Evelyn Romero tried not to get her hopes up.

She's been down that road before.

But despite her best efforts, Romero was riding high Friday afternoon when she received a phone call from the Santa Fe Police Department informing her DNA results were in — DNA results aimed at proving whether a Santa Fe teen she met two days before was her son, Robbie Romero, who has been missing for more than a decade.

"The told me the results showed that it wasn't Robbie," Evelyn Romero said. "I really thought I had prepared myself for this, but I just broke down. ... My thoughts were, 'Well then, where's my son?' "

Nearly three hours later, Evelyn Romero was still crying outside the Bellamah Drive home where her 7-year-old son Robbie was last seen on June 7, 2000.

In what Santa Fe Police Chief Ray Rael called an "unfortunate, bizarre lead that didn't pan out," friends of the Romero family who know Robert Terrezas, 19, brought the teen to the Romero home on Wednesday. The friends felt the physical characteristics of Terrezas, his age — Robbie Romero would be 18-year-old — and the fact that Terrezas, who has often gone by the name Robbie Romero, has no memory of his childhood all led to the growing suspicions that the teen actually was the missing boy Robbie Romero.

While he uses the name Robbie Romero, the teenager "never told me he was my son," Evelyn Romero said.

Detective Robert Vasquez, who interviewed Terrezas on Wednesday and obtained the DNA sample, made it clear at a Friday news conference that Terrezas never told investigators he was the missing boy.

He did, however, "portray himself as Robbie Romero," the missing boy, to others in the past, according to Rael, but never to police or to the Romero family. Because of that, no crime was committed. Neither Rael nor Evelyn Romero said they think this was a hoax.

Terrezas and his mother say he was born in Mexico and grew up in Utah before moving to Santa Fe about three years ago. Both were cooperative with police over the past 48 hours, but the boy's mother was unable to provide a birth certificate or childhood photos of her son, only adding to suspicions.

Evelyn Romero said she has no ill will toward Terrezas or his family.

"I don't think that he's a cruel young man or anything like that," Evelyn Romero said. "He never told me he was my son. I never should have had my hopes up, but just looking at him, the similarities were there. He had the features; he didn't remember his childhood. I shouldn't have, but I guess I just wanted this to be the time."

Evelyn Romero has had her hopes raised and dashed plenty of times in the past decade.

"But most of the time they were leads about remains," Evelyn Romero said. "There have been very few times where there was information about Robbie possibly being found alive."

That may be what made this week such an emotional roller coaster for the grieving mother. Evelyn Romero sat across a table Wednesday and looked into the eyes of a boy she thought might be her son.

"To me, this was the most real lead [in more than a decade] because I actually saw an 18-year-old child sitting in front of me," Evelyn Romero said.

The mother met with Rael and Vasquez for less than a half hour before the police chief released the news to the media.

"The missing person case of Robbie Romero remains open," Rael said.

Police have long suspected Robbie's older brother, Ronnie, either had something to do with the boy's disappearance or had knowledge of what happened. Ronnie Romero died in 2008 and was never officially called a suspect, only a person of interest.

Despite the heartbreak to the Romero family, and the frustrations for a department still hoping to solve the case, the past 48 hours had the unintended benefit of bringing the still-unsolved case back into the national spotlight.

"In an unfortunate way, perhaps, this rekindled this city's memory of the event," Rael said.

But it wasn't just Santa Fe that latched onto this story.

Producers from ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today and Dateline NBC were in Santa Fe following the case, ready to go with national broadcasts should the DNA results have had a different outcome.

Instead, Evelyn Romero is again left wondering and being consoled by friends and family.

"I couldn't call and tell everyone," Evelyn Romero said. "[My 22-year-old son] Ricky called everyone to tell them. He's strong. I couldn't do it. My daughter just sent me a text message that said, 'Next time mom. Maybe next time.' "

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3076 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at santafecrime.com.