Her name hasn’t been released.
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“We want to thank everyone for their prayers and support during Julian’s disappearance”, the statement said. Bobby is said to have taken money from a bank account and several of Julian’s possessions, including a stuffed orca whale and a soft baby afghan., before fleeing the town with his son. That’s when they contacted the Police Department Vestavia Hills and located and identified the child as Julian.
Hernandez has been in contact with his mother, Evans said, but he wasn’t sure whether it was by phone, email or other methods.
“They received hundreds of leads over the years of where he might be from Florida to out of the country, Canada”, Evans said. Police say she’s requested privacy. “[The investigators] spent tireless hours doing everything they could to try to find him”.
Julian Hernandez at age 5.
All that time, Julian, now 18, had been living with his father under a different name.
He was just 5 years old in 2002 and living in Alabama when his father, Bobby Hernandez, took Julian from his mother. WBRC reports that an ongoing investigation could yield additional charges.
Meanwhile, when his mother found out that he is safe and 700 miles away, she couldn’t believe that after 13 years, he was found. He will have to decide whether to continue his life in Cleveland or to move back to Birmingham with his mother and her family.
“Once she finally realized it was him, she was excited – she was ecstatic”, Vestavia Hills Police Lt. Johnny Evans said.
Imagine applying for college… and the admissions counselor says you’ve been on the list of missing and exploited children for 13 years.
Julian Hernandez, who is now 18, went missing in August 2002.
He’s now 18. Falls says it’s unlikely he knew he was listed as missing. His father, Bobby Hernandez, had agreed to take him to preschool, according to a missing children’s poster from the Charley Project, a missing-persons database.
District Attorney Brandon Falls said charges are warranted despite there being no marriage, divorce or legal custody documents. That’s a class C felony carrying a prison term of one to 10 years.
Reportedly, Julian’s father was supposed to drop his 5-year-old son off at school 13 years ago.
Bobby and Julian Hernandez lived on the west side of Cleveland.
It is understood that Julian was unaware he was the subject of a missing person’s case.
Bobby Hernandez has been arrested and charged in Ohio in connection to the abduction and will also face charges in Jefferson County, Alabama.
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In addition to the charges in Ohio, Hernandez will face charges in Jefferson County, Alabama, in the 2002 abduction.
