The Rudy Farias case: Everything we know about 'missing' Houston man's 'disappearance,' how he was found

• Rudolph "Rudy" Farias' mom said he went missing in 2015.
• Eight years later, she announced that Farias was found outside a church, covered in old bruises and unable to speak.

Eight years ago, Houston mother Janie Santana told police that her 17-year-old son named Rudolph Farias IV took his two dogs for a walk in his Houston neighborhood. First one dog, then the second, returned to the family home, but "Rudy," as he was known, had vanished, she said.

This week, Santana resurfaced, announcing that her son was found again, collapsed outside a church, his thin, frail body bloodied and covered in old bruises.

"It's him!!! It's our Rudy," family members wrote on Facebook last week, calling his return a miracle. "He's been found and he's alive and in the hospital right now."

Farias remains too traumatized to speak, they wrote on Facebook.

The "miracle" story spread far and wide, but within days a darker side of the story began to surface.

Insider spoke to four private investigatorswho worked on the missing persons case over the years, and all of them cast doubt on Santana's story, saying she repeatedly lied to them about her son, provided fake leads, and attempted to fundraise of his disappearance.

Neighbors, too, told local news outlets that Farias wasn't missing — he was frequently spotted around the community.

Voting records show thatFarias voted three times since he was reported missing.

On Wednesday, an activist who said he attended a police interview of Farias told reporters that after running away, the then-teen had quickly turned around and returned home. Since then, he has endured years of lies, abuse, drugging and "slave"-like conditions at the hands of his mother, Houston activist Quanell X said in a press conference.

The Houston Police Department soon posted to Twitter that they were not commenting on their interviews with Farias and his mother. Neither would they say whether some reporting about the "specifics of the interviews" is "entirely factual."

On Thursday, however, Houston Police confirmed in a new press conference that they have learned Farias returned home on March 8, 2015 — just one day after he was reported missing.

"Mother Janie continued to deceive police," said Lt. Christopher Zamora of the Houston Police Department.

"She insisted her nephew was the person family and friends have seen coming and going," he added. "Currently the DA has declined any charges for making fictitious reports and failure to ID."

Zamora declined to say whether Farias is a "victim" in the case.

"I'm not going to say whether he's a victim or not," he said. "We're going to give respect to everybody that's involved."

Who is Rudy Farias?

With so much doubt cast on Santana's truthfulness about her son, there are are also questions around the legitimacy of original news stories about the teens "disappearance."

Early stories about the missing person's case say Farias suffered from depression and anxiety after suffering great losses in his life.

Both his father and the brother who was his best friend had recently died untimely deaths.

His father, a Houston Police officer, committed suicide in 2014, at age 51, in the wake of an internal affairs ticket-rigging investigation, The Houston Chronicle reported at the time.

Rudolph Farias III, a 21-year police veteran, shot himself in his police vehicle while still in uniform, just hours after he and three other officers were ordered to turn in their badges, CBS News reported then.

A few years before losing his father to suicide, when he was 14, Farias lost his older brother to a motorcycle accident, one of the private investigators who spoke to Insider, Brenda Paradise, told Dateline.

Farias and his mother were two of the first people to reach the accident scene, Paradise told NBC News.

"He's just had so much thrown at him the past few years," the private investigator said at the time.

"He watched his best friend die right in front of him," she added. "His brother was his best friend in the world. He's just gone through so much more than anyone his age ever should."

On Wednesday, though, Paradise told Insider alarm bells were ringing in her head about the case since 2015 — before her interview with Dateline on the case.

The mom gave investigators the wrong year of birth for her son and only provided photos of him from when he was 14 — telling Paradise that if he looked younger, "there would be more empathy," she said.

"I would love to hear that he's truly been missing all these years, and has finally been found," Paradise said.

"I mean, God, I'd love to hear that he was found and is getting help," she added. "But I just don't trust anything that comes from that family."

How was Rudy Farias found?

In posting last weekend about his remarkable reappearance, the Farias family did not reveal his location, but said he was at a hospital.

"They say it's for his protection and safety," the family's initial post said of hospital personnel. But the family described his alleged condition in detail.

Farias is spending much of his time curled in a fetal position in his hospital bed, his family at his side. He has little memory, and is barely able to speak.

"He flinches if you try to touch him or hug him, thinking we are going to strike him," the post said.

"He thinks his name is Julio Torres and he's 14. The doctors said not to correct him, to just go with it for now until he can begin to receive further treatment, to begin healing and recovery."

Physically, "Rudy is in pretty bad shape," the family's post said.

"He has cuts, soft tissue tumors, small hole openings and swelling on the soles of his feet, along with bruising, old and new buts/scrapes on his body, old dry blood on his head and hair."

He's clearly "been through hell," the family post said. "God only knows what he has endured during his time away from home."

It was unclear Thursday if Farias was back home or with his mother.

Who is the mother of Rudy Farias?

Santana has not returned multiple requests for comment from Insider.

She had told private investigators that she was a "medical assistant," but they could never verify that, investigator team Barbara and Martin Renteria told Insider.

During their investigation, Santana didn't let the Renterias speak to other family members.

Barbara Renteria said she was able to talk to his grandmother on one occasion when Janie was not around. The grandmother told her Rudy didn't vanish into thin air while walking two dogs, but had run away after arguing with Janie.

Houston Police said that as of Thursday the district attorney would not be pressing charges against Janie Santana for lying.

"I did the interview," Sgt. Stephen Jimenez said at the press conference. "I'm trained to listen for plausible cause. I'm trained to listen to statements that could get charges. And there were no statements made during this investigation so far."