Southport police: 11-year-old, found in 2023 after missing for 9 years, missing again

Thompson is believed to be with his mother, Dreama Ferguson. Ferguson does not have legal custody of him.

Thompson was also reported missing twice when he was one year old and living in Durham County in 2014. His birth parents, Dreama Ferguson and Andre Thompson Sr., lost custody of him but never handed him over to the Durham County Department of Social Services.

Detective Matthew Burgess with Southport PD says he received a tip last year that Thompson was in the Southport area. By August, the department had located him with his mother, Dreama.

At that time, DSS decided to place Thompson in his grandmother, Pamela Ferguson’s, custody. But now, they claim Thompson is missing again.

“Since [August], DSS had made several attempts to make contact with the child to make sure he was taken care of and they received no cooperation from the family,” Burgess said.

Pamela Ferguson has been charged with Failure to Report a Child’s Disappearance and Obstructing Justice. It is believed she allowed Thompson to leave with Dreama.

Dreama Ferguson and Andre Thompson are still nowhere to be found.

“We do know that Dreama has a driver’s license. We know she can hit any two-lane road between North Carolina and Florida because she has relatives throughout,” Burgess said. “We do not believe that there would be any indication that the parent would cause any physical harm to him whatsoever, but by running from this situation you could unintentionally put the child in harm.”

Burgess believes Thompson could have been in the Southport area for a long time during the initial 10-year stretch he was missing.

An anonymous source told WECT news that Thompson even played on a community basketball team in Southport with her son during the 2022-2023 winter season. She said he was often accompanied by his mother, Dreama, and no one in Southport knew that he was technically reported missing and that Dreama did not have legal custody of him.

Police describe Thompson as being 4′10″ tall, weighing 130 pounds and having black hair with brown eyes.