The aunt of a teen who was found after being missing for eight years has said he wants no contact with his mother after it was revealed he’d never been missing at all. Rudy Farias, 25, was reported missing in 2015 when he was only 17 after the two dogs he was walking came home without him. He was recently found outside a church a few miles away from his family home.
While Farias was covered in bruises and cuts, he was very much alive. However, his mother, Janie Santana, claimed that he was non-verbal. As it turns out, it seems much of the reason Farias might not be talking is that he hadn’t been missing for eight years at all.
Santana’s story began to unravel after neighbors told police they’d seen Rudy Farias many times over the years and didn’t believe he was gone. Police later discovered that both Farias and his mother had contact with police over the years but had used fake names to avoid detection.
Now, Farias’ aunt, Pauline Sanchez, says Rudy doesn’t want any contact with Santana and is staying with family friends. Police claimed at a press conference on July 6 that he had gone home to live with his mother “by choice” and that there were no signs of abuse during their interviews with him. However, they did offer him “a method to recover” by telling him to contact protective services if he needed.
Sanchez says her nephew wants to be away from his mother now so she can begin to recover from the events of the past eight years.
“His mentality, he needs to get well,” she told NBC News. “He’s going to be cautious. I still feel that he’s traumatized and gone through a lot. I still feel action should be taken. He doesn’t want to see his mom and doesn’t want to go back to his mom.”
An investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed, but this is certainly an interesting (and potentially tragic) case.
