This is the young face of a five-year-old boy who vanished without a trace 13 years ago…
In August of 2002, Julian Hernandez disappeared while in the legal custody of his mother.
Police had always suspected young Julian’s father of kidnapping him – as part of a “non-custodial parental abduction” – but they never had any way of finding out or knowing what actually happened to him. He was untraceable.
13 years later, an 18-year-old man started applying for university, some 1100 kilometres away.
Living under a different name, the student realised there was in issue when his social security number failed to verify.
He sought the help of the school counsellor, who did some research only to discover that this man was the missing five-year-old Julian Hernandez.
Julian’s father Bobby was arrested on the spot for tampering records and interference in custody – he’s also been accused of providing false information to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles in March 2012 to get a fake ID.
“It’s quite an exciting event and it’s very rare, I’ve never seen this happen in my 25 years [in the force],” Lt. Johnny Evans, from Vestavia Hills Police Department in Alabama, told News Corp.
As for Julian and the mother he never knew he had –
“They’re trying to get through the situation,” Lt Evans said.
“It’s difficult for both sides, the child is told that he’s somebody he didn’t know who he was and the mum has to interact with someone she doesn’t know.”
“She was very happy that he had been found, quite ecstatic, but she was also somewhat hesitant because there had been so many false leads through the years.”
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