At first it seemed like a mirac,
a happy ending to a years long search.
Rudy Farias, who was reported missing
back in 2015, found alive in the
same city where he disappeared.
But that celebration was short
lived as the story twisted and
turned in the days that followe.
In this K HU11 plus special we'e
walking you through this case,
breaking down what we know to be true,
what we know to be false,
and what we just don't know yet.
Hi
there, I'm digital anchor Brandy Smith.
There are still a lot of
unanswered questions in this ca,
and even as I'm recording this,
there's an open Houston police investigation.
So we'll try to provide some answers,
but just know many are
not available right now.
First, the basics.
This case centers around Rudolph
Faria's the 4th, better known as Rudy.
He was reported missing on March 7th,
2015 by his mother, Janie Santa.
His half brother and father pasd
away before his disappearance.
We're going to dig into that a little bit
more In just a moment after Rudy was found,
the public has gotten to
know some of his aunts,
Pauline Sanchez and Sylvia Sanc,
Lopez and cousin Michelle Rodri.
These folks come up again
and again in this case,
so I just wanted to make sure
you're familiar with who's who.
The first time Houston viewers
heard the name Rudolph Farias ws
back in 2014 when Rudy's father.
Rudolph Farias, the third,
took his own life in a police parking garage.
The 21 year HPD veteran had been
relieved of duty and ordered ton
in his badge just hours earlier.
Why?
Because for weeks K HU11 had ben
investigating a ticket rigging m
involving Farias and three other officers.
Here's what Investigator Jeremy
Rogalski first reported on August 19th,
2014.
How
could officers possibly
be in two places at once?
That's what the I team found
took place, if you believe.
Dozens of speeding tickets writn
by HPD's traffic enforcement un,
including the officer who took his own life.
For instance, he's listed on
these two tickets written at the
same time on the Katy Freeway,
the first near Westcot St.
as a witnessing officer,
the second writing a ticket near Gessner Rd.
That's 7 miles away.
Or there's this set of
questionable tickets on I-10.
The same officer is supposedly at Wescott St.
witnessing the speeder,
but somehow 9 miles away at Willcrest Dr.
riding up a citizen at the same exact time.
And we also found cases in which the officer
was listed on two completely different roads,
In this example at 12:52 in the morning,
the same officer is listed
at 6:10 and memorial,
but also at 1252.
He's at I-10 and Gessner.
The facts show it's fiction.
So what would be the motivation?
Court overtime sources tell the iteam
witnessing officers are subpoend
and must appear ready to testif.
Turns out records show the offir
who killed himself made $158,00n
overtime over the past three ye.
The
three other officers involved
in the scam were Gregory Rosa,
John Garcia and Robert Manzanal.
They all pleaded guilty to feloy
charges but avoided jail time.
The City of Houston also dismissed all
speeding tickets issued by the four officers
involved in that ticket rigging scandal.
Family members told us later that losing
his dad had a big impact on Rud,
and as I mentioned before,
he'd already lost his brother in a 2011
motorcycle crash on March 6th, .
Rudy's mom, Janie Santana,
alleges the 17 year old took the dogs
for a walk near their home aroud
Tidwell and CE King in northwest
Houston The next day.
When she reported him missing,
she told police the dogs
came back but Rudy didn't.
We've since learned,
according to Houston police, that is true.
Rudy ran away, but investigatory
he returned home just a day lat,
information that they say was
never conveyed to searchers.
And that's clear when you look at this
Facebook post from Texas Equise.
The Search and rescue organizatn
shared this on March 7th,
2015 with updates about the
search for Rudy on March 10th,
12th, and 13th.
After getting two trucks stuck
in rain soaked fields and roads,
Equisearch announced on the 13th that it
was temporarily suspending the search
until more information became available.
Efforts to find Rudy didn't stop though.
Just more than a year after
he was reported missing,
K HU11 reporter Rux Russell spoo
Janie Santana about the search for Rudy.
I'm afraid she'll share her
fears, but not her face.
He hasn't checked his Facebook.
He hasn't checked e-mail. Just.
It's been that way for more than a year.
No word, no signs of Rudolph Rudy Ferrius,
a 17 year old Pasadena high schl
student and his mom's only living son.
It happened too fast. He
disappeared. Rudy was
last seen walking his dogs
right down here along Park Ave.
that evening. He should have
returned home in about 15 minut,
but his mom never saw him again.
He has such a huge heart.
He loves with all his heart,
so that's why we know that
he wouldn't just get
up and go on his own
it that's not him.
Detectives have warned family members
that he may have been abducted d
sold for human drug trafficking.
That's why she's hiding her face. It's
it's a nightmare that you
want to wake up from.
But like so many other parents
of missing kids without answers,
the nightmare continues.
That's what's killing me. Inside
rocks, Russell, KHOU 11 News. Tt
story first aired on May 25th
National Missing Children's Day.
That same day in 2017,
the Texas Center for the Missing
unveiled a billboard to help
generate leads to find Rudy.
That billboard along the East
Texas Freeway near Humble wasn't
the only one featuring Rudy.
Clear Channel Outdoor America's
also broadcast his photo on digl
billboards 1200 times a day for a month.
That brings us to 2018,
when Houston police say they goa
call telling them Rudy was livig
outside a family member's house.
HPD says its officers followed p
and didn't find Rudy for years.
As far as the public was concer,
the case went cold.
Then what appeared to be a brea.
On June 29th, 2023,
a Good Samaritan found Rudy in
front of a Houston church about
25 minutes away from where he
was last seen eight years befor.
A person called 911.
Officer say they were able to
identify Rudy because he was weg
a necklace that belonged to hise
brother and Aeily Ruiz caught us
up on what we knew as of July 3.
Found alive after eight years, Rudy Fadias
has been missing since March of5
and thank God he's live.
I mean this is one of them miras
that you don't experience very often.
He was last seen near his
home and just last week he was
found here outside this church.
Tim Miller was one of the dozenf
people that have been looking fr
Rudy from the get go. We started
out at at his
house where he disappeared
from where he was walking
his dogs. And I'll never forget
finding this backpack out in th.
Empty lot field and stuff
And Houston police tell us
they did get a call from family
members in September of 2018.
They had spotted Rudy living bed
a family members home but HPD
did not find him and they could
not provide the address for us.
But after eight years, a miracl,
a Good Samaritan found him
unresponsive outside this churc.
Neighbors say they saw when pole
showed up to the scene there was
a person that were trying to wake them up.
They could. HPD couldn't wake hm
up like he was completely out o,
but police confirmed it was Rud.
In a statement, Rudy's mom said
her son is now receiving the cae
he needs to overcome his trauma.
She said he's currently nonverbal and
is not able to communicate with them,
but she will share more details
as Rudy continues to heal.
Rudy's family is excited. Excit.
I mean, they are over the moon.
They're excited.
But they're also worried.
You know Rudy's not doing well,
and pictures released by the fa,
you could see Rudy has cuts
and bruises on his body.
As you can imagine,
the family is waiting for Rudy to heal.
And that's when things
started to take a turn.
Neighbors came forward claiming
Rudy had been living with
his mother this entire time.
Family came forward claiming
those photos of Rudy in the
hospital were actually from 201,
and community activist Quinel Xe
forward claiming he talked to Rudy himself.
On July 5th, Grace White shared
Cornell's allegations and the
reaction from Rudy's family. I'm
going to say I'm very worried,
very worried. Pauline Sanchez
Rodriguez is fighting back tear.
I didn't want to get involved,
but with my daughter, my oldest,
is mom come worried about
her nephew Rudy Vadius after
activist Quanel X held a press
conference this afternoon saying
Rudy hasn't really been missing.
For eight years,
he kept saying I just, I don't
want to go to prison. I don't wt
to go to prison, Quanel
says. It was Rudy's mother, Janie Santana,
that called him for help this morning.
He says Santana asked him to coo
this hotel where she and Rudy we
planning to meet with Houston police.
But when Quanel arrived, what he says
Rudy told detectives was heartbreaking.
She would ask him to play daddy.
She told him that he had to be
the husband. She would force him
to sleep in the bed with her,
according to Quanel,
Rudy told detectives his
mother hit him in her house,
gave him drugs and physically
and sexually abused him,
all while Quanel says she was
profiting off his disappearance
by raising money for the search.
I've never
seen Rudy since the day
he went missing.
Sylvia Lopez is another aunt who
says over the years she even
traveled out of state with Sant.
To look for her son,
and she had me out there in
California thinking that they he
found somebody that
looked like Rudy in California.
And I went
all the way with her.
After Quanel X's comments,
Houston police announced they'dd
a press conference the next morning to
update the public on their investigation.
When they did, detectives dispud
those disturbing allegations,
saying Rudy never disclosed abue
to them during their conversati.
Some of the new details they revealed
included that he returned home e
day after he was reported missi,
but officers say his mother deceived them,
telling them a nephew was the
one living with her.
HPD pushed for charges for both Rudy and
his mother for giving them false names,
but said the district attorney's
office declined to pursue them l
the investigation was complete.
And she Finner insisted multiple
times it is only just getting started
pressed about whether Rudy was sexually
assaulted or suffered sexual ab.
Investigators wouldn't say whetr
they believed Rudy was a victim.
They did say at the time he disappeared,
he was 17 and considered an adut
in the state of Texas.
Rudy Rudy's safe.
He is with his mother by
choice and he's an adult.
Yeah, he's a 25 year old man.
The chief is not going to know f
those allegations are true or n.
Unless Rudy had been taken to
go get medically evaluated,
you'll remember
that's Rudy's cousin,
Michelle Rodriguez, who,
along with some of his aunts, was angry.
They said in an interview aftere
press conference that they felt
like HPD failed them and that me
needed to be done to protect Ru.
Our reporter Matt Doherty tagged
along with one of those aunts ae
tracked him down and visited with him,
she says, for the first time
in more than eight years.
Pauline Sanchez says after speag
with her nephew today he wants
nothing else to do with his mot.
She says she believes the allegations
that Quan Alex made yesterday. Are true.
Things did not start cordially s
afternoon when the aunt of Rudy
Ferrius showed up to this home in East
Houston to pay her nephew a vis.
Pauline Sanchez told us Rudy is
staying with a friend of his mother's.
But when Pauline showed up at the house,
the woman inside called 911,
refused to let her in the door.
That's what.
That's what she said to Rudy's in there.
But she's not willing to speak f
anybody at this time.
But later on, Sanchez's son was first
allowed inside to see his cousi,
and then Sanchez herself was
eventually allowed to see him tt
polling. So this was the first
time you've seen him in how long
since the 2015?
She says she gave him a blessed
rosary from the Holy Land.
It was beautiful, very
beautiful to see him. We hugged
until I finally let go,
Sanchez says. Ferrius will clearly need
professional help for what he's endured.
She told us her nephew is gettig
to choose where he lives for the
first time and whether he wants
to see his mother, Janie Santan.
He made the statement that he
doesn't want to see his mom.
He doesn't want to go back to his mom. The
Sanchez says She did not ask Ferris about it,
but believes what he allegedly d
activists Quan LX yesterday that
he'd been drugged and physicalld
sexually abused by his mother for years.
But if Rudy told Mr.
X what in reality happened, everybody
has to believe that story. Janie
Santana has not been charged with a crime,
although her family says they
would like for her to be arrest.
Grace White is looking into
why no charges have been filed.
Which brings us to the
next big question.
Where is Rudy's mom?
Where is Janie Santana?
Grace White tried to get
that answer. We've spent
hours tonight trying to reach Rs
mom at home and at work to hearr
side of the story. I also tonigt
called the District Attorney's office to
ask why they decided to not file charges.
They told me there's simply
not enough evidence yet.
Hi Janie Grace White, channel 1.
There's still no answer from Janie Santana.
I tried calling the mother of Ry
Thaddeus this evening after Houn
police held a press conference today.
Currently the DA has declined ay
charges at this time for making
fictitious reports and failure .
The last time I saw Santana,
she speed away from our cameras yesterday
after initially agreeing to talk to me.
That was until activist Quanel X went public
with allegations of Rudy being abused.
Quanel says he was in the room
with Rudy and HPD detectives whn
Rudy made those accusations.
However, today HPD said Rudy ner
told them he was sexually abuse.
They do confirm Rudy was
never really missing.
For eight years,
Mother Janie continued to deceie
police by remaining adamant
that Rudy was still missing.
She alleged her nephew was
the person friends and family
we're seeing coming and going.
However,
we disputed that.
He hasn't checked his Facebook.
He hasn't checked e-mail.
That was Santana in 2016.
We dug into our archives to finn
interview she did with Kate Shou
during a nationwide Bring Them e
campaign to highlight the missi.
She talked to us one year aftere
claimed her son disappeared. Ths
why we know that. He wouldn't just get
up and go on his own.
That's not him.
During that interview,
Santana claimed detectives toldr
Rudy may have been kidnapped and
sold for human drug trafficking.
However, today, HPD determined y
actually returned home the day after he
ran away and had been home ever since.
We're going to conduct our
investigation and we're kind
of right at the beginning of.
Police told us tonight this case
is still active and they're
still getting new leaves.
They say they'll investigate anw
information they get in North Houston.
Grace White, K2 U 11 News
On Friday, July 7th,
Quinn LX held another press conference
in which he made clear he stands by the
statements he made earlier in the week.
He says he doesn't believe Rudy is safe.
Vows to continue to fight for
someone to help Rudy we have.
Heard from Rudy?
He refuted some of Cornell's cl,
telling other news outlets he ft
like he had Stockholm Syndrome.
And that catches us up to today.
Still, so many questions and not many
answers that we certainly know more than
we did on June 29th when Rudy reappeared.
This is a story we'll continue to follow.
For any new developments or upd,
be sure to check khu.com or dowd
the free K HU11 app for your ph.
Thanks for watching this KHU 11 plus special.
I'm Brandi Smith.