Tupu Lamar Hawkins, 17, went missing from the Sagamihara Family Housing Area on Jan. 6, 2025. He was found two days later. (Tauai-upolu Tupu)

TOKYO — A missing at-risk teen, spotted leaving a U.S. Army housing area near the Japanese capital early Monday, has been found after a two-day search.

“Our missing person has been safely located,” U.S. Army Garrison Japan, headquartered at Camp Zama, wrote Wednesday morning on Facebook.

Tupu Lamar Hawkins, 17, had “been determined to be at significant risk by law enforcement,” according to an alert issued Monday evening by the Army Criminal Investigation Division. He was seen leaving the Sagamihara Family Housing Area near Zama at 3:16 a.m. that day.

Someone recognized the missing teen based on information provided to the public, Mark Lunardi, a special agent with the Criminal Investigation Division, told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday.

“Mr. Hawkins was apparently en route back to the Sagamihara Housing Area when he was located,” he said.

The teen’s mother, Tauai-upolu Tupu, thanked the American agents and Japanese police who searched around the clock for her son.

“I’m feeling grateful and thankful to [the] whole community for all the prayers and actively looking out for him,” she told Stars and Stripes via Messenger on Wednesday.

Japanese police had combed train stations and other locations for Hawkins.

The Army’s missing person alert prompted dozens of comments on the garrison’s Facebook page, including posts from someone who said they had posted flyers about the missing teen at a local train station.

However, the garrison released an update Tuesday morning from the Criminal Investigation Division discouraging people from hands-on involvement.

In its Wednesday post, the garrison thanked the community for any assistance they may have provided to those searching for Hawkins.