Rudy Farias' tragic family history revealed

Rudy Farias, the Houston man who was reported missing in 2015 and found last week, lost his father in an apparent suicide just months before his disappearance and years after his brothers sudden death, according to reports.

Explore More

Rudy Farias, the Houston man who was reported missing in 2015 and found last week, lost his father in an apparent suicide just months before his disappearance — and years after his brother’s sudden death, according to reports.

Rudolph Farias III — whose son, formally named Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV, was found safe just last week after purportedly being missing for eight years — worked in the Houston Police Department’s (HPD) traffic enforcement division in 2014 when he took his life in his patrol car, Chron reported

The elder Farias killed himself on Aug. 19, 2014, just hours after he was relieved of duty for allegedly writing bogus traffic tickets to make overtime, according to KHOU 11

He was identified by HPD the following day in a parking garage behind the department’s jail near downtown Houston, authorities said.

Farias III was among four officers accused of falsifying several dozen speeding tickets issued by the HPD’s Traffic Enforcement Unit, in which officers appeared to have been in two places at once, the outlet reported.

Rudy Farias, right, pictured at his older brother’s high school graduation.
Rudy Farias, right, with his brother, Charles, who died in a motorcycle accident Janie Santana / Facebook

An obituary listed for Farias III cites Romi Marie Farias as his wife of 17 years with no mention of Janie Santana, Rudy’s mother. 

Rudy was a young teenager when his brother was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2011, Newsweek reported.

Rudolph Farias III’s obituary photo. Rosewood Funeral Home

Farias vanished in early March 2015, when a missing persons report described him as suffering from “depression, PTSD and anxiety” and a history of suicidal ideations.  

Now 25 years old, Farias was found outside a local church last week wearing his late brother Charles’ necklace. Police later revealed he safely returned home just one day after his 2015 disappearance — but his mother hid him and the pair lied to police about their identities.

The missing persons poster for Rudy Farias, who disappeared in March 2015 when he was 17.
Farias was found slumped over outside the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church on June 29, 2023 KTRK
The Houston home of Rudy Farias and his family, including his mother Janie Santana. KHOU

Houston activist Quanell X claimed Wednesday that Farias told him Santana had drugged, tortured and sexually abused her son, according to local reports

“She would ask him to play daddy, she told him that he had to be the husband.” 

Santana has not been charged in connection with her son’s alleged disappearance or treatment, and police said they have found no evidence of sexual abuse.

“Rudy is safe,” HPD officials said Thursday. “He is with his mother by choice. He is a 25-year-old man.”

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7j3BmaW5fp8KlxYyfmKuhkah6tb7AoKCcZZaWuqq42GafoqukpL%2B6edGerZ6ZnJqxcA%3D%3D

 Share!