The father of a missing Illinois boy is describing the pain felt by a recent hoax. James Pitzen, the father of the missing boy Timmothy Pitzen, says the moment he found out that a man claiming to be his missing son made the whole story up, was similar to ripping off a scab. On Friday, 23-year-old Brian Michael Rini was charged with lying to a federal agent. In an interview with NBC News, Pitzen said “it’s just painful,” adding that, “now you’ve gotta wait for the scab to heal.” Timmothy Pitzen disappeared eight years ago in Illinois. Some are hopeful that the publicity in recent days will result in new leads in the case.