Rudolph Rudy Farias IV, who disappeared eight years ago at age 17, was found alive in Houston. (Texas Center for the Missing/TNS)

Houston man Rudy Farias says he felt “brainwashed” by his mom, Janie Santana, during the period of time he was considered missing.

Farias was reported missing by his mother in 2015 when he was 18 years old and was purportedly located last month. However, the story quickly fell apart, with police concluding he was never actually missing and had been living at home with his mom the whole time.

An investigation is ongoing but so far no charges have been filed. The motive for Santana’s years of deception is currently unknown.

“She never locked me in or handcuffed me or anything like that,” Farias told ABC 13 in his first public comments about the matter. “I had free will to leave, it just felt like brainwashing, honestly.”

During his supposed disappearance, Farias and Santana interacted with investigators multiple times but used fake names and birthdays to hide his identity. Farias also told the station his mother occasionally hid him in a room when visitors came to the home.

The situation “felt like Stockholm syndrome” to Farias, who relied on his mother after the deaths of his half-brother in a 2011 motorcycle accident and his father, a former Houston police officer who died by suicide in 2014.

“I just wanted to be free. I wanted to have my own job. I just wanted to live my life…I struggled to understand my emotions,” he said.

Farias also denied allegations made by local activist Quanell X that his mother sexually abused him.

“I wouldn’t lie about that because there’s plenty of people that need honest truths when it comes to those things, that just muddies the water to lie about those types of things,” he said.

According to the station, Farias said he is no longer staying with his mother and has cut off all contact with her.