According to USA Today, on September 26, 2015, an anonymous post appeared on Reddit, a public
online forum where people post anything they want according to their interests, sort of
like an online meetup community. According to the Reddit thread, someone commented on the following,
quote, sometime between the ages of three and five, my father took me against a court order away from
my mother without me ever knowing this. He changed my name, my social security number, and did
something similar for himself. I have lived my entire life up until a few days ago oblivious
to this fact. I only discovered all of this when I was applying for scholarships. I'm not angry at
my father in the slightest. I remember he used to ask me, if I ever committed a terrible crime,
would you still love me? I still do, even after learning everything, unquote. Welcome everyone to
Dying to be Found the Dash. I'm your host Deb, and this is a story of Julian Hernandez, a five-year-old
boy who was abducted by his father in 2002 from Birmingham, Alabama. Hi everyone, this is Deb from
Dying to be Found. Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing
discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind. Recordings are not
intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this podcast. Listener
discretion is strongly advised. Hi everyone, thanks for hanging in here with Dying to be Found
the Dash, where every week I'll bring you bonus episodes like today or talk with fellow True Crime
podcasters and enthusiasts. Just look for the Dying to be Found logo. Once you find me, you'll
get to hear me and my kiddos Shelby and Corey or my sister Beth tell a tale to every week. If you're
looking for shorter stories and just me telling a tale or looking for just some cross collaborations
with other podcasters, be sure to check out The Dash. If you could rate and share, that really does
help as far as visibility out there in the podcast world. So definitely give it a go. I appreciate it,
but let me get into my storyline today. This Reddit post that I spoke about at the beginning of this
episode, there's speculation that the author is indeed Julian Hernandez, although the circumstances
are without question extremely similar to this case. Someone had commented on that post that I
had mentioned in the introduction and the person talking about being abducted responded to that
post by telling them that his father had told him that if his parents ever broke up, his dad would
just take him away. However, the courts felt otherwise and ordered custody to the mum. So what's
this case all about? It's about a little boy who did not find out his true identity until he
consciously went through his formative years making good grades, scoring well on his ACT's,
and trying to earn scholarships to pay for college. This boy was named Julian Hernandez and it sounds
like he was doing everything right plus he had a pretty good upbringing. On another note, it seems
that Julian discovered his own past simply by needing to supply his social security number
when applying to those colleges. As it turns out, Julian ran into a few roadblocks turning in those
applications because he received messages that his social security number could not be verified.
Julian went to visit his school counselor for assistance and imagine his surprise when after
a little bit of digging, they discovered that Julian was registered with the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children Database. Obviously, Julian's father was promptly arrested.
Bobby Hernandez, age 53, was charged with tampering with official records and providing
false information on June 12, 2015. He was held on a $250,000 bond and because he was currently
living in Cleveland, Ohio, he was scheduled to face charges 650 miles or 1046 kilometers away
in Alabama. Bobby was also charged with interference of custody which could amount to
between one and 10 years in prison if convicted. When Julian was first reported missing in 2002,
he had left a note for Julian's mom that he had taken Julian fishing. Of course, Julian was not
returned that evening and when that happened, Julian's mother contacted police and a warrant
was issued as a non-custodial parental abduction, which is a felony offense in relation to
interference with child custody. According to ABC News, the child custody interference charges
applied from the time that Julian was taken at the age of five until his 18th birthday.
Court records indicated that Bobby had falsified identification information to obtain a fictitious
ID in Ohio. Whether this was for himself or for Julian is not quite clear. However, authorities
from the state of Ohio believe that Bobby may have applied for an identification card under the name
of a deceased individual. So here's how it played out. On April 28, 2002, Bobby Hernandez, Julian's
dad, was not married to Julian's mom. At some point, they had broken up so eventually resided
in separate homes. The couple was apparently on enough speaking terms together because Bobby made
arrangements with Julian's mom to take Julian to preschool. That never happened. Instead, Bobby picked
Julian up at the designated time and went to run errands instead. He went to the bank, withdrew some
cash, and simply left the area. When Bobby failed to show up that evening to return Julian back home,
his mom did call the police to file that missing person's report. Over the next 13 years, many
leads came in, but Bobby and Julian had vanished without a trace. Authorities released information
on Julian's disappearance and received numerous leads all the way from Florida to Canada. Of course,
nothing came to fruition from these leads, but eyewitnesses after the fact said that Bobby was
a soft-spoken man who lived under an alias name of Jonathan Mangina. He loved his son, whom he called
Jay or JJ, and did his best to always provide for him. It wasn't until 2015 that Julian began applying
to colleges and his social security number came into question. This is when his high school counselor
helped him fill in the missing pieces of his true identity, whether they realized it or not. So where
does Julian go from here? In 2016, 19-year-old Julian Hernandez made a public statement to an
Ohio courts judge that he forgave his father Bobby Hernandez for kidnapping him and raising him on his
own. Julian even said, quote, even if people can't, I forgive him for what he's done. I love him and I
want him to be part of my life. Unquote. Julian went on to advocate for his father and asked the
judge to give mercy on Bobby and keep him from going to prison for this kidnapping. Julian's
argument was that throughout his life, Bobby had pushed him to be a good student, to do right,
and to focus on his future with plans to go to college. Well, let's not forget about Bobby
Hernandez here. He was that soft-spoken man and apologized to the court for taking his son from
Julian's mother. He went on to explain to the court why he had abducted his own son and ended
up in Ohio. Bobby told the judge that Julian was the most important person in his life. The prosecutor
felt otherwise. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor argued that Bobby was a con man and stated that
kidnapping Julian was a horrible thing to do to any parent. One of Julian's grandparents later came
forward to testify that Bobby was angry, controlling, and vengeful and deliberately punished Julian's
mom by kidnapping Julian because she had left him. Bobby went on to be indicted for kidnapping,
interference with custody, forgery, and tampering with records on November 14, 2015. According to
WVTM 13 television, the tampering and forgery charges were issued when Bobby falsified Julian's
records, which included his birth certificate necessary to enroll Julian in public school.
These charges were also related to Bobby when he obtained an Ohio driver's license and the title
to his vehicle. Bobby went on to plead guilty to two counts of kidnapping, two counts of interference
to custody, one count of forgery, and ten counts of tampering with records. On April 13, 2016, Bobby
was sentenced to four years behind bars in the Ohio prison system and was released on parole for
an additional five years. That would bring us up to today where Bobby has a few more years to serve
on parole. To this day, Julian stands behind his dad and his actions, inferring that he was a good
provider and a good dad who pushed him to succeed in life. Okay, where's Julian's mom in all of this?
Personally, I'm a mother and if you've listened to Dying to be Found enough, you know that I lost
my son Cory for 15 minutes of my life while we were out camping and he was three years old.
Longer if you count the minutes it took me to discover that he was gone. The moment of
realization that your child is missing is absolutely excruciating. And that was only for 15 minutes
until I was able to find Cory at another campsite safe and sound about half a mile away. Although
this is nothing in comparison to losing a child, let alone for 13 years, I personally understand
for a split second what it's like for a child to go missing. Thankfully, Julian's mom got the same
results as me only it took a lot longer. So my heart goes out to her and I am truly joyful that
she was able to find her missing child. Julian's mom was notified that he was found safe and sound.
She realizes that Julian was a grown man when he discovered his true identity and left it up to him
on if they would reunite. So where is Julian Hernandez now? I did my best to find updates
on his whereabouts but was unsuccessful. However, back in 2015 when the story made headlines,
Julian was 18 years old and basically told the media that he wanted to be left alone.
According to Cleveland 19 News, this is what he said. And to be honest, there's little information
on Julian's whereabouts today other than to say he's living his best life. Quote, I would like to
take this opportunity to make a request to the media. I ask that you respect my privacy and the
privacy of my school, my school's faculty, my friends, and my neighbors. I want to go through
my day like I did this week, just being a normal 18 year old. Unquote. So here's some closing thoughts
to sum things up. It's apparent that Julian holds a strong bond with his dad. According to Global News,
Julian is quoted by saying, I think my dad has done a lot of good in our time here in Cleveland.
He's raised me well, in my opinion, a lot better than any other parent I've seen. He's pushed me
far in school. And he's the reason why I get some of the best grades in school and why I'm going to
college. Unquote. Julian goes on to say that the time he spent with his dad is the only time he
truly felt at home and at peace because of how much hard work he put into everything. So that's the
story of Julian Hernandez, the five-year-old boy from Alabama that discovered his own identity.
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