CLEVELAND, Nov. 5 (UPI) — An Alabama boy missing for 13 years was found safe in Ohio when the now-18-year-old discovered his name and Social Security number didn’t match on a college application.
Julian Hernandez was first reported missing by his mother to the Vestavia Hills, Ala., police in 2002. Police suspected he was taken by his father, Bobby Hernandez, in a noncustodial parent abduction.
Jefferson County, Ala., District Attorney Brandon Falls said, when Julian applied to college, he discovered his Social Security number did not match his name, and that his real name was in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s database.
Bobby Hernandez was arrested this week in Cleveland for the abduction. Court records did not specify charges against him, but at his hearing Wednesday in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, court, bond was set at $250,000 and another hearing was scheduled for Nov. 12. He will also face identity theft charges in Alabama.
Police in Alabama said Julian’s mother is “ecstatic” her son was found.
FBI offices in Cleveland and Birmingham, Ala., the National Center and the Vestavia Hills police all collaborated on the case.
“I’ve been doing this 25 years and it’s something I’ve never experienced before,” said Lt. Johnny Evans of the Vestavia Hills police. “[The investigators] spent tireless hours doing everything they could to try to find him.”
