Man in US not missing for 8 years despite what mother claims: Police

For eight years, the police worked on a case of a 17-year-old in Texas in the United States who was reported missing.

But that was not the situation for Mr Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV, now 25, as his mother claimed over the years, said the Houston police on Thursday.

On March 7, 2015, Ms Janie Santana reported that he went missing during a walk with dogs, which were reportedly found later.

In reality, Mr Farias returned home the next day, said Lieutenant Christopher Zamora of the homicide division’s missing persons unit on Thursday.

However, his mum continued to deceive the police by insisting that he was still missing.

“During the eight-year time frame when he was missing, investigators followed up on many tips, leads, collected evidence proving that Rudy was not missing during the eight-year period,” Mr Zamora added.

“Many of these facts included contacts and statements with relatives, friends, neighbours and medical professionals.”

In the past eight years, both mother and son even interacted with the police but provided fake names and dates of births, said Mr Zamora.

At times, other people saw Mr Farias, according to a CNN report on Thursday. Ms Santana said the person whom “friends and family were seeing coming and going” is her nephew, not her son.

“However, we disputed that,” Mr Zamora added.

Neighbours who said they spent time with Mr Farias since he allegedly went missing have questioned whether the mother’s claim is true, said a CBS news report.

Ms Kisha Ross, who lives with her family on the same street as Ms Santana, said they were shocked to hear that Mr Farias was found last week. They were not aware that he was reported missing.

So far, the district attorney’s office has declined to file charges for making fictitious reports. “The investigation is active and there are new leads coming in. We’ll continue to follow those leads,” said Mr Zamora.

Mr Farias is now back home with his mother, added the police. Investigators have contacted adult protective services and connected him “with victim services to ensure that he has a method to recover”, said Mr Zamora.

He noted that “there were no reports of sexual abuse” as some rumours claimed, based on Mr Farias’ interview with the police.

The police update on Thursday came a week after authorities said Mr Farias was found sleeping outside a church in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighbourhood.

On July 1, the non-profit Texas Centre for the Missing tweeted that he was “located safe” and recovering at a hospital.