Texas Teen Missing 8 Years Found, Recovering in Hospital

A Texas teen who went missing nearly a decade ago has been "located safe" and is recovering in hospital for reasons currently unknown, according to reports.

Rudy Farias was 18 years old when he was reported missing after he went for a walk in Houston with his two dogs in March, 2015, and failed to return home, according to NBC News.

The dogs would later show up but there was no trace of Farias.

NBC News noted that the teen had battled depression after his older brother died in a motorcycle accident.

"He watched his best friend die right in front of him," Brenda Paradise, a private investigator hired by the Farias family, said in April, 2015. "His brother was his best friend in the world. He’s just gone through so much more than anyone his age ever should."

An extensive search was launched to locate the missing teen, but efforts proved to be unsuccessful.

"In the beginning, we met with the family and detectives out there and we found a backpack," Tim Miller, director of the non-profit Texas EquuSearch, which helped with the initial search, told KPRC-TV. "We talked to someone with a catering truck that said they saw him, then there were different possible sightings in different places."

Over the weekend, it emerged that Farias had been found unresponsive outside a church with cuts and bruises on his body and blood in his hair. The cause of his injuries remains uncertain, but his mother suspects abuse or assault.

"How did this happen? We believe in miracles and this certainly was a miracle," Miller said. "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."

Farias' mother revealed that her son is struggling to communicate and faces a lengthy recovery, but she is grateful that he is alive.

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