SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Two men have been charged with aggravated kidnapping after they allegedly abducted a Texas couple from their home.
The couple was kidnapped at gunpoint while their five children, all of whom are under the age of 17, witnessed the terrifying ordeal, police said.
How did the kidnapping happen?
Xhavier Zeke Martinez, 29, and Felipe Patricio Valdez, 40, are accused of breaking into the couple’s house in Mission Bell.
The accused went to the residential neighbourhood in San Antonio on Wednesday morning, September 13.
After breaking into the house, the kidnappers forced the couple into a white SUV.
“The suspects kicked down the door, entered the home, took the two adults, and fled the scene,” San Antonio Police Officer Ricardo Guzman told ABC 13.
The kidnappers then drove away with the victims, leaving their children behind.
Where did the kidnappers take the couple?
The couple, whom Daily Mail identified by friends as Samantha Esquivel-Zuniga, 38, and Ricky Zuniga, 37, were held hostage at another house in San Antonio for several hours.
They were kelt hostage until a SWAT team surrounded the property and rescued them.
The couple was taken to the hospital and “medically cleared” to return to their family on Thursday, police said as per Fox News.
San Antonio police Sgt Washington Moscoso said at a press conference that the kidnapping was not random, but targeted to the specific family.
What was the motive behind the kidnapping?
He did not reveal the motive behind the crime or the relationship between the suspects and the victims.
“This was a targeted kidnapping, it wasn’t a random act,” Moscoso said, adding, “These individuals didn’t just pick a random house … this was a targeted kidnapping to this particular family.”
Moscoso did not specify whether the couple was handcuffed or restrained in any way or how many people were inside the house where they were held hostage.
How was the couple found?
The children told the police that their parents were taken by unknown suspects who loaded the couple into a white SUV before driving away.
Moscoso said that detectives worked “through the night” to locate the couple and track down the suspects.
They eventually found them at another house in San Antonio, where a SWAT team surrounded the property and demanded the kidnappers to surrender.
“People started coming out of the house” when they noticed the police presence outside, Moscoso said, including the couple.
Martinez and Valdez were “arrested without incident.”
Do the kidnappers have a criminal past?
Moscoso also said that Martinez had an outstanding warrant for his arrest on charges of deadly conduct with a firearm, evading arrest and interfering with public duties.
He did not provide any details on those charges or Valdez’s criminal history.
Police declined to release the name of a third man who is wanted in relation to the kidnapping. They urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP (7867).
