UPDATE: According to Houston police, the teen was at home the whole time. While his mother did report him missing on March 7, 2015, he returned home a day later.
The original story appears below:
A young man who disappeared in Houston, Texas, while walking his dogs eight years ago has been found alive.
Rudy Farias was 18 when he vanished on March 6, 2015, Fox 4 reported Monday.
“After 8 long years, Rudy has been located safe. Please continue to keep his family in your prayers as Rudy recovers in the hospital,” the TX Center 4 Missing said in a social media post on Sunday:
The last time anyone saw Farias was when he was walking his dogs near Tidwell and C.E. King. The pets were later recovered, but the young man was nowhere to be found.
In an update on March 1o, 2015, Texas EquuSearch Search and Recovery explained that Farias suffered from depression, PTSD, and anxiety.
“He has attempted suicide in the past. It is possible he is disoriented as he has not been taking his medication. Rudy is also asthmatic but is not in possession of his inhaler. According to his mother he is very wary around strangers,” the group said.
His family told reporters in 2015 that years before he went missing his brother died in a motorcycle crash, according to the New York Post.
“He watched his best friend die right in front of him,” a private investigator hired by his relatives said at the time.
Authorities recently located the young man, who is now in his 20s, after he was reportedly found by an individual while unresponsive outside a church building.
According to his mother, Farias had cuts and bruises all over his body. She tried speaking with him, but the young man would reportedly only utter a few words before curling up in the fetal position, USA Today reported Monday.
An image shows the young man resting in a hospital bed:
Meanwhile, Farias’s whereabouts between the time he disappeared and now remain a mystery.
“We believe in miracles, and this certainly was a miracle,” said Tim Miller, a director for Texas EquuSearch, who helped search for the young man:
“I can’t even tell you how many times we’ve searched and how many leads and tips came in, and then they just kind of faded away. We heard nothing, and now all of a sudden this,” he added, also noting there are many questions to be answered with the investigation.
The young man’s mother told ABC 13 that doctors and therapists will speak with him Tuesday. She also expressed joy that her son was found alive after so many years.
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