On the afternoon of February 23, 1997, two-year-old Ruben David Felix was at a family gathering at the Tanupa Ranch, a remote home along the Little Wood River near Shoshone, Idaho. He was last seen at approximately 4:30 p.m. in the front yard, drinking from his bottle. At the time, he was in the care of his stepfather, Aurelio Mireles, as his mother had left for work. According to his stepfather, he went inside the house for a moment, and when he returned, Ruben was gone.
The family searched for about two hours before contacting the police. At the time of his disappearance, Ruben was described as a biracial male with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He stood at 2'6" tall, weighed 32 pounds, and had a scar on his right wrist. He was wearing a red sweatshirt, blue sweatpants with a stripe down the sides, and brown hiking boots.
An extensive search was launched in the area surrounding the home. Search dogs were able to track Ruben's scent for about 200 yards from the house, leading across a field, over railroad tracks, and to the edge of the Little Wood River, where a small footprint was discovered in the snow on the riverbank. This led to the theory that Ruben may have accidentally fallen into the river and drowned, but multiple searches of the river and the surrounding land yielded no sign of the little boy. Adding to the mystery, in late March 1997, Ruben's bottle was found in the yard of the home where he was last seen, an area that had been previously searched multiple times. Authorities were unable to determine how the bottle got there.
The years following Ruben's disappearance have been filled with anguish and unanswered questions for his family. His mother has expressed her belief that his stepfather's family may have been involved in his disappearance, a suspicion that arose after some family members who were at the gathering reportedly left for Mexico the day after he went missing. A van belonging to these relatives was later found burned in Arizona, though they claimed it was unrelated to Ruben's case. In a strange and cruel twist, years after he vanished, Ruben's mother received a phone call from a man claiming to be an FBI agent who told her that Ruben had been found in Guadalajara, Mexico, after being sold to a wealthy family. However, when she went to the FBI office in Twin Falls, no one there had any knowledge of such a development, and it was revealed that the agent assigned to her son's case had retired. Despite the passage of time, Ruben's family holds onto the hope that he is still alive.Last Seen: Feb 23, 1997
