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Who Is 'The TikTok Fugitive' And Why Is He Wanted By The FBI? Chad Hower's Viral Story Explained
A mysterious TikToker who claims to be wanted by the FBI is going viral on the app under the nickname "The TikTok Fugitive". His real name is Chad Hower and he's been trying to spread the story of his allegedly "trumped up" kidnapping charges for years so he can leave the Caribbean. Here's his story.
Who Is 'The TikTok Fugitive' And What Did He Do?
Chad Hower, better known as The TikTok Fugitive, is a Pennsylvania man and software developer currently living in Sanit Kitts with his son Aarys. Back in 2001, he and his then-wife, the mother of Aarys, separated. Four years later, Hower got full custody of Aarys after his mother interrupted their visitations.
In 2006, Hower, living in Europe at the time, flew Aarys to the United States to leave him with his mother for the summer. He left a week later. Then, Aarys' mother said she wouldn't be returning him after the summer. Hower got a judge, Judge White, to force Aarys' mother to put him on a plane and get him back to Europe.
Later that year, Hower found himself in trouble after the same judge filed a charge of international kidnapping against Hower, adding Aarys to the missing child list despite his mother knowing where he was. Because of this, Hower was briefly arrested in 2009 while traveling to Bulgaria, but was freed, supposedly sparking "a bureaucratic nightmare […] with FBI agents more interested in covering their mistakes than resolving the situation."
Hower has been fighting to get back to the U.S. and get the charges dropped for years, while Aarys has been trying to get off the missing person's list. Hower claims the FBI knows they're in the wrong and have failed twice to extradite him, also claiming they have denied him to travel back to the U.S. for a life-saving surgery. He also says he was back in Europe at the time he supposedly kidnapped his son, claims that he supports with evidence in his videos and on his website.
What Does 'The TikTok Fugitive' Post On TikTok?
Since 2021, Hower has been posting videos to TikTok and Instagram where he explains his and Aarys' story to the world in as much detail as possible. Hower is trying to spread the word of his alleged false indictment to the world in hopes that he'll finally be freed from his indictment.
Hower has posted numerous viral videos to the app throughout the 2020s, garnering him over 170,000 followers by 2023 and lots of support from the site's users. Recently, he had a video about his indictment gain over 4 million views and he's appeared in several interviews. Still, Hower remains at large.
For the full history of The TikTok Fugitive, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.