If that is the person I’m thinking about, he was killed in a crash later in life. I think his name was Steven.
Steven Stayner was a kid in California kidnapped when 7. Walked away from his kidnapper at age 14 with a 5 year old the guy had recently kidnapped.
He was killed in an auto accident in 1989.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Stayner
and Steven’s brother turned out to be a murderous animal, who killed two women in Yosemite Nat Park IIRC....