Tip from 400 miles away leads to recovery of missing Gastonia teen, NC police say

A 16-year-old boy who went missing from Gaston County on Halloween has been located with a tip originating from Florida, according to Gastonia police.

Details of where the teen spent the past five months have not been released.

“Acting on a tip from North Florida, officers have helped locate 16-year-old Luis Tario, who had been missing from Gastonia since October 31,” Gastonia police said in an April 9 Facebook post.

“The circumstances surrounding his disappearance remain under investigation.”

The boy’s father, Alfredo Tario, posted a statement on Facebook noting the boy is “back home in Gastonia.”

“Thank you to all our families, friends, all the churches that helped us, and everyone that has prayed with us,” Alfredo Tario wrote.

“We ask for your continued prayers as we all heal, and we give our Lord Jesus Christ all the praise and worship and honor that he deserves as he gave us this miracle of finding our son Luis. He is safe and well.”

A $5,000 reward was offered for information leading to the teen’s recovery.

Family members initially reported he might be experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of his disappearance.

It was suspected the boy left home in a 2017 Nissan SUV, police said. However, his cell phone did not connect to any cell towers, and the car did not appear “on cameras anywhere in the southeastern United States,” police wrote in a Jan. 29 Facebook post.

Gastonia is about a 20-mile drive west from uptown Charlotte.

This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 7:10 AM with the headline "Tip from 400 miles away leads to recovery of missing Gastonia teen, NC police say."