No charges for Houston mom who hid son for eight years after reporting him missing – Police debunk activist’s claim that ‘Janie Santana sexually abused her son Rudy Farias’
Rudy Farias was a 17-year-old suffering severe PTSD when he was was reported missing in 2015, now 25, he was supposedly found last week
Farias was ‘found’ in the doorway of a church in Houston, Texas, on June 29, eight years after his mother Janie Santana reported him missing
Farias allegedly developed PTSD when aged 13, witnessed his brother die in bike crash in 2011, while his cop dad shot himself later in 2014, a year before his mother mom reported him missing
Rudy’s mother, Janie Santana, maintains her son was missing, but neighbors and family members say he was never missing at all
On Wednesday a community activist, Quanell X, instead claimed Farias said his mother had been keeping him as a slave and sexually abusing him
Houston police at a news conference Thursday dismissed many of the allegations made by Quanell
Police also confirmed that Farias wasn’t missing the last 8 years as his mother claimed, but no charges are being filed in the case because he was with his mother on his own free will
Rudy Farias is pictured as a 17-year-old, when he was was reported missing in 2015. Now 25, he was supposedly found last week. But his neighbors and family members say he was never missing at all
Images have emerged of the father and older brother of a 25-year-old man, Rudy Farias, whose deaths in his early teens it is alleged, caused severe PTSD before he was reported missing on March 7, 2015, only for him to turn up recently at a Houston church on June 29.
Today Houston police said Farias came home the day after he was reported missing, but his mother ‘deceived police,’ persisting with the false narrative that he was still missing.
A week after the ‘Rescue’ his mother, Janie Santana, was accused by a third-party of holding him hostage and sexually abusing him for years, forcing him to ‘play daddy’ and giving him hallucinogenic drugs to keep him under her control.
Santana who reportedly fled her Houston, Texas, home in the night has not been arrested.
Following the allegations of abuse, Houston PD held a press conference on Thursday morning with updates on events and to a large extent debunking that narrative.
Back in 2011, aged 13, Rudy Farias, reportedly witnessed his big brother and ‘best friend’ Charles, [photo], die in the tragic bike accident
Rudy, now 25, was just 13 years old when his big brother and ‘best friend’ Charles died in the tragic road accident in 2011. Just a few years later, his police officer dad Rudolph Farias III, 51, died by suicide in 2014.
Devastated by the loss of his brother and father, Santana claimed her surviving son suffered from PTSD, depression and anxiety. A year later in 2015, she reported him missing.
On Thursday, June 29, a good Samaritan spotted Rudy laying on the ground outside of a church in southeast Houston and called 911.
Reunited, Rudy and Santana were seen leaving the meeting with police together on Wednesday, but their current whereabouts remain unclear.
A few years after losing his brother later, Rudy’s police officer dad, Rudolph Farias III, 51, [photo], died by suicide in 2014
Janie Santana, [photo], the mother of Rudy Farias, 25, said she expects to be arrested because police suspect her of hiding him for eight years. She has been accused of holding her son hostage sexual abuse and feeding him hallucinogenic drugs to exert control
Rudy Farias was seen hiding his face under a blanket as he was escorted out of a Houston hotel by a community leader, Quanell X, [right]
While a neighbor told KHOU11 that she was spotted leaving her house in the early hours of Thursday morning, prompting the local resident to call 911, other sources say the pair did not return to their Houston home after the meeting with police on Wednesday.
As a result, there was a heavy police presence outside the home Thursday morning.
Santana, a frequent poster on true crime chat boards on Facebook, announced her son’s discovery and said he was in an extremely poor physical state, and unable to speak.
Houston police Thursday said Farias wasn’t missing the last 8 years as his mother, Janie Santana, claimed. However, no charges are being filed in the case.
The story had taken a bizarre turn on Wednesday as Farias and Santana, spoke to detectives at a Houston hotel, with a mediator – local New Black Panther leader and community activist Quanell X levelling accusations of assault and abuse.
Quanell told reporters Farias claimed he had been sexually abused and hidden by his mother for the last eight years, adding that she made her son sleep in the bed with her while she was naked and ‘making him play daddy.’
Santana, who according to reports works overnight as a security guard and took Farias with her to work in the evenings and kept him largely hidden from view in the day, was recorded by neighbors saying she now expected to be arrested.
Rudy Farias was found with blood found in his hair, cuts and bruises all over his body, showing obvious signs that he had been badly abused and beaten, according to his mother. He was seen [photo], recovering in hospital.
The activist claimed Rudy Farias told him that his mother hid him all these years, drugged him and sexually abused him. At Thursday’s media conference, Houston police disputed many of the allegations made by community activist Quanell X on Wednesday.
Police confirmed Farias returned home a day after he was originally reported missing on March 7, 2015. They said he has not been missing for eight years as his mother, Janie Santana, continued to claim even after a good Samaritan found him in front of a church on June 29.
Speaking as she after arriving home Wednesday, Santana said: ‘When he first went missing, he didn’t report it to the police.
‘And they are trying to say that he might have done some crimes. Which he didn’t. And now they want to arrest me. Because they said I was hiding him.’
Months before Farias was reported missing, his father Rudolph Farias III, 51, committed suicide on 19 August 2014. Rudy was just 16 years old.
A day before he died, the elder Farias, had been relieved of his policing duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation into allegations that he and three other officers had been involved in an alleged ticket writing scheme.
The four officers were accused of listing each other as witnessing officers of traffic citations in a bid to collect overtime by appearing in court to testify.
As news of Farias’ shocking claim spread, relatives and neighbors began saying they knew he was not missing – and had seen him frequently throughout the years.
Farias’ cousin said she told police in 2018 he was at his mother’s house, and his grandmother had seen and spoken to him. The boy’s aunt said she also knew he was not missing.
Neighbors also claimed they’d seen him walking around the neighborhood.
Cassandra Lopez, his cousin, told KPRC 2 they always knew ‘in our hearts’ the story of Farias having vanished was not true.
She said: ‘I was in shock. I was like, I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I was glad, but I just was wondering what was going to unfold from it.
‘Like, what was the story going to be behind it? Because it’s just we always in our hearts knew that he wasn’t really missing.’
Janie Santana’s home in Houston, Texas. She reportedly, fled from the home at midnight and police were called to the residence
Houston police said Farias wasn’t missing the last 8 years as his mother, Janie Santana, claimed but no charges are being filed in the case. His aunts also spoke.
In a news conference Thursday, Houston police disputed many of the allegations made by community activist Quanell X on Wednesday. He claimed Rudy Farias told him that his mother hid him all these years, drugged him and sexually abused him.
Police confirmed Farias returned home a day after he was originally reported missing on March 7, 2015. They said he has not been missing for eight years as his mother, Janie Santana, continued to claim after a good Samaritan found him in front of a church on June 29. “Rudy’s mother continued to deceive police by remaining adamant that he was still missing,” an HPD lieutenant with the Missing Persons Unit said. “She said her nephew was the person friends and family were seeing coming and going, however we disputed that.”
Police said Farias had previous interactions with HPD patrol officers but they didn’t realize he was the man reported missing.
“During these contacts, fictitious names and dates of births were given,” the lieutenant said.
He said Santana also give phony names during interactions with police.
Police said Farias didn’t report sexual abuse by his mother when they interviewed him Wednesday.
“If there is a disclosure made, we will continue to investigate,” the lieutenant said.
He said the district attorney’s office declined to accept charges at this time, but Police Chief Troy Finner said it’s early in the investigation.
They said Farias has been connected with Adult Protective Services to get help.
“Rudy is safe. He is with his mother by choice,” Finner said.
Santana’s sisters, [photo], held their own news conference , questioning the decision not to charge her. “Janie is a hypothetical liar,” one said. “I’m not quite sure, but I’m gonna have to say she knows a lot of people in HPD and that’s why her freaking ass has been covered up”
Two of Farias’ aunts, Santana’s sisters, held their own news conference and questioned the decision not to charge her.
“Janie is a hypothetical liar,” her sister said. “I’m not quite sure, but I’m gonna have to say she knows a lot of people in HPD and that’s why her freaking ass has been covered up.”
One aunt said police had Santana in handcuffs after interviewing her and Rudy Wednesday but after the district attorney’s office declined charges, they let her leave with Rudy.
“Why in the freaking world did they let her go?” she asked.
“It’s bulls–t,” the other aunt said.
They questioned why Santana isn’t been charged with filing a false report.
There was a heavy police presence outside Santana’s home Thursday morning
Rudy Farias’ cousin Cassandra Lopez said their grandmother said she regularly saw him, and she knew he was not missing
Lopez said she called 911 in 2018 after family members saw Farias at his mother’s home, and their grandmother saw him regularly.
Houston police visited the house, but did not find him and it is unclear if they questioned any of the relatives.
Farias’ father, Houston police officer Rudolph Farias III, died by suicide in 2014. He was a 21-year veteran and was facing an internal affairs investigation at the time of his death.
Lopez said: ‘She would just say, I saw Rudy. You know, he came to check on me and we said hello and we had a little conversation. She never went into detail, but she would say she saw him.’
Lopez said the rest of the family are eager to hear from him.
‘I mean, half of his life is – almost a quarter of his life – has already been taken away,’ said Lopez.
‘Don’t you know that? That’s just not right. He didn’t deserve, nobody deserves that.’
Farias’ aunt Pauline Sanchez Rodriguez – the stepsister of Santana – told KPRC 2 that she believes Santana has been lying for the last eight years.
‘Everything’s coming up to the light,’ she said.
Rudy’s aunt Pauline Sanchez Rodriguez, [photo], believes Santana has lied for the past eight years about her nephew’s whereabouts
Farias and his mother are thought to have left the Houston hotel on Wednesday afternoon together, and Rodriguez said she was worried about him.
She said: ‘I came to this neighborhood to see if I could find her. I fear for Rudy Farias’ life.’
Rodriguez added that Farias was reluctant to open up to his family as a young teenager: ‘He was afraid because his mom manipulated him and kept him from spending time with us, talking to us, socializing with his cousins and that’s wrong.’
Rodriguez said she always suspected he had not disappeared: ‘I knew it, my heart, I go with what my heart tells me, you have five senses. I have my sixth sense.’
Kisha Ross, who lives in the same neighborhood said she never heard that he was missing and has seen him often over the last eight years
Neighbors echoed the family’s claims that Farias was not missing for the past eight years.
They said he was known as Dolph, an abbreviation of his full name Rudolph, and was somewhat withdrawn – but was regularly seen around the neighborhood.
Jeanay Wyble: ‘When he is with us, he doesn’t really say much or who he is. We just know he lives down here with his mom, goes to work with her around 6pm to 7 or 8 in the morning.
‘He’s just been freely walking down the street.’
Another neighbor, Kisha Ross, said Farias told her he didn’t want to spend time at home because ‘his mom got on his nerves’.
Community activist Quanell X [photo], reportedly spoke to Farias, before revealing that he’d said his mother had been drugging him and sexually abusing him for years. However, Houston police he debunked all of his allegations of assault
She claimed that Santana offered her money to not speak to the media, but she refused, insisting she wanted to tell the truth.
‘He used to come in my garage, chill with my cousin, son, and daughter,’ said Ross, adding that Farias liked to hang out in the woods by himself.
Broderick Conley, Ross’s cousin, also said he used to hang out with Farias regularly – ‘laughing’ and having ‘good times.’
Another aunt, however, said she believed Santana’s story that her son was missing, and even went from Houston to California to try and find him.
‘She had me out there in California thinking that they had found somebody that looked like Rudy in California,’ said Sylvia Lopez. ‘And I went all the way with her.’
Quanell, the community activist, was called to intervene by a local journalist and true crime sleuth who reports under the name Grizzy.
Grizzy had followed the case for years, and was contacted by Santana when Farias was ‘found.’
Quanell said he was horrified by what he heard – adding that Farias only opened up to him once he was at a distance from his mother.
Farias reportedly told Quanell X that his mother, [seen in this photo at the Houston hotel on Wednesday], had been sexually abusing him for years. Police said he never mentioned that when he was interviewed
The well-known local activist was filmed escorting Farias out of the hotel in Humble, a suburb 20 miles from downtown Houston. Farias walked with a slight limp and had a blanket over his head
Quanell said the reason Farias was found last week was because he stole his mother’s car to get away from her, but crashed and ended up bloodied and bruised outside the church last week.
He said Farias had his mother’s two-year-old credit card on him, which proved he could not have been missing for eight years.
After being separated from his mother, Farias reportedly said he never went missing, and for the past years his mother has been making him sleep in the bed with her while she was naked, and ‘making him play daddy.’
When asked about the sexual assault claims, Quanell said he did not want to go into details about the ‘kissing.’
After he was asked again, he replied: ‘Let me ask you a question – if your mother is tongue kissing you in the bed with her naked, what the hell is that? This is sick.’
Quanell claimed Santana kept her son hidden and convinced him he had to hide because police were looking for him to put him in jail.
The local figure said he asked Farias why he ran away, and Farias told him: ‘I was tired of living like a slave.’
He claimed: ‘Based on what that boy told me, I don’t see why she’s not in handcuffs right now. He was petrified but the minute he was by himself he calmed down. I believe she was drugging the hell out of this kid.
‘He said he didn’t like getting in the bed with her, that he would try to sneak out of the bed but she told him he had to be her husband.’
This missing person note detailed what he was wearing at the time that he went missing, aged 17, in 2015. It also mentioned that he suffered from depression, PTSD and anxiety
Farias allegedly said his mother made him bathe her, and punished him by locking him in a room ‘over and over.’
At the time of Farias’ disappearance, his mother told officials that he suffered from depression and PTSD since his brother died in a motorcycle accident in 2011 – an incident neighbors say he spoke about.
When Farias was located, Santana claimed he had blood in his hair and had been badly abused and beaten, and shared photos of him in a hospital bed.
‘Rudy is in pretty bad shape, he has cuts, soft tissue tumors, small openings and swelling on the soles of his feet, along with bruising, old and new cuts/scrapes on his body, old dry blood on his head and hair, he has very very dark complexion now almost unrecognizable,’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘God only knows what he has endured during his time away from home.’
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