Police Chief William Lansdowne stated that authorities apprehended David Montiel Cruz, a 24-year-old individual, during a raid conducted in the early morning at the residence of an acquaintance. This occurred approximately eight hours after he seemingly left the girl and less than a mile away from the location where he purportedly abducted her, following a vicious assault on her mother and sibling.
The suspected kidnapper, the young woman appeared at a nearby convenience store in a different city, visibly disturbed but unharmed, and assisted authorities in apprehending the culprit.
Authorities stated that Cruz was arrested under the suspicion of abduction, trespassing, theft, attacking with a lethal weapon, and sexual assault. His arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday.
Cruz has been accused of kidnapping the girl on Friday after assaulting her mother and brother. The police stated that they suspect the man was acquainted with the fourth-grade girl through one of her previous classmates – even though neither the girl nor her family were familiar with him.
The person right here is the chief, and we are very confident about it. The police expected consistent injuries from the struggle with the mother of the girl, and the police sketch of the suspect looked like Cruz. The suspect tried to fight off the officers after a police dog bit him and was taken to the hospital, authorities said.
Before her neighbors and the media, she began to choke back tears and thanked the authorities, still with a puffy face, for the attack on Friday from her mother.
Roselia Tamayo, spoken in Spanish, expressed, “I desire to advise all mothers to refrain from allowing their children to wander alone on the street, regardless of its level of security.” She further added, “I believe this situation evokes a sensation similar to death when one experiences the loss of a child.”
As per the store proprietor and authorities, the young lady showed up at a shop in East Palo Alto during the late hours of Sunday night, “weeping and frightened.”
Lansdowne stated that the young lady supplied investigators with details that resulted in the apprehension because she stayed attentive during the distressing situation – and in high morale, reunited with her mother and other relatives.
The girl was healthy and did not suffer any major physical injuries, according to him. She is not being identified by The Times because she is a victim of sexual abuse.
According to Deputy Chief Rob Davis, the assailant, while assaulting her, uttered the words “you know what I desire” to the girl’s mother on two occasions. It is believed that the attacker waited for the girl to come back home from school on Friday with the intention of abducting her, indicating that the crime was not a random act.
Yasin stated, “She was weeping and frightened,” who mentioned that he did not witness anyone leave her, the girl’s distress concluded at approximately 10:30 p.M. On Sunday when she entered the Eastside Market, the proprietor Isa Yasin.
Yasin, the kidnapper, realized that the girl was trying to call her mother, even though she was too shaken to dial the number. After talking to the girl, she realized that the police had not been called.