The case of Rudy Farias, found mysteriously after missing for eight years amid shocking claims of abuse levelled at his mum by a community activist, has gripped the country.
Rudolph 'Rudy' Farias IV went missing as a teenager in 2015 while taking his dogs for a walk. The alarm was raised after the dogs were found without him.
Now 25, he was ‘found’ on June 29 in the doorway of a local church, eight years after his mother, Janie Santana, reported he had disappeared.
But police have now revealed he returned home in the days after he was first reported missing and his mum repeatedly lied to police about it.
When he disappeared Houston police, along with Texas EquuSearch, a civilian search and recovery team, looked for the boy but found no signs of him.
When he first went missing, it was reported that he suffered from depression and anxiety, and he might have been disoriented because he wasn’t taking his medication.
He also had asthma and walked with a slight limp because of an injured right leg.
Both his dad and his brother, who was his best friend, had recently died untimely deaths.
His dad, a Houston Police officer, committed suicide in 2014, aged 51. He shot himself in his police cruiser while still wearing his uniform in the wake of an internal affairs investigation over ticket rigging.
The older brother died in a motorcycle accident, with Rudy and his mum the first people to reach the scene.
Brenda Paradise, a private investigator, told Dateline in 2015: "He's just had so much thrown at him the past few years."
She added: "He watched his best friend die right in front of him. His brother was his best friend in the world. He's just gone through so much more than anyone his age ever should."
“According to his mother he is very wary around strangers,” Texas Equusearch said in 2015.
Police spokesman John Cannon said the missing teenager's family did report to police investigators that they had seen him in September 2018, staying behind the home of a relative.
Police investigators followed up on the 2018 sighting and went to the relative’s home. But “they could not observe him. They could not locate him,” Mr Cannon said.
It was also revealed police had had contact with Rudy and his mum over the years he was missing but he used a fake name
Ms Santana told previously told investigators that Rudy was her nephew, which police “disputed."
Ms Santana could be charged with “making fictitious reports” or “failure to ID” but the District Attorney has so far chosen not to press charges.
A local activist and counsellor has also accused Rudy's mum of keeping him as a 'sex slave'.
After sitting on a meeting between Rudy and investigators, Quanell X claimed Mr Farias was hidden by his mum, drugged and abused for years. But police say that, in their interview with Rudy, he never brought up allegations of sexual abuse involving his mother.
Chief Finner confirmed the District Attorney has declined to press charges against Ms Santana and, while he did not outrightly dispute Quanell X’s claims, he also did not confirm them.
Speaking to The Independent following this, Quanell X accused police of “trying to hide from conducting a shady sham investigation”.
And speaking to the DailyMail, he said: "It was crazy to watch the press conference. The detective heard that young man say that she made him be her husband. The detective heard him say that she told him that his name is daddy now, that she called him daddy when she would kiss him in the mouth."
According to reports, she works overnight as a security guard, took Rudy to work in the evenings, and kept him largely hidden from view during the day.
Neighbours have since recorded her, saying she now expected to be arrested.
“When he first went missing, he didn’t report it to the police,’ Santana claimed, speaking as she exited her car in front of her home.
“And they are trying to say that he might have done some crimes. Which he didn’t.
“And now they want to arrest me. Because they said, I was hiding him.”
Rudy’s relatives and neighbours claim they knew he was not missing.
His cousin said she told police in 2018 he was at his mother’s house, and his grandmother had seen and spoken to him.
Cassandra Lopez said they always knew “in our hearts” the story of Farias having vanished was not true.
“I was in shock. I was like, I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“I mean, I was glad, but I just was wondering what was going to unfold from it. Like, what was the story going to be behind it?
“Because it’s just we always in our hearts knew that he wasn’t really missing.”
Police have said the investigation is ongoing.
