A private investigator who worked to find a supposedly missing teen has spoken out after recent shocking revelations about the case.
Rudy Farias was initially believed to have gone missing nearly a decade ago, but doubts have now arisen about where he actually was, with new details of the case coming to light.
The Texas man was found on Thursday (29 June), when authorities received a report of an individual sleeping outside a church in Houston, with bruises and cuts all over his body and blood in his hair.
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Speaking at a press conference yesterday (6 July), Lt Zamora of Houston Police Department said: "Rudy was recently identified as previously having HPD interactions, meaning that he made contact with patrol officers out on the street.
"However during these contacts, fictitious names and date of births were given misleading officers and Rudy would remain missing.
"In fact Rudy and his mother gave fictitious names when talking to officers."
Farias' mother, Janie Santana, has since been the center of many abuse allegations surrounding the bizarre case but such reports are currently unfounded according to the police's investigation.
A private investigator who worked on the case is now speaking out.
Brenda Paradise worked with the non-profit 'We Help The Missing' to find Farias.
Paradise said: "There is a lot of people that put their heart and their soul and their time and their efforts into getting answers when I feel like we’ve been duped by her the entire time."
According to Paradise, volunteers had spent a lot of time searching for Farias in woodland areas.
She said: "Some of those resources we have to pay out of our own pockets for. As volunteers we’re willing to do that for families of the missing and that’s part of the heartbreak in all this that so many resources were just misused."
Even back in 2015, Paradise had questions about whether Farias' mother was being genuine, recording in an audio note: "I’m lost with this one as to whether someone has him hidden somewhere, or whether maybe his mom was involved."
Allegations that Farias' mother sexually abused her son have been made by a community activist but have not yet been substantiated by Farias himself.
Activist Quanell X says Farias told him he had been sexually abused and heavily drugged by his mom for years, ABC-KTRK reports.
He added that he ran away in 2015, while walking the dogs, but returned two days later.
Farias reportedly told Quanell that his mother threatened that he would get into trouble with police if he said anything, adding that his mother wouldn’t let him leave his home.
When asked why he didn’t leave, Farias reportedly said that his mother would give him drugs, and he was too fearful to go to the authorities.
An investigation by Houston Police Department remains ongoing.
Ben Thompson