A Texas man who was reported missing as an adolescent in 2015 and was found alive last week in a church was missing for only one day, but he and his mother kept up the ruse for eight years by giving officers false names, it was reported Thursday Police.
Houston police detectives said prosecutors declined to file false charges against Jana Santana and her son, Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV, but the investigation continues.
The statement got here per week after police said they found Farias after receiving a call a couple of person lying on the ground outside a church in southeast Houston.
Authorities haven’t previously said where Farias, now 25, has spent the eight years since he was reported missing after taking his two dogs for a walk near the family home in northeast Houston. He was hospitalized after police found him last week, and detectives interviewed him and his mother on Wednesday.
“After speaking with him yesterday, investigators determined that Rudy returned home the following day, March 8, 2015.” Lt. Christopher Zamora said during a press conference. “The mother, Janie, continued to deceive the police by claiming that Rudy was still missing.”
Houston Police Lt. Christopher Zamora talks about the investigation into Rudy Farias, who was reported missing eight years ago.
After Farias was reported missing, Houston police and the Texas Equusearch civilian search and rescue team searched unsuccessfully for him, although his dogs were later found.
According to a personal detective hired by the teenager’s mother in the months after his disappearance, there have been several potential sightings of Farias over the following years. These included one sighting from 2018, which police responded to, but the investigation remained open as a missing person case.
After police announced that they’d found her son, Santana released an announcement thanking the media and stating that “he is receiving the care he needs to overcome the trauma, but at this time he is non-verbal and unable to communicate with us “.
Santana’s family stated that they suspected Farias was not missing and accused Santana of keeping him away from all of them these years.
(*5*) said Pauline Sanchez Rodriguez, Farias’ aunt, as she and other relations stood outside Houston police headquarters.
Rodriguez said her late mother, Rosa Sosa Rodriguez, lived with Santana and repeatedly told relatives that Farias lived in the house with them.
“My mom always told me, ‘Rudy’s here… He’s over there. He’s in this room,” Rodriguez said. “And Janie said, ‘No, she’s lying, she’s already losing it.’”
Zamora said Santana claimed the person family and friends were hanging out with was not Farias but her nephew, but “we disputed that.”
Police Chief Troy Finner declined Thursday to reply questions on the mental health of Farias and his mother and didn’t say what motivated their actions. He said police were “at the beginning” of an investigation into what happened.
Police also said that patrol officers responded to a report of a burglary at the family’s home Wednesday evening and that it’s currently a part of the investigation.
