(Houston) A Texas man who went missing as a teenager in 2015 had actually returned home the next day, but he and his mother tricked police by giving false names in the eight years since, has police announced Thursday.
Houston police investigators said prosecutors have decided not to bring misrepresentation charges against Janie Santana and her son, Rudolph “Rudy” Farias, but that their investigation is continuing.
The update comes a week after police found Mr. Farias under a call of a person slumped on the ground outside a church in southeast Houston.
Authorities had not previously said where Mr Farias, now 25, had spent the eight years since he was reported missing after walking his two dogs near his family’s home in the northeast of Houston. He was hospitalized after police found him last week and investigators interviewed him and his mother on Wednesday.
After investigators spoke to him yesterday [mercredi]it was discovered that Rudy had returned home the following day, March 8, 2015. The mother, Janie, continued to deceive the police by remaining adamant that Rudy was still missing.
Lt. Christopher Zamora at a press conference
After Rudolph Farias was reported missing, Houston police and Texas Equusearch, a civilian search and recovery team, searched for him without success, although his dogs were later found.
TEXASEQUUSEARCH/COURTESY OF THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE, SUPPLIED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rudolph “Rudy” Farias, went missing in 2015 after he was last seen walking his dogs in Houston.
In the years since, there have been several possible sightings of Mr Farias, according to a private detective hired by the teenager’s mother a few months after he disappeared. Police responded to a report in 2018, but the investigation remained open as a missing person case.
When police announced a few days ago that officers had found her son, Mme Santana released a statement that said he was receiving “the care he needs to get over his trauma, but at this time he is non-verbal and unable to communicate with us.”
Police Chief Troy Finner on Thursday declined to answer questions about the mental health of Mr. Farias or his mother and would not say what prompted their actions. He said police were “at the very beginning” of their investigation into what happened.
Police also said patrol officers responded to a call about a burglary Wednesday night at the family’s home and it was now part of their investigation.