Rudy Farias’ mother ‘claimed he was kidnapped by human traffickers’ while she hid Texas man in home
Private investigator told The Independent she grew suspicious of Janie Santana after devoting hundreds of hours to finding Rudy Farias
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Rudy Farias’ mother once claimed that her son had been kidnapped by human traffickers while she was actually hiding him in her own home, according to a private investigator.
Brenda Paradise told The Independent she devoted hundreds of hours to finding Mr Farias but grew suspicious of his mother Janie Santana.
Ms Paradise said that Ms Santana repeatedly asked for money on her Facebook pages to help track her “missing” son down.
Once, she asked for money to pay a ransom to a suspected human trafficker in Tijuana, Mexico, who she falsely claimed had kidnapped Mr Farias. She even went to a morgue to identify a deceased body, Ms Paradise said.
Mr Farias made headlines last week when Ms Santana announced that the now-25-year-old had been “found” eight years after she reported him missing in 2015.
Houston police later confirmed that he was never missing and had been living at home with his mother the whole time.
Community activist Quanell X later claimed Mr Farias had alleged alarming abuse by his mother. After his claims were refuted by police, he doubled down in an interview with The Independent. Ms Santana has not been charged.
Rudy Farias’ childhood was marked by tragedy
From a young age, Rudy Farias experienced life-changing tragedies.
Mr Farias, 25, was recently declared “found” after, supposedly, being missing for eight years. Then in a bombshell revelation, Houston authorities revealed he was never missing and had been living with his mother using false names.
Allegations that Mr Farias’ mother had abused him arose from the strange case which police have denied.
But as more information comes to light, it was revealed Mr Farias experienced several tragic hardships in his childhood.
At 13 years old, Mr Farias’ half-brother, Charles Uresti, was killed in a motorcycle crash. A private investigator, hired by the Farias family, told NBC’s Dateline in 2015 that Mr Farias and his mother were the first to the crash scene.
“He watched his best friend die right in front of him,” Brenda Paradise told Dateline. “His brother was his best friend in the world. He’s just gone through so much more than anyone his age ever should.”
Then in 2014, Mr Farias’ father died by suicide while under investigation for a fake speed ticketing scheme.
An investigation by KHOU 11 found that officers were falsely claiming to have witnessed speeding infractions in order to claim overtime by testifying in court.
Rudy Farias doesn’t want contact with his mother, aunt claims
Rudy Farias’ aunt has insisted that he does not want any contact with his mother, despite police claims that he voluntarily returned home after being “found” last week.
Pauline Sanchez told NBC News that Mr Farias is “doing well” but that he “plans to stay away from” his mother Janie Santana after her eight-year lie about his disappearance was exposed.
“His mentality, he needs to get well. He’s going to be cautious. I still feel that he’s traumatized and gone through a lot. I still feel action should be taken,” Ms Sanchez said. “He doesn’t want to see his mom and doesn’t want to go back to his mom.”
Ms Sanchez said she saw her nephew for the first time in eight years on Thursday night, hours after police confirmed that Mr Farias had never been missing at all. Rather, police said Mr Farias had been home with his mother the whole time.
“I felt great presence,” Ms Sanchez said of the reunion. “It was beautiful. We hugged until I finally let go. He’s a bit skinny.”
Questions surrounding Rudy Farias’ return remain
At first glance, it appeared to be a happy ending where a family was reunited and a mother’s years of agony searching for her missing child finally came to an end.
But, it quickly became apparent that things weren’t what they seemed.
Rudy Farias’ remarkable return eight years after his mother Janie Santana filed a missing persons report turned out to be nothing but a scam.
Rachel Sharp reports:
Rudy Farias’ return turned out to be a lie. These unanswered questions remain
What exactly happened to Mr Farias over the past eight years, why his mother sought to deceive authorities and how she seemingly succeeded for all this time continue to be something of a mystery, Rachel Sharp reports
‘Surrogate parent’ to Rudy Farias reveals years-long suspicions about his mother
A woman who considered herself a “surrogate parent” to Rudy Farias before he was reported missing has spoken out following revelations that the disappearance was a sham.
Jacque Brunswick lived in the same Houston neighbourhood as Mr Farias in the years before his mother, Janie Santana, claimed he vanished in March 2015.
In a Friday appearance on NewsNation, Ms Brunswick revealed she has long believed that Ms Santana was involved in the disappearance.
“I honestly had always thought that Janie had something to do with it, had her hands in it some way or somehow,” she said.
“After a couple of years I started grieving him because I truly thought that he was dead.”
Ms Brunswick described Mr Farias as a “timid” teenager who appeared to be afraid of his mother.
Read more:
‘Surrogate parent’ to Rudy Farias reveals years-long suspicions about his mother
‘I honestly had always thought that Janie [Santana] had something to do with it,’ Jacque Brunswick says
PI who spend hundreds of hours trying to track down Rudy Farias speaks out
A private investigator who tried to track down Rudy Farias has told The Independent of her shock at learning that his mother Janie Santana will not face charges for lying about the disappearance for eight years.
Brenda Paradise began working on the case three days after Mr Farias was reported to have gone missing in 2015, and devoted hundreds of hours to finding him.
Ms Paradise said that early on she felt many of Ms Santana’s claims about her son’s disappearance didn’t add up, and that his mother probably lied to rake in thousands of dollars in public donations.
She said she wasn’t surprised when Mr Farias turned out to have been with his mother all along. But her “jaw dropped” when she heard police would not be pressing charges.
“If somebody had held a little blonde girl hostage all those years, police would have been all over this case.”
Read more from The Independent’s Bevan Hurley:
Was Rudy Farias’ mother suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy?
Brenda Paradise tells The Independent’s Bevan Hurley the bizarre missing person case is rooted in greed and mental health issues
Where is Rudy Farias’ mother now?
Rumours are swirling that Rudy Farias’ mother Janie Santana is “on the run” following explosive abuse claims.
A neighbour reportedly called 911 on Thursday night to report seeing Ms Santana leave her home in Houston just after midnight.
It came hours after police confirmed that Ms Santana had lied about her son being missing for eight years - but refuted abuse claims by local activist Quanell X.
Ms Santana had speculated on Wednesday that she would be arrested before authorities announced that prosecutors are not planning to press charges.
Her current whereabouts are unknown.
Adult protective services visit Rudy Farias’ mother’s home
An adult protective services official was reportedly seen outside the home of Janie Santana on Friday.
Footage shared on Twitter by KPRC 2 reporter Corley Peel shows a man surveying the front of the house.
The journalist said that the official knocked on the door without an answer and looked through the windows.
Was Rudy Farias’ mother suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy?
Rudy Farias’ mother Janie Santana may be suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a private investigator who tried to track him down told The Independent.
Brenda Paradise said that early on she felt many of Ms Santana’s claims about her son’s disappearance in 2015 didn’t add up, and says his mother probably lied to rake in thousands of dollars in public donations.
Ms Paradise told The Independent that when she first got involved with the case days after the missing person’s report was filed, she became aware that Ms Santana had created a GoFundMe page claiming that her son had been diagnosed with cancer.
She said she didn’t see any evidence that the diagnosis was genuine, and was unsure how much money the fundraiser attracted.
After Mr Farias’ case began attracting attention, the cancer fundraiser “quietly went away.” She said she mentioned the page to the Houston Police Department (HPD).
After Mr Farias was reported missing, Ms Santana set up a second fundraiser with the goal of making $75,000 to “help find Rudy”. She received just over $2,000 before the page was shut down this week.
Days after Mr Farias disappeared, Ms Paradise said she attended a community fundraiser organised to aid the search.
She told The Independent Ms Santana showed up two hours later, pocketed approximately $2,000, and then left within 20 minutes.
“I don’t know what she’s trying to get money for but it’s been a money grab the whole way.” Ms Paradise told The Independent.
Rudy Farias ‘couldn’t stand’ his mother, neighbour claims
A neighbour who spent time with Rudy Farias during the years he was falsely considered missing has claimed that he “couldn’t stand” his mother Janie Santana.
Jeanay Wyble told Newsweek she was stunned when she heard reports last week that Mr Farias had been “found” after eight years - because she never knew about his purported disappearance.
“I was shocked because we were hanging around with him. We invited him to our house, and we didn’t know he was missing,” she said.
She said that Ms Santana had tried to convince her and other people in the neighbourhood that Mr Farias was her nephew - as was confirmed by Houston police on Thursday.
Ms Wyble said Mr Farias didn’t have “major” issues but that he “didn’t like being around her”.
Former Houston detective condemns Quanell X comments
A former Houston detective has criticised activist Quanell X for airing claims of abuse allegedly suffered by Rudy Farias.
Tensions arose between Quanell X and Houston police when the activist came out to claim that Mr Farias had alleged abuse by his mother - which officials roundly denied.
Quanell X first spoke out about the case on Wednesday after attending a meeting between Mr Farias and detectives.
“That boy needs to go to the best drug rehab and best psychological, mental health facility we can find for him. He’s a good kid. That kid was just severely abused,” he told reporters.
At a press conference on Thursday, Lt Christopher Zamora denied Quanell X’s account, saying Mr Farias had not made any such claims.
While confusion over the conflicting accounts persists, former detective Mark Stephens said that Quanell X may have hurt any chance at bringing charges should the abuse claims be found credible.
“He got on national television and declared to the world for the past eight years, Rudy, the alleged victim here, has been on psychedelic drugs,” Mr Stephens told KTRK. “So basically for the last decade, why would you then believe him when he tells you these horrible stories about his mother?”
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