Police visited Rudy Farias’ home in 2018 after receiving a 911 call from a concerned family member.
By 2018, Farias had already been missing for three years.
He was 17 years old when he disappeared while walking two dogs in northwest Houston in March 2015. On June 29 this year, he was found lying outside a Houston church with severe injuries.
Allegations have since emerged that his mother Janie Santana had kept him captive for those eight years—and abused him.
Houston Police Department has not confirmed those allegations, however, and the district attorney has declined to charge Santana, police said in a press conference on Thursday.
Newsweek has sought to contact Farias’ mother for comment through the Texas Center for the Missing, which was handling public communications on behalf of the family.
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Since Farias was found outside the church, members of his extended family have admitted they were concerned that he hadn’t actually gone missing but was being held.
In 2018 his cousin Cassandra Lopez called 911 after family members saw Farias at his mother’s home, according to a report by Click 2 Houston.
Lopez also said their grandmother had confessed that she spoke with Farias frequently and that he would check up on her.
Police responded to the call but, when they visited the home, they couldn’t find Farias.
He was reportedly spotted several other times in the neighborhood during the eight years he was believed to be missing. Earlier this week, neighbors told reporters that he had never been missing and was living with his mother the entire time.
Residents told ABC13 that they were shocked to learn Farias had been considered missing, because they had seen him regularly and he had even visited their home. They knew him as Dolph, a shortened version of his given name.
Santana disputed these claims and said the neighbors were confused. The man they spent time with was her nephew, she said. But when the neighbors were shown a photo of the nephew, supplied by Santana, they said that wasn’t the man they knew.
Farias was severely injured and non-communicative when he was found, according to a statement from Santana.
He later regained his voice and was questioned by detectives, along with his mother, on Wednesday. According to a community activist who sat in on the meeting, when Santana left the room, Farias accused his mother of holding him captive and abusing him physically and sexually.
The case continues to grow more mysterious. During the press conference on Thursday, Houston police said Farias had not reported sexual abuse.
Police also said he had returned home on March 8, 2015, the day after he had been reported missing by his mother. However, Santana kept “deceiving” police that her son was missing—for eight years.
