Body of missing Terrace Park teen found

CINCINNATI - The search for a missing Terrace Park teen came to a tragic conclusion on Tuesday.

The body of 16-year-old Collin Barton was found along Wooster Pike in Columbia Township, about a quarter mile west of Terrace Park. Police say it appears the teen was hit by a car.

A 23-year-old Milford man went to police Sunday morning to report that he thought he hit a deer on his way home from work hours earlier. Officers responded to the scene but were unable to locate anything.

"He reported to the Milford PD that he believes he struck a deer. But the information obtained from that point is questionable whether it was actually a deer or whether it was a person," said Captain Walt Hendrick of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

The driver went back to police on Tuesday once again asking officers to search the area. The Terrace Park life squad was then dispatched to the scene. At around 3 p.m., life squad members located the body of Barton about 15 feet off the roadway, down an embankment.

An autopsy is expected to be performed on Wednesday.

The Bartons issued a statement Tuesday, saying they don't know how to express their gratitude for all the love everyone has expressed for their child and family.

Barton was last seen early Sunday morning leaving a house party on Cambridge Avenue in Madison Place between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. He said he was going to walk several miles to his residence on Home Street in Terrace Park, but wasn't seen again.

Members of the Hamilton County Urban Search and Rescue Team scoured miles of both banks of the Little Miami River on Monday. Searchers concentrated on the river because the last ping on Collin's cellphone was traced to the Bass Island area near the junction of U.S. Route 50 and Newtown Road.

In a statement issued Monday, Sean Barton, Collin's father said that his son was upset over a recent break up with a girlfriend and lied about where he had been on Saturday night.

Police have not released any other information at this time.