Remember the story earlier this week about the 25-year-old man who was found alive outside a Houston church after vanishing while on a walk with his dogs in 2015? For eight years his mother had worked with police to search for her son, Rudolph "Rudy" Faria, who went missing at age 17. But now, according to new reports, it turns out the boy was never really missing at all — he had actually been living at home the entire time.
But over the last eight years, he and his mother deceived neighbors and police, for reasons that still haven't been disclosed. "He made contact with patrol officers out on the street. However, during these contacts, fictitious names and dates of birth were given misleading officers, and Rudy would remain missing," said Houston police Lt. Christopher Zamora, via NBC News.
"In fact, both Janie (Santana), Rudy's mother, and Rudy himself gave fictitious names while interacting with various patrol officers. After investigators talked with him yesterday, it was discovered that he returned home the following day, on March 8, 2015."
From NBC News:
There had even been multiple times in these eight years when police officers spoke with the young man and he allegedly gave them fake names.
While the teen, now an adult, was seen by many people coming and going from the house over the years, Santana identified him as a nephew and not her allegedly missing son, police said.
Chief Troy Finner said he doesn't know why Farias' mother allegedly maintained that her son, then 17, was missing all of this time. "We can't predict motivation," Finner said.
Local prosecutors have, so far, declined to open a case against the mother or the son, police said.
He was nonverbal and unable to communicate, his mother said in a statement [after he was found earlier this week lying on the ground near the church], adding that a good Samaritan discovered him and immediately called authorities.
Faria, who had been sent to the hospital after his discovery, is currently back at home with his mother.
