(NewsNation) — Kenny DeLand Jr., the American student studying abroad who made national headlines when he went missing in France, has been reunited with his family, Grenoble prosecutor Eric Vaillant said on Twitter Saturday.
According to radio network FranceInfo, DeLand Jr. has “joined his mother in Lyon” and should be flying back to the United States on Saturday, Vaillant said.
This past week, the study abroad student was found in Spain.
DeLand Jr. had been finishing up a semester at Saint John Fisher University in New York in the southeast part of France, near the border of Italy and Switzerland.
His family grew concerned after DeLland Jr. got on a train on Nov.27, and they didn’t hear from him since. Before that, he had been “in contact with me almost daily,” said Ken DeLand Sr., Kenny’s father.
On Friday, the family announced DeLand Jr. was found safe, and that they received a call from him in the early morning hours.
DeLand Jr.’s mom was in France Friday, preparing to bring him home. On Saturday, Vaillant shared an article from FranceInfo confirming that DeLand Jr. “found his family and will return to the United States.”
The circumstances around DeLand Jr.’s initial disappearance remain unclear. His parents, though, said on their website that DeLand Jr. saw himself on the news, and reached out to them.
“Without everyone’s help, we wouldn’t have our son, hopefully, home for Christmas,” they wrote.