Alabama boy applying for college discovers he was abducted from home in 2002

An Alabama boy who vanished 13 years ago when he was five inadvertently solved his own missing person case when he applied to college.

Julian Hernandez, now an 18-year-old high school senior, was found alive in Ohio after he and his guidance counselor probed why several universities couldn’t verify the student’s social security number. His father Bobby Hernandez was arrested Monday on abduction charges, officials said.

 

The boy’s mother reported him missing from their Vestavia Hills, Ala., home in 2002. Authorities suspected little Julian’s father took the tot to Florida, but they could never track down the pair.

In reality, the Hernandezes ended up in Cleveland, where they used aliases. The father went by Jonathan Mangina and neighbors knew his son as Jay Jay, Newsnet 5 reported.

This fall, Julian began applying to college. But his applications bounced back — the schools said his name and social security numbers didn’t match up. The teen and his school counselor began searching for answers, even running his information though the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s database.

That’s when they found the missing poster from 2002.

Special Agent Vicki Anderson of the FBI's Cleveland Division said someone tipped them off on Friday about the teen.

Alabama police are now working to extradite Bobby Hernandez from Ohio.

“I've been doing this 25 years and it’s something I've never experienced before,” Lt. Johnny Evans, of Vestavia Hills police, told WVTM. “That's the reason you never give up and you keep looking."

It’s not clear if Julian, who is now an adult, will be reunited with his mother — or where he might go to college next year.