Investigators have come to the conclusion that Rudolph “Rudy” Farias, a 25-year-old man who was reported missing eight years ago and was found late last month, never actually went missing.
Houston police officials announced Thursday that Farias was “not missing” and they believe he has been living with his mother, Janie Santana, the entire time.
“Investigators followed up on many tips, leads, collected evidence provided, proving that Rudy was not missing during the eight year period,” Detective Christopher Zamora announced at a Thursday press conference, Chron.com reported.
The details surrounding the young man’s disappearance are still unraveling and have been slowed by many false claims, including those made by Santana.
“During these contacts, fictitious names and date of births were given, misleading the officers,” Zamora said, according to Chron. “The mother Janie continued to deceive police by remaining adamant that Rudy was still missing.”
Farias was first reported missing in March of 2015, after he reportedly never came home from walking his dogs. In reality, police said Farias had returned home a day later.
Despite being reported as a 17-year-old by his mother, private investigator Brenda Paradise said that he was actually 18 at the time.
“Something doesn’t add up,” Paradise told Insider of the case, which she was hired to investigate by the family. “There’s something dark and dirty here.”
Throughout the eight-year period, friends, family, neighbors, and even police officers interacted with Farias, but Santana provided them a fake name and told them he was her nephew.
The likely reason nobody recognized Farias during that time was that Santana had given searchers a picture of Farias when he was 14, and had refused to provide a more recent photo.
During the years he was supposedly missing, Santana reportedly claimed that a woman had been holding Farias in Mexico. But when a private investigator tracked the woman down, she alleged that Santana was running some kind of “scam” that she didn’t want to be a part of.
We’ve spent hours today trying to reach Rudy’s mom, Janie Santana, to hear her side of the story. In our archives, we found a 2016 interview. At the time, she cried and claimed detectives told her Rudy could have been kidnapped and sold in human trafficking #RudyFarias @KHOU pic.twitter.com/Pzk5Dq9YIH
— Grace White (@GraceWhiteKHOU) July 7, 2023
Another team searching for Farias said that Santana had led them on a wild-goose chase searching for Farias “from Mexico to Louisiana.”
At one point, a group of searchers found an asthma inhaler and a backpack near where Farias allegedly disappeared from. Santana insisted that these items belonged to her son, but police found this to be false, Insider reported.
Farias’ reappearance ultimately came on June 29, when police found him at a church only eight miles from his house.
#RudyFarias | Here is Rudy getting out with family members. His face has been blurred for protection by the news media who caught this video. #JusticeForRudy pic.twitter.com/09XJYGcmXF
— ??♀️??L̤̮E̤̮G̤̮?️C̤̮Y̤̮????♀️ (@iamlegacy23) July 6, 2023
Community activist Quanell X said that, during an interview with police, Farias told him and a detective that his mom had locked him at home and sexually abused and drugged him, Chron reported. These claims have not yet been confirmed, however.
Community activist Quanell X says Houston Police Sergeant was in the room when Rudy Farias said his mom “would come into the bathroom while he was in the shower, get butt naked, pull back the shower curtain, stare at him, among other things I don’t want to say.” pic.twitter.com/HG6Rrfi15b
— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) July 7, 2023
Farias was initially placed back at home with his mother, but has since come to live with his aunt, Pauline Sanchez Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said Farias told her he “doesn’t want to see his mom,” and has refused her calls, according to the New York Post.
Rodriguez added that she has not asked Farias what happened to him during that eight years but believes Quanell’s claim that Farias was sexually abused.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.