SAN ANTONIO — A local missing persons advocate is hoping the news about a Houston man being found and reunited with his mom after eight years, strengthens the spirits of other families who are still fighting for answers.
“I just get chills when I first saw the story,” said Dottie Laster. “As it is hard to find them, that’s 20%, 80% comes next in trying to heal whatever they’ve been through, the trauma, to reunite the family’s trauma, it’s intensive and it takes minimum two to five years.”
On June 29, a good Samaritan called police for a welfare check after spotting Rudolpho “Rudy” Farias outside a church on Houston’s southeast side.
Farias was 17 years old when he vanished in 2015 while walking his dogs in Houston. His dogs were found but Farias disappeared, leading to years of agony for his family. His family initially thought he may have been abducted and sold into human trafficking. Police have not released information regarding what Farias endured during his period
The Texas Center for the Missing confirmed through a tweet on Saturday, that Farias had been found and was being treated at a hospital.
Laster has spent more than 20 years helping hundreds of families through the agony of finding their missing loved ones.
She formerly led the Heidi Search Center in San Antonio, a non-profit organization that provided a host of resources for families of people who went missing for almost 30 years. Citing financial reasons, the center closed its doors in 2018.
“We have Joshua Davis, little child still missing for many years, San Antonio, there’s Jordan Green, an adult man who went missing in the Helotes area, never been found,” Laster said.
Laster continues her work as a nationally recognized expert when it comes to human trafficking, having trained more than 5,000 law enforcement officers and issuing over $6.5 million in grants to fund victim services.
“It’s really scary for a family and as time goes on, it gets even more to where the rest of their life falls apart,” Laster said.
While Farias begins his healing journey, Laster hopes his story brings Texans together.
“I hope the community will be encouraged by this and to realize that it’s important to be involved and be aware of who’s missing,” Laster said.
Texas lawmakers passed a bill that would allow law enforcement to issue AMBER Alerts without requiring confirmation of an abduction.
The bill was named after 7-year-old Athena Strand from Wise County, Texas, who was killed in late November 2022.