The amazing story of a boy finding his missing mother on YouTube
A YouTuber has helped locate a missing woman living on the streets of downtown Los Angeles.
Brooke Roberts, an Australian who is better known for social experiments and pranks, made a video while he delivered food to the homeless for the Fourth of July.
In the video, there is a scene at the two minute and 29 second mark where Roberts can be seen handing a sandwich to a woman with blonde hair. She is smoking a cigarette and reading a magazine while sitting on the gutter of a street in the notorious area, Skid Row. When Roberts hands her the bag of food she politely responds, "thank you so much."
In Florida, a young boy by the name of Evan Olsen was watching YouTube videos online. He came across Roberts' video and stopped in shock when he spotted the woman receiving the food package. It was his mother, Jaime Garlinghouse, who had been missing since November.
The family had assumed something horrible had happened to her. She had been living with addiction and mental illness for the last decade when she suddenly vanished. She had also been in trouble with the law previously.
About a week after Roberts posted his video online, he received an email from Evan's father Eddie.
"In your feeding the homeless on 4th of July video at two minutes and 29 seconds you came across a lady sitting with a red sweater black tight pants purple shoes and you gave her a bag of food [sic]," it read. "That's my son's mother. She's been missing since November. I can't believe you found her, you are a miracle, a God send."
Image: brooke roberts / youtube
Eddie explained his son, Evan, had been crying for the past hour and that he needed to know the location where the video was filmed so he could try and locate the boy's mother. They couldn't believe she was alive and that they had finally found her — through a YouTube video.
"We thought she had passed away, but by some kind of miracle, my son Evan, who is 10 years old, was watching YouTube videos like he always does. It was such a relief to me, and to the whole family," Eddie said on a video message he made for Roberts. "Evan cried for an hour and a half, he couldn't even talk for 20 minutes. It was pretty amazing, he was so relieved to know she is still alive."
Roberts and Eddie made plans to meet and travel back to the spot where the video was filmed in Los Angeles. They spent a few days walking the streets and asking people if they knew or had seen Garlinghouse. As Roberts arrived back at the hotel one evening, he received a text message from Eddie saying he had finally found Evan's mom.
Image: brooke roberts / youtube
Image: brooke roberts / youtube
Sadly, she was not in a good state, so Eddie took her to a hotel for a shower and a good night sleep. The next day he got her a mobile phone and new clothes. Unfortunately, Eddie can't afford to support Garlinghouse but they hope to get her home to Florida soon.
Brooke ended his final video in tears, pleading for people to help by donating a dollar to the plight of Garlinghouse and her family.
Image: Brooke roberts / youtube
