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Kidnapping thwarted by elderly woman
Associated Press
Sept. 13, 2002TUCSON - An elderly woman driving under duress on a southern Arizona highway signaled an alert Border Patrol agent, who stopped a kidnapping in progress, authorities said Thursday.
The woman and her husband, both 73, were accosted Wednesday at their Parker Canyon Lake home by two illegal immigrants after agreeing to provide lunch for the men in exchange for yard work, officials said.
The men initially had requested water, Cochise County Sheriff's spokeswoman Carol Capas said. The couple were not identified.
Capas gave this account:
When the woman heard a noise from the porch and stepped outside, one man grabbed her from behind, restrained her and taped her mouth. She broke free and demanded to know where her husband was.
Her assailant asked for their truck keys, but she refused to provide them until she saw her husband, who was being held on the ground by the second man, bleeding.
The woman told the men her husband needed medical care and convinced them to help them into the truck.
She drove next to her husband and her attacker also sat in front, while the other man climbed into the pickup's bed beneath a camper top. They told her to drive to a nearby RV park, where they picked up five more undocumented immigrants who also climbed into the truck bed.
The woman said she was going to drive to Sonoita for medical help and started blinking her lights and tapping the brakes as she approached a Border Patrol agent on Arizona 83.
The agent saw that the couple and their passenger appeared nervous, turned around and made a traffic stop. The man in the cab jumped out and escaped. The agent arrested the other six people, all illegal immigrants, in the truck bed.
Capas said Ricardo Paredes-Vargas, 20, of Mexico City, whom the woman identified as her husband's assailant, was charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
He was held in Cochise County Jail pending an initial appearance in Cochise County Superior Court.
The Border Patrol said the other five people were processed and voluntarily returned to Mexico.
The couple were treated for cuts and bruises by emergency medical technicians.
The border needs to be militarized.