Temar recalled that she immediately expressed the most natural desire imaginable for a child in that situation: she wanted her mother.

ABC News reported that Jocelyn ran to Temar after the driver released her and told him she needed her mom.

The driver left.

The teenagers remained with the child.

Police were contacted, and Jocelyn was returned to safety.

ABC reported that authorities took her to a hospital as a precaution and that police said she was physically unharmed. AP likewise reported that Lancaster Township Fire Chief Ron Comfort said she was frightened but showed no obvious physical injuries.