Rudy Farias was never missing – but he did not report being sexually abused by his mother to police, despite an activist’s claims that she had kept him hidden as a ‘drugged sex slave’ for years, Houston officials have revealed.
The now-25-year-old was ‘found’ outside a church last week, eight years after his mother Janie Santana reported him missing; on Wednesday community activist Quanell X claimed the young man told him his mom had kept him hidden over the years, making him ‘play daddy.’
But police chief Chief Troy Finner said in press conference on Thursday that while it is true that Rudy was never missing, he did not tell officials any allegations about sexual abuse, and declined to press any charges against his mother.
Finner explained that Rudy and Santana are together, and police couldn’t do anything to stop them because ‘he’s a grown man.’
Santana and Rudy had contact with police since he was reported missing, but Finner said they provided fake names and date of births, which allowed the young man to go unnoticed for years, even as neighbors and family often spotted him.
Rudy Farias is pictured as a 17-year-old, when he was was reported missing in 2015. Now 25, he was supposedly found last week. But his neighbors and family members say he was never missing at all
Janie Santana, the mother of Rudy Farias, 25, said she expects to be arrested because police suspect her of hiding him for eight years
Farias was seen hiding his face under a blanket as he was escorted out of a Houston hotel by a community leader, Quanell X
When asked about Quanell’s abuse claims, Houston police declined to say he was lying or go after the activist’s integrity.
‘Our investigations is our investigation – what they heard and what they interviewed is what we attest to,’ said one of the investigators.
‘I interviewed him, and I’m trained to listen to probable cause, and there were no such statements made during this investigation so far.’
The bizarre story took an astonishing turn on Wednesday as Farias and Santana, spoke to detectives at a Houston hotel, with a mediator – local New Black Panther leader and community activist Quanell X.
Quanell told reporters Farias claimed he had been sexually abused and hidden by his mother for the last eight years – saying she made him sleep in the bed with her while she was naked and ‘making him play daddy.’
Santana, who apparently works overnight as a security guard, allegedly took Farias with her to work in the evenings and kept him largely hidden from view in the day.
Rudy’s police officer father Rudy Farias III shot himself dead in 2014 after he was accused of fraud while serving with the Houston Police Department.
Months later, Rudy’s mom Janie Santana reported her then-17-year-old son missing. He was ‘found’ last week but any celebrations of his reappearance have been dashed after he reportedly told cops he had been drugged and tortured for the last eight years.
Before his father’s death Rudy’s life had already been struck by tragedy after the death of brother Charles Uresti – his ‘best friend’ – in a motorcycle crash in 2011.
Santana claimed Rudy was devastated by the loss of his brother and father and suffered from PTSD, depression and anxiety.
Rudy Farias, now 25, was just 13 years old when his big brother and ‘best friend’ Charles (pictured) died in the tragic road accident in 2011
Rudy and Santana were seen leaving the meeting with police together, but their current whereabouts remain unclear.
While a neighbor told KHOU11 that she was spotted leaving her house in the early hours of Thursday morning – prompting the local resident to call 911 – other sources say the pair did not return to their Houston home after the meeting with police on Wednesday.
As a result, there was a heavy police presence outside the home this morning.
Santana announced her son’s allegedly miraculous return last week, claiming he was in an extremely poor physical state, and unable to speak after eight years away from home.
On Tuesday, she said she expected to get arrested because police thought she was ‘hiding’ Rudy.
She said: ‘When he first went missing, he didn’t report it to the police.
‘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.’
Months before Rudy was reported missing, his father Rudolph Farias III, 51, committed suicide on 19 August 2014. Rudy was just 16 years old.
There was a heavy police presence outside the home this morning
A day before he died, the elder Farias, had been relieved of his policing duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation into allegations that he and three other officers had been involved in an alleged ticket writing scheme.
The four officers were accused of listing each other as witnessing officers of traffic citations in a bid to collect overtime by appearing in court to testify.
As news of Rudy’ shocking claim spread, relatives and neighbors began saying they knew he was not missing – and had seen him frequently throughout the years.
Rudy’s cousin said she told police in 2018 he was at his mother’s house, and his grandmother had seen and spoken to him. His aunt said she also knew he was not missing.
Neighbors also claimed they’d seen him walking around the neighborhood.
Cassandra Lopez, his cousin, told KPRC 2 they always knew ‘in our hearts’ the story of Farias having vanished was not true.
She said: ‘I was in shock. I was like, I couldn’t believe it. 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.’
Farias was found with blood found in his hair, showing obvious signs that he had been badly abused and beaten, according to his mother. He was pictured recovering in hospital
Janie Santana’s home in Houston, Texas pictured above
#RudyFarias | Neighbors shared this video of a conversation with Rudy mom (last night) She stated that police wants to arrest her for hiding Rudy.
— ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿L¿¿E¿¿G¿¿¿¿C¿¿Y¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ (@iamlegacy23) July 6, 2023
Lopez said she called 911 in 2018 after family members saw Farias at his mother’s home, and their grandmother saw him regularly.
Houston police visited the house, but did not find him and it is unclear if they questioned any of the relatives.
Lopez said: ‘She would just say, I saw Rudy. You know, he came to check on me and we said hello and we had a little conversation. She never went into detail, but she would say she saw him.’
Lopez said the rest of the family are eager to hear from him.
‘I mean, half of his life is – almost a quarter of his life – has already been taken away,’ said Lopez.
‘Don’t you know that? That’s just not right. He didn’t deserve, nobody deserves that.’
Farias’ aunt Pauline Sanchez Rodriguez – the stepsister of Santana – told KPRC 2 that she believes Santana has been lying for the last eight years.
‘Everything’s coming up to the light,’ she said.
Rudy and his mother are thought to have left the Houston hotel on Wednesday afternoon together, and Rodriguez said she was worried about him.
She said: ‘I came to this neighborhood to see if I could find her. I fear for Rudy Farias’ life.’
Rodriguez added that Farias was reluctant to open up to his family as a young teenager: ‘He was afraid because his mom manipulated him and kept him from spending time with us, talking to us, socializing with his cousins and that’s wrong.’
Rodriguez said she always suspected he had not disappeared: ‘I knew it, my heart, I go with what my heart tells me, you have five senses. I have my sixth sense.’
Neighbors echoed the family’s claims that Farias was not missing for the past eight years.
They said he was known as Dolph, an abbreviation of his full name Rudolph, and was somewhat withdrawn – but was regularly seen around the neighborhood.
Jeanay Wyble: ‘When he is with us, he doesn’t really say much or who he is. We just know he lives down here with his mom, goes to work with her around 6pm to 7 or 8 in the morning.
‘He’s just been freely walking down the street.’
Another neighbor, Kisha Ross, said Farias told her he didn’t want to spend time at home because ‘his mom got on his nerves’.
She claimed that Santana offered her money to not speak to the media, but she refused, insisting she wanted to tell the truth.
‘He used to come in my garage, chill with my cousin, son, and daughter,’ said Ross, adding that Farias liked to hang out in the woods by himself.
Broderick Conley, Ross’s cousin, also said he used to hang out with Farias regularly – ‘laughing’ and having ‘good times.’
Another aunt, however, said she believed Santana’s story that her son was missing, and even went from Houston to California to try and find him.
‘She had me out there in California thinking that they had found somebody that looked like Rudy in California,’ said Sylvia Lopez. ‘And I went all the way with her.’
Quanell, the community activist, was called to intervene by a local journalist and true crime sleuth who reports under the name Grizzy.
Grizzy had followed the case for years, and was contacted by Santana when Farias was ‘found.’
Quanell said he was horrified by what he heard – adding that Farias only opened up to him once he was at a distance from his mother.
Community activist Quanell X spoke to Farias, who reportedly said his mother had been drugging him and sexually abusing him for years
Farias reportedly said his mother (pictured at the Houston hotel on Wednesday) had been sexually abusing him for years. He only spoke up after authorities separated him from her
The well-known local activist was filmed escorting Farias out of the hotel in Humble, a suburb 20 miles from downtown Houston. Farias walked with a slight limp and had a blanket over his head.
Quanell said the reason Farias was found last week was because he stole his mother’s car to get away from her, but crashed and ended up bloodied and bruised outside the church last week.
He said Farias had his mother’s two-year-old credit card on him, which proved he could not have been missing for eight years.
After being separated from his mother, Farias reportedly said he never went missing, and for the past years his mother has been making him sleep in the bed with her while she was naked, and ‘making him play daddy.’
When asked about the sexual assault claims, Quanell said he did not want to go into details about the ‘kissing.’
After he was asked again, he replied: ‘Let me ask you a question – if your mother is tongue kissing you in the bed with her naked, what the hell is that? This is sick.’
Quanell claimed Santana kept her son hidden and convinced him he had to hide because police were looking for him to put him in jail.
The local figure said he asked Farias why he ran away, and Farias told him: ‘I was tired of living like a slave.’
He claimed: ‘Based on what that boy told me, I don’t see why she’s not in handcuffs right now. He was petrified but the minute he was by himself he calmed down. I believe she was drugging the hell out of this kid.
‘He said he didn’t like getting in the bed with her, that he would try to sneak out of the bed but she told him he had to be her husband.’
A missing person note detailed what he was wearing at the time that he went missing, aged 17, in 2015. It also mentioned that he suffered from depression, PTSD and anxiety
Kisha Ross, who lives on the same street as Farias’ mother, said she never heard that he was missing and has seen him often over the last eight years
Rudy’ cousin Cassandra Lopez said their grandmother said she regularly saw him, and she knew he was not missing
Farias allegedly said his mother made him bathe her, and punished him by locking him in a room ‘over and over.’
At the time of Farias’ disappearance, his mother told officials that he suffered from depression and PTSD since his brother died in a motorcycle accident in 2011 – an incident neighbors say he spoke about.
When Farias was located, Santana claimed he had blood in his hair and had been badly abused and beaten, and shared photos of him in a hospital bed.
‘Rudy is in pretty bad shape, he has cuts, soft tissue tumors, small openings and swelling on the soles of his feet, along with bruising, old and new cuts/scrapes on his body, old dry blood on his head and hair, he has very very dark complexion now almost unrecognizable,’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘God only knows what he has endured during his time away from home.’
She added: ‘He flinches if you try to touch him or hug him thinking we are going to strike him. He thinks his name is Julio Torres and he is 14 now.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk