Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Caleb Jacoby, Son of Jewish Boston Globe Columnist, Ran Away From Home, Police Say

Jewish teenager Caleb Jacoby, whose disappearance last week launched a massive search effort and went viral on social media, ran away from home on his own, the Brookline Police Department confirmed.

Officer Ronnie McNeil told Masslive.com that the police would not be continuing the investigation now that Jacoby has been found.

“He went on his own,” McNeil said.

The son of Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, Caleb went missing on January 6. By the following day, pleas for any information concerning the 11th grade Maimonides student were going viral on Twitter.

Caleb was found by police near Times Square in New York City around 9 p.m. on January 9. No information was released about what he was doing in New York or where he was staying during his disappearance.

The family celebrated Shabbat together on Friday in their Brookline home. Candles were lit in the dining room and Jeff Jacoby smiled at the head of the dinner table as friends and family gathered.

Caleb’s aunt, Debby Jacoby, reached at the Jacobys home, told Masslive.com, “They’re enjoying some private family time. As soon as they’re ready to talk, I’m sure they will.”

Early that day, Debby Jacoby had tweeted the following message, hinting that her nephew was finally home:

On Thursday Jeff Jacoby tweeted his thanks to all those who expressed concern for his son and helped in the search.

“Our prayers have been answered. We are thrilled to hear from the Brookline Police that our beloved son Caleb has been found and is safe. Words can’t express our gratitude for the extraordinary outpouring of kindness and support that we have received from so many people. All we can think of at this moment is how wonderful it will be to see Caleb again and shower him with love.”

Hundreds of volunteers put up flyers around the Boston area, in a search effort coordinated by Maimonides School, whose head, Naty Katz, thanked the police and community for their commitment.

“Words cannot express our profound relief and gratitude that Caleb Jacoby has been found and is safe,” Katz said on Friday.

“Additionally, we are profoundly moved by the incredible volunteer efforts that brought our community together with individuals and organizations from around the world to help in the search for Caleb,” Katz added. “This Shabbat (Sabbath), we can be especially thankful that our prayers have been answered.”

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.