When 18-year-old Julian Hernandez applied for college, he kept hitting an unusual snag. And as he took a closer look, he uncovered a family secret that had lain buried for 13 years.

It’s an August day in Alabama, and Bobby Hernandez is meant to be taking his five-year-old son Julian to school. Instead, though, he empties his bank account and whisks the boy away, leaving Julian’s heartbroken mother with no clue as to the whereabouts of her son. In fact, for the next 13 years she can only wonder about his fate – until a chance discovery finally reveals the truth.

In the fall of 2015, Julian Hernandez was living in Cleveland, Ohio, with his father, Bobby. The pair shared their home with Marcelena Biglang-awa, Bobby’s fiancé, as well as her three offspring and Bobby’s three-year-old daughter from another relationship.

For Julian, life in Cleveland was good. Bobby encouraged his son to do well at school, and Julian stepped up to the challenge. He was an honor student, in fact, excelling in his classes, and on top of this, he was committed to his martial arts hobby.

Speaking about his father the following year, Julian revealed the man’s positive influence on his life. “He’s the reason why I get the best grades in school and why I’m going to college,” he said. Ironically, though, it was Julian’s decision to pursue further education that would turn his life upside down.

As he was an excellent student, it seemed only natural that Julian would want to apply for college. However, when he began the process, he noticed that something strange was happening. According to the places that he was writing to, his name and social security number didn’t correspond.

Confused by this development, Julian decided to ask his school counselor for assistance. But when they began to investigate the situation, they soon realized that something was seriously amiss. In fact, while searching for Julian’s name, the counselor was amazed to discover that the student had been listed as missing for a full 13 years.

For Julian, the revelation came as a complete surprise. Yet as the authorities were notified and an investigation was launched, a strange and sad story began to emerge. Apparently, it all started in August 2002 when Bobby had arrived to give Julian, then five, a ride to preschool.

Back then, Julian was living with his mother in Vestavia Hills, an affluent suburb of Birmingham, AL, and his parents, who were not married, had experienced a volatile relationship. Indeed, apparently Bobby had once threatened to abduct Julian if his mother ever decided to leave.

But despite these alleged threats, when the pair broke up, Julian remained with his mother – at least initially. And although the couple were engaged in a dispute, Bobby did not have custody of his son at the time when he arrived to collect him. Nevertheless, he piled Julian into the car with a few of his belongings and promptly disappeared.

When Julian’s mother arrived home, she found a note from Bobby explaining what he had done. Heartbroken, she alerted the authorities, and soon the hunt for the missing boy was underway. Among other things, a poster was produced to help prompt any witnesses to come forward.

“Julian enjoys fishing, watching movies and eating at Chuck E. Cheese pizza,” the poster explained. But in spite of the police investigation, no trace of the boy could be found. As time passed, then, Julian’s mother found herself becoming increasingly depressed.

Every night, she would drive around the city, putting up posters and desperately searching for her missing son. In the back of her mind, she could not shake the idea that Julian was suffering in some way. “I didn’t know if he had a home or if he was taken care of,” she wrote in a statement made in 2016.

Image: Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce

As the years passed, Julian’s mother kept his bedroom just as he had left it. Eventually, she hoped, her son would find his way home. Nevertheless, it was a difficult time. “During my darkest moments I considered suicide,” she wrote. “I wanted to die.”

And it wasn’t just Julian’s mother who was struggling to cope with the boy’s disappearance. The abduction also affected his maternal grandparents, who spent much of the next 13 years fruitlessly chasing leads. Every Christmas, Julian’s grandmother would also buy an ornament for the boy in the hope that he would return home.

Meanwhile, Julian was growing up in Cleveland, oblivious to the fact that his family were desperately searching for him 700 miles away. After abducting his son, Bobby had escaped to Ohio and managed to secure himself a totally new identity.

Somehow, Bobby was able to acquire documents under an assumed name, Jonathan Mangina. And with Julian’s identity safely hidden, the father set about building a new life for the pair. He took a job in a factory and appears to have been a popular man, well liked in his local community.

However, that life came crashing down in November 2015 when police arrived in Cleveland to arrest Bobby. Subsequently, on April 13, 2016, he stood in court charged with interference with custody, forgery and kidnapping. Yet despite the pain caused by his crime, there were various people willing to defend him at his trial, including his son.

Surprisingly, perhaps, Julian testified in court in support of the father who had abducted him as a child. In fact, he claimed that Bobby had provided him with everything he needed growing up and that a prison sentence would only cause more suffering. “Even if other people can’t, I love and forgive him,” he said.

However, there was another side to the story that emerged in court. According to Julian’s maternal grandmother, their lives were ruined by Bobby’s selfish decision, which she believes was rooted in a desire for revenge after his relationship had failed. On a related note, friend Amy Coker claimed that Julian’s mother had been terrified of Bobby.

Eventually, in any case, Bobby was sentenced to four years behind bars for Julian’s abduction. And as his father serves the time, the teenager traveled to Alabama to meet with his mother. So, for a family torn apart for 13 years, it’s finally a chance to try and start again.