HOUSTON – After eight long years, Pauline Sanchez-Rodriguez, Rudy Farias’ aunt finally got to see him Thursday night.
“We hugged until I finally let go,” she said. “Very beautiful to see that he’s okay.”
The 25-year-old was reported missing at age 17. He showed up outside a Magnolia Park church a week ago, but Houston police said he wasn’t actually missing all this time.
“Rudy returned home the following day on March 8, 2015,” said Lt. Chris Zamora with Houston Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit.
They followed up on tips, but said his mother deceived police, insisting friends and family were seeing her nephew, not her son.
“Both Janie, Rudy’s mother, and Rudy himself gave fictitious names while interacting with various patrol officers,” Zamora said.
Rudy is now staying with family friends. His aunt said he needs time to focus on getting well.
“He doesn’t want to go back to his mom,” Sanchez-Rodriguez said.
Investigators said no reports of sexual abuse came up during HPD’s interview with Rudy.
“I still feel that he’s traumatized. He’s gone through a lot and I still feel that further actions need to be taken,” said Sanchez-Rodriguez.
Sanchez-Rodriguez said Rudy is scared and going through a crazy time right now and that he’s not ready to share anything else, but investigators have reached out to Adult Protective Services as they continue investigating the false disappearance.
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