U.S. Marshals have joined the search for missing 'affluenza' teen and his mom

U.S. Marshals and the FBI have joined the hunt for Ethan Couch, the Texas teen deemed afflicted with “affluenza” and absolved of a fatal DUI, after he and his mother Tonya went missing.

Couch skirted jail time despite killing four people in a 2013 car wreck while drunk when a judge ruled he had “affluenza” and was too irresponsibly rich to be culpable.

Last Friday, Couch missed a probation meeting, setting off a statewide search. According to reports, sheriff’s deputies went to the home Couch shared with his mother only to find the place totally cleaned out, save for a pinball machine.

Now, Texas officials fear the pair may have left the country.

“They have the money. They have the ability to disappear, and I’m fearing that they have gone a long way and may even be out of the country,” Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said on CNN Thursday.

Anderson said Thursday FBI agents and U.S. Marshals are now on the hunt.

“You can run, but you’re always going to be looking over your shoulder,” Anderson warned. “We’re not going to give up. We’re going to come after you. We’re going to find you, wherever you are.”

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.