A child who was reported missing thirteen years ago has been found.
Julian Hernandez, from Birmingham, Alabama, had been living, unharmed, in Ohio with his father for 13 years.
The child had been in the legal custody of his mother when he disappeared on August 28, 2002.
The case was cracked when Julian, now 18 and living under another name, attempted to apply to college. When his social security number didn’t seem to work, a teacher helped him get to the bottom of the confusion, immediately raising red flags as to the boy’s identity. They soon discovered he was listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Julian’s father Bobby Hernandez (53) has been arrested on a $250,000 bond.
Posters featuring an age-progressed image of Julian had been widely distributed but police had no leads until late October.
Police say the boy’s mother is overjoyed:
“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,” said Lt. Kevin York of the Vestavia Hills Police Department.
