18-year-old missing from Virginia for 3 weeks found at Houston homeless shelter

NORFOLK, Virginia (KTRK) -- A desperate search for an 18-year-old from Virginia who was missing for three weeks ended at a homeless shelter in Houston.

But now, the question is: How did he get here?

Keith Anderson's family reported the 18-year-old missing after they dropped him off for class at Norfolk State University in Virginia on Jan. 29. State police said someone reported seeing Keith at a 7-Eleven store in Norfolk on Feb. 4.

"Well he was crying, hysterically, of course, but he was crying, and I was crying, and I asked him to come home," his mother, Mesha Anderson, told WTKR.

"How did he get all the way to Houston, Texas?" WTKR reporter Kelsey Jones asked. "He said he took the bus," Mesha replied.

The bus ride from Norfolk to Houston is nearly 20 hours long and spans more than 1,300 miles. Mesha said they have no family in Texas.

Keith flew to Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday to meet his mother.

His mother says someone at the shelter saw the news story about Keith's disappearance and told him to call home.

"Someone from the shelter saw the news piece on TV and told him to come here," Mesha said. "So he said when he came over there, the person in the shelter said, 'Hey, you're on TV, and your mom is looking for you.'"

Now, the family said they're taking steps towards healing.

"We're going to take care of his well being first, and foremost," Mesha said. "Everything else is secondary."