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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Ariana Baio

Rudy Farias’ mother ‘claimed he was kidnapped by human traffickers’ while she hid Texas man in home – updates

@KPRC 2Corley/Texas Center for Missing Persons

Rudy Farias mother is not facing charges for eight-year lie, police say

Rudy Farias’ mother once claimed that her son had been kidnapped by human traffickers while she was actually hiding him in her own home, according to a private investigator.

Brenda Paradise told The Independent she devoted hundreds of hours to finding Mr Farias but grew suspicious of his mother Janie Santana.

Ms Paradise said that Ms Santana repeatedly asked for money on her Facebook pages to help track her “missing” son down.

Once, she asked for money to pay a ransom to a suspected human trafficker in Tijuana, Mexico, who she falsely claimed had kidnapped Mr Farias. She even went to a morgue to identify a deceased body, Ms Paradise said.

Mr Farias made headlines last week when Ms Santana announced that the now-25-year-old had been “found” eight years after she reported him missing in 2015.

Houston police later confirmed that he was never missing and had been living at home with his mother the whole time.

Community activist Quanell X later claimed Mr Farias had alleged alarming abuse by his mother. After his claims were refuted by police, he doubled down in an interview with The Independent. Ms Santana has not been charged.

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