Year Old Learns True Identity

Julian Hernandez, now 18, with the aid of a high school counselor, located his name on a database with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The father of the boy who vanished for 13 years – now facing charges in the case – “just took him and left” Alabama in 2002, his lawyer said. Authorities say Social Security Number discrepancies appeared when he was applying for college, which led him to learn the truth.

A tattered flag flies in front of a home where Julian Hernandez lived with his father, Bobby Hernandez, Thursday, November 5, 2015, in Cleveland.

In addition to the charges in Ohio, Bobby Hernandez will face charges in Jefferson County, Alabama, in the 2002 abduction. Both were living under assumed names with a woman and two other children, according to officials, and Julian Hernandez probably didn’t know he was listed as missing.

The mother and son have been in contact, authorities say, but it’s not known whether they’ve actually seen each other. He left her a note saying he had taken him and that was the last time she saw her son, Evans said.

A neighbor in Cleveland, Jeremy Hills, said he knew Bobby Hernandez as Jonathan Mangina and his son as Jay or J – Hills wasn’t sure.

Police said Julian Hernandez’s mother, who still lives in the Birmingham area, has spoken with her son, but don’t know if they have met or plan to do so. “It’s a good thing to be able to step out of the negativity and walk into something that’s positive”, Lt. Johnny Evans of Vestavia Hills Police Department said.

“Once she finally realized it was him, she was excited – she was ecstatic”, Vestavia Hills Police Lt. Johnny Evans told The Washington Post. “Everybody that knows him loves him”.

Authorities said they’re still trying to piece together what happened to the boy over the 13 years he was missing.

Police investigated hundreds of possible sightings.

By Monday, the identity of the young man was confirmed and Evans said he informed the mother that her son has been found.

Vicki Anderson, a special agent of the FBI’s Cleveland Division, said the agency received information Friday that an Ohio teenager may be a missing child from Alabama.

The teen and his mother have been in touch, police said, but it’s unclear what Julian plans to do next. Ralph DeFranco says Hernandez knows there will be consequences for his actions.

“To me”, he said, “this is what it’s all about – reuniting families”.

Bobby Hernandez made his first appearance in the Cuyahoga County Court on Wednesday, and his bond was set at $250,000. Alabama authorities on Thursday charged Hernandez with interference with custody, which carries up to 10 years in prison upon conviction. He said Hernandez once told him that his ex-wife “didn’t want to be a mom anymore”.

An attorney for Bobby Hernandez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“He’s pretty upset”, DeFranco said.

“I would like to take this opportunity to make a request to the media”.