A HEARTBROKEN wife felt relief and joy when she learned that her missing husband was found one week after leaving their home on foot.
While questions continue to swirl about his disappearance, family is celebrating now that Colby Richards, 31, has been found alive in Montgomery County, Texas, after a massive eight-day search.
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Colby was found in an unincorporated area of Montgomery County called The Woodlands, but it's unclear how he was discovered.
Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson said medical officials are evaluating Richards but did not immediately disclose his condition.
Colby's discovery was confirmed by his cousin on Facebook who wrote: "Hallelujah and praise the Lord!!! Colby has been found alive!
"We don't have any details yet, but we are overjoyed at the positive outcome."
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Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, Colby's cousin Allison Fox, who has acted as a representative of the family, described the moment that his wife Callie heard the news.
"I was not in the room when she heard, but she called me right away, and her voice was elated and relieved and so so happy all at once," she said.
"We are all ecstatic and thankful that he is coming home.
"We are incredibly thankful to everyone for their help in finding him."
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The discovery came after the father of two young kids was supposed to be getting ready for his new job at an engineering firm but instead walked toward hiking trails behind his home without his wallet, phone, or keys.
His wife Callie figured that he had slept in another room when she woke up and looked for him, but called police when she found that he left the back gate to their house open, Fox said before he was found.
Under normal circ*mstances, he would make sure that the home was secure so their children and dogs wouldn't go far.
Police found a water bottle belonging to Colby at the head of the trail but saw no sign indicating that he was still in the woods.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Department stopped actively searching for Richards on Wednesday, but continued to investigate his disappearance.
Fox, who is acting as a representative of the family, started a Facebook page to update worried friends and family on the status of search efforts.
Comments on the page were heavily censored by Fox who reminded so-called armchair detectives that their theories were being read by heartbroken family members.
Some users suggested that Colby left of his own volition to get away, but Fox says that he would never leave his little one-year-old boy and three-year-old daughter.
"We see stuff online about, well, maybe he left, maybe he wanted to go run off with somebody, or just ridiculous things that are untrue," she told The U.S. Sun.
"The kids are his world... It doesn't make any sense whatsoever that he would leave them like that."
The cousin is asking that people take their hurtful theories elsewhere while they continue to search high and low for Colby.
"Something that could be hurtful to Callie... that's not appreciated.
"If folks wanna speculate on news sites or Reddit or whatever that's fine.
"Just don't do it on the pages where Callie and Colby's mother and Colby's grandfather and all the rest of us are gonna have to see it."
STRANGE BEHAVIOR
Fox said that Colby would sometimes go outside without his phone in order to meditate, but never early in the morning before an already early shift.
Richards is known as a belovedbaseballcoach who worked with promising young players in his community and he just got a new job at an engineering firm before he vanished.
Coworkers at the firm said that he had been sleepy in the days before the shocking incident and would sometimes zone out at his screen, Fox told LiveNOW FOX.
However, the cousin reminded the public that he was the father of two very young children and said losing sleep wasn't out of the ordinary.
Fox believes that her cousin could have traveled a long distance as he was a dedicated runner and athlete.
She fears that he has been without water for days while possibly avoiding search parties.
The leader of Gulf Search and Rescue, a group that assisted in the search, said the case has confused him, and he fears for Richards' safety.
"In 19 years, I've never seen a case like this. It's very unique," Jake Stovall told local reporters.
"A 31-year-old male who's in good health but when you get dehydrated, it changes everything."
'IT'S BEEN ROUGH'
"It's a really big mystery," Fox told The U.S. Sun. "There's not a lot of definites or clues to go from."
According to Callie, nothing noteworthy happened in their lives that would have caused her husband to take off.
She said that he had no diagnosed mental health issues and has never left the family before.
"It's been rough," she told Fox affiliateKRIV, saying their two young kids are starting to realize something is wrong.
"My daughter knows. Initially, we tried to keep it quiet until we could get more information, but she knows," Callie said.
"She’s been asking questions, like morbid questions. She’s very smart.
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"She’s very aware of what’s going on. My son has been leeching to me."
The U.S. Sun has reached out to the family for more information on his disappearance.
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