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Missing Texas Man Found Alive and in "Bad Shape" Eight Years After Vanishing as a Teen
Rudy Farias' mother said her son was found with burns, bruises and scrapes on his body.
Eight years after vanishing as a teenager, a 25-year-old Houston man was found alive Saturday with scrapes and bruises covering his body.
Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV went missing on March 6, 2015, when he was 17, according to the Texas Center for the Missing. He is now being treated for his wounds in a hospital.
“Please continue to keep his family in your prayers as Rudy recovers in the hospital,” the Texas Center for the Missing tweeted on Sunday.
On the evening of March 6, the day he was last seen eight years ago, Farias was walking his dogs in the northwest Houston area. The dogs were found, but he was never located, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Officials told NBC News in 2015 that Farias’ mother last saw him around 6 p.m. when he went to take his two dogs on a walk near his home. Both dogs reportedly made it home without their leashes, one several hours later and the other, the next morning.
His mother said authorities confirmed they found her son when good Samaritans called 911 after spotting Farias outside a church, NBC affiliate KPRC reported.
Farias is in “bad shape,” mentally and physically, his mother told KPRC, reportedly having scrapes, burns and several bruises at the time he was found.
Director of Texas EquuSearch Tim Miller, one of several people who helped in the eight-year search for Farias, said he never imagined the young man would still be alive.
“How did this happen? We believe in miracles and this certainly was a miracle,” Miller told KPRC. “I can’t even tell you how many times we searched and how many leads and tips came in and they just kind of faded away and now all of a sudden, this.”
At the time of his disappearance, Farias suffered from PTSD, depression and anxiety, Texas EquuSearch stated in 2015.
“He has attempted suicide in the past. It is possible he is disoriented as he has not been taking his medication,” the organization added in its initial statements early on in the search for Farias. “Rudy is also asthmatic but is not in possession of his inhaler. According to his mother he is very wary around strangers.”
Family members told NBC News in 2015 that Farias lost his older brother in a motorcycle accident several years before.
“He watched his best friend die right in front of him. His brother was his best friend in the world,” a private investigator working for the Farias family said on Dateline in 2015. “He’s just gone through so much more than anyone his age ever should.”
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Investigators did not suspect foul play at the time of Farias’ disappearance.
“I think now there’s a lot of questions," Miller told KPRC. “There’s a lot to investigate to kind of see what happened, where it happened, how it happened.”
Details of where Farias has been and what he's been doing since he vanished remain unclear.
Farias' mother told KTRK that authorities have tried talking to him, but he will go into fetal position after saying only a few words. She added that it will be a long road to recovery, but that she's thankful for her son being found alive.
