Rudy Farias' Mom Put on 'Good Scam,' Private Investigator in Search Says

A private investigator who worked on Rudy Farias' disappearance case back in 2015 told Newsweek that he believes the 25-year-old's recent reappearance is a "production" set up by his mother.

Farias was discovered last Thursday after Houston law enforcement received a call about a person lying outside of a church in the Texas city—more than eight years after he had been declared missing as a 17-year-old, in March 2015.

But several questions remain about Farias' whereabouts over the past several years, including accusations that he was being hidden and abused by his mother, Janie Santana, during the near decade he was considered missing.

Mark Renteria, private investigator with Checkmate Investigative Field Services, began working on the disappearance a few months after Farias was reported missing, and told Newsweek over the phone on Thursday that he and his wife started on the case pro bono after being told that Farias was a juvenile. According to Renteria, however, Farias became an adult shortly after he went missing.

"We had told [Santana] that generally working adults, we have to charge, but we made an exception in this case because of the high notoriety of [Farias'] past," Renteria said.

Farias' father, Rudolph Farias III, had worked at the Houston Police Department before dying by suicide in 2014. Farias disappeared a year later.

Mom's 'Extremely Unusual' Actions During the Search

Renteria said that he and his wife worked on and off on Farias' case for roughly two years, and noticed several "extremely unusual" things while working with Santana. According to the private investigator, Farias' mother didn't appear "all that emotional that her son was missing," and never attempted to help out during the investigation similar to the ways that other parents of missing children would, such as handing out flyers or hosting search events with community members.

Nearly all of the leads Renteria was provided about Farias' potential whereabouts were from Santana, which he and his wife found particularly strange.

"After a while, it became apparent to us that essentially Janie is pretty much controlling a lot of this stuff," Renteria told Newsweek. "She was controlling a lot of the narrative; she was controlling how the case progressed."

Renteria also said that other investigators working on the case, including detectives at the Houston Police Department, had led him to believe that Santana may not have been "fully truthful" with investigators during the search. At one point, Renteria tried to place Santana under surveillance in hopes that she would lead him to Farias, but said that he "could never prove" that she was hiding her son somewhere.

Eventually, Renteria and his wife dropped the case after Santana gave them a lead that would have taken the investigators to Mexico. After being told that such a lead would require Renteria to charge a fee like other cases, Santana stopped providing information.

"We quickly realized, you know what, Rudy is an adult," Renteria noted. "And if he really doesn't want to be found, we really can't do anything about it."

Santana's Lies Persisted: Police

Santana has been accused of lying to police about her son's whereabouts by several individuals close to Farias' case, including family members and neighbors who claim that Farias has "never been missing."

Houston police also confirmed during a press conference on Thursday that Farias returned home a day after Santana filed a missing-persons report, but that his mother continued "deceiving" police that her son was missing. Farias also reportedly had contact with police over the past eight years, Houston Police Lieutenant Christopher Zamora said, but gave fake names and dates of birth.

Police have all called Farias a "potential victim" in the case, but the Harris County District Attorney's Office has declined to charge Santana in the investigation. Zamora also disputed the accusations against Santana made by activist Quanell X, who said earlier this week that Farias said during questioning that his mother had "severely abused" him.

Renteria told Newsweek that he and his wife have come to believe that Santana likely set up Farias' disappearance—and his miraculous reappearance—as a "scam" to make thousands off of fundraisers.

"Looking back at it, and looking at our roles and looking with what we have found out in the past couple of days, we feel that Janie put on a pretty good scam," Renteria said. "Whether it be for reasons of raising money, because she did have GoFundMe accounts asking for, you know, thousands of dollars for this or that ... In my opinion, Janie was doing all of this to raise money from other people."

A spokesperson for GoFundMe told Newsweek on Thursday that a fundraiser set up by a person tied to Santana raised $2,025 for Farias' mother back in 2015. Renteria claimed that another GoFundMe site had been set up shortly after Farias was found by law enforcement last week asking for $50,000 to go toward medical expenses. It has been removed from the website. Newsweek could not independently verify Renteria's claims.

Renteria said that he was "glad" Farias had been "supposedly found" but added that he and his wife believe "that this is another Janie production" in hopes of raising more money.

The private investigator also told Newsweek that it "doesn't surprise him" to hear the abuse allegations from people like Quanell X, adding that, "for all intents and purposes, we also had to consider the possibility that Janie may have killed Rudy and buried him somewhere."

Newsweek has attempted to contact Santana though the Texas Center for the Missing, which is handling all public communications for the family at this time. In a previous statement, Santana said that the family was "asking for privacy during this difficult time but will share more details as Rudy continues to heal."