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Authorities say a teenager lived undetected at a 24-hour Wal-Mart in Texas for a couple of days after running away from his aunt’s home.

Store employees in Corsicana, about 50 miles south of Dallas, eventually discovered the 14-year-old boy and two living quarters he had carved out behind boxes along the aisles of the store.

KTVT-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth reports the boy pilfered food and drinks from the store. He reportedly changed clothes periodically to avoid detection.

Corsicana police in a statement Wednesday say the boy was visiting his aunt in Corsicana when he ran away July 28. He was found two days later at the store.

Police say the teen, from nearby Rice, has a history of running away, tending to hide in abandoned homes and businesses.

What are the living situations

It seems like staying in Walmart for two full days would be its own punishment. smile

Well, I'm sure the fact it was a 24/7 Walmart helped. No expectation that all customers would leave at any given time. Plus if he is physically mature for his age he may have resembled one of the young workers they hire to do nightly restocks and such. And I'm sure the changing clothes thing helped.

Large stores like Walmart are geared towards loss prevention. If he was not acting suspicious and was staying away from the exits he may have not been a trigger for them. A lot of Walmart workers are working part time hours and struggling to get by and likely don't spend a lot of time trying to analyze every teen wandering around in the store. He may have even left to go hang out other places for a few hours each day. Hard to say. He was found after 2 days so apparently not the world's best hiding spot. I can't recall the story but I seem to recall something about some person who had been secretly living in a store for a lot longer than that. But I think their hidey hole was a lot better than just behind some boxes.