[media] San Jose girl was kept in box (kidnapper's photo)
Rock Bottom
S.J. girl was kept in box
COOL UNDER PRESSURE: THE VICTIM'S AUNT SAYS NIECE DEVISED WAYS TO FOIL
ABDUCTOR
By Roxanne Stites and Kate Folmar
Mercury News
Associated Press [photo] Enrique Sosa Alvarez,aka David Montiel Cruz.
Tied up and held captive in a small cardboard box for two days and
nourished only with a single slice of pepperoni pizza, a 9-year-old San
Jose girl mustered the presence of mind to collect clues about her
captor and fake an asthma attack that helped gain her freedom, a
relative said Tuesday.
``She heard him talk about disposing of the body,'' the victim's aunt,
Sylvia Tamayo, told the Mercury News. ``She went crazy and thought, `Oh,
my God! I have to find a way out.' ''
Tamayo said her niece devised a plan to foil her abductor. She played
sick, cried and pretended she was suffering an asthma attack, so he
might think she needed medicine or would die. The girl memorized her
kidnapper's cell phone number and remembered that he ordered pepperoni
pizza from Little Caesar's -- an order that police traced to her alleged
abductor's house. And, in the brief stretches when she was freed from
the box, the fourth-grader collected scraps of paper -- possible clues
about her captor.
``Not only that, but she used other tricks,'' Tamayo, 44, said during a
telephone interview from the South San Jose house where the girl was
abducted Friday afternoon. ``She thought she was going to die.''
The girl's mother taught her daughter to think under pressure, Tamayo
said, but she doesn't know how the 9-year-old had the wherewithal to
think up all of these things. ``She amazes me.''
A source familiar with the investigation confirmed many of the details
recounted by the girl's aunt, but much about the girl's ordeal remains
unclear, including how she got the cell phone number and exactly how she
ended up at an East Palo Alto liquor store -- free from her captor --
late Sunday night.
It was clues from the girl that led police to Enrique Sosa Alvarez, 23,
-- also known as David Montiel Cruz -- who is scheduled to be arraigned
today on nine felony charges -- including rape with special allegations
for kidnapping, tying and binding the girl. Held without bail in the
county jail, he could get 115 years to life in prison if convicted.
The girl's kidnapping -- part of which was caught on a neighbor's
security camera -- gripped the Bay Area throughout the weekend. More
than 150 officers searched the South Bay, and volunteers blanketed the
area with fliers until the girl suddenly walked to freedom.
Police said the girl did everything right.
``If you're caught in a situation like this,'' said San Jose Deputy
Police Chief Rob Davis, ``you need to be aware of your surroundings, you
need to keep your wits, you need to do your best to humanize yourself:
Do something so he sees you as a person.''
Authorities say that they are confident they have nabbed the right man
and say physical evidence links him to the kidnapping at the girl's
house. But they don't know his name for certain. The suspect told police
he was Enrique Sosa Alvarez, born Dec. 12, 1979, but police ran his
fingerprints on a nationwide database and identified him as David
Montiel Cruz, born Jan. 9, 1979.
When booked into jail, the suspect refused to sign his name.
``The big question mark is who is this guy? We'd like to know,'' Davis said.
The girl's aunt said Alvarez apparently knew of her niece through the
twin daughters of Sylvia Gutierrez's, with whom the suspect lived. The
twins and the kidnap victim played occasionally at the 9-year-old's
house. Alvarez may have seen the girl when the victim's mother once
dropped the twins off at home, Tamayo said.
Alvarez used a long list of aliases, so police can't trust any name they
have because he may have lied about his identity when he was
fingerprinted in the past. They said they are trying to confirm his name
by finding family members, prior employers and government agencies.
While the man remains a mystery to authorities, people who live near the
home that Alvarez and Gutierrez shared on Dearwell Way said they know
more about the man than they want to.
Neighbor John Bosco phoned in a tip to police that could have led to
Alvarez.
Bosco's 9-year-old daughter is close friends with Gutierrez's twins.
They slept over at the Boscos' house Saturday night.
Bosco's daughter, whom he doesn't want named, immediately recognized the
suspect's face from fliers passed out in the San Jose neighborhood. He
called 911 and told the operator that he had a tip about the kidnapper.
The operator asked for the kidnapper's address, so Bosco hopped on his
motorcycle and rode one-tenth of a mile and called back with the address.
An officer called Sunday to ask for Bosco's work number, but he didn't
ask anything about the tip, Bosco said.
``They should have acted,'' said Michelle Jacquez, Bosco's fiancee, who
lives four doors from the victim's house. ``She wouldn't have had to
endure another 24 hours.''
Police said within a day they had received 100 tips, and Bosco's stood
out. But Davis said police received more promising tips and were acting
on those.
After Alvarez was arrested on charges that he sexually assaulted the
girl, Bosco asked his daughter a tough question: Did Alvarez ``ever try
to touch you inappropriately anywhere? I wanted to know.''
No, his daughter said.
An 11-year-old friend of Gutierrez's son, James Garcia, said that the
suspect scared James.
Nicholas Vigil said his friend James would sometimes cry at Nicholas'
house because he did not like the man who lived with his mother. He
burst into tears in Nicholas' garage most recently on Friday, the day
the girl was kidnapped, said Roselyn Rodriguez, Nicholas' mom.
``James didn't say that much. He said he didn't like the dad,'' Nicholas
said, referring to Alvarez. ``He said, `Nicholas, If I go home, I have
to vacuum every day. If I don't vacuum, I get hit.' ''
He added that James swore his friend to secrecy about the fights that
went on at his house. ``He'll be like, `They just got into a fight,' ''
Nicholas said. ``You could tell he didn't mean a fight, fight, like a
talking fight, but a fight, fight. When I asked him, he'd just start
crying.''
Alvarez's girlfriend, Sylvia Gutierrez, remained in seclusion at her
sister's San Jose home Tuesday and declined to talk to reporters. A
woman who identified herself as Gutierrez's sister said Gutierrez was
``stressed out,'' ``crying,'' and ``having a nervous breakdown.''
Gutierrez's nephew, Victor Guerrero, said his aunt wasn't at the home at
the time of the alleged kidnapping and didn't know anything about the case.
The girl's ordeal started Friday, when Alvarez allegedly waited in a car
outside the 9-year-old's house until the girl returned from school.
While he sat there, another car pulled alongside Alvarez's, according to
videotape captured by a neighbor's security system.
Alvarez allegedly entered the house and then calmly pulled his car into
the garage. Minutes later, the girl's mother, Roselia Tamayo, and
15-year-old brother, Pablo, returned home. Pablo entered the garage and
saw his sister crying in the back seat of the suspect's car. He and his
mother fought the attacker but were unable to stop him.
After two days of captivity, the girl walked into the East Palo Alto
liquor store Sunday night, shaking and crying, asking to call her
mother. Police arrived quickly and started piecing together her clues.
By 5:15 a.m. Monday, a SWAT team was raiding Alvarez's house.
On Tuesday afternoon, the kidnapped girl's family was back at their home
but they weren't ready to talk about what happened.
``It's still too recent,'' Roselia Tamayo said in Spanish, her face
still bruised from Friday, when she tried to fend off her daughter's
abductor.
Her daughter spent most of the last two days at the police department,
but spent time resting at home on Tuesday. She perked up when her
cousins came by to play with Bratz dolls.
Asked how she felt, the girl struggled to describe her emotions. She
gave up, stuck out her hand and signaled ``so-so.''
``She doesn't feel so good,'' her brother said.
As evening fell, with television news trucks camped along Southwind
Drive, neighbors began trickling to Roselia Tamayo's home after work,
offering hugs and gifts. One brought an angel doll for the little girl.
``Do you need anything?'' one neighbor asked Roselia Tamayo.
``No,'' she said. ``I have everything now . . . my daughter.''
Lori
---------------------------------------
To think that this poor young girl spent one extra minute with this
sicko because a substantial tip/lead was neglected by LE is
inexcusable. In a situation like this, every law enforcement officer
should be on duty and even dog catchers should be called in to assist.
To think it takes 24 hours to follow up on a lead when even address has
been offered is outrageous.
While I'm at it, it sounds like the girlfriend of the kidnapper should
also be investigated. She lets this creep move into her home and abuse
her children? It has also been reported that when she was shown a
sketch of the kidnapper before the little victim was found, she reacted
as if she recognized the perpetrator and became upset. If it is true,
and she did not act on it right away, she should be charged with
something...
I apologize, this is more of a rant than an informative post.
Lori
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Lori
--------------------------------------------------
Should we be expecting another arrest in this incident? The victim
heard the kidnapper talking about "disposing of the body"...was he
talking to himself?
Bo Raxo
"Lori" <lori...@accucom.net> wrote in message
news:3EE76E02...@accucom.net...
> ---------------------------------------
>
> To think that this poor young girl spent one extra minute with this
> sicko because a substantial tip/lead was neglected by LE is
> inexcusable. In a situation like this, every law enforcement officer
> should be on duty and even dog catchers should be called in to assist.
> To think it takes 24 hours to follow up on a lead when even address has
> been offered is outrageous.
$$$. Call in every off-duty cop and pay them overtime, and in a few days
you can spend a month's worth of salary. Since there isn't an infinite pot
of money, paying an officer time and a half or double time means there will
be fewer officers on the streets at other times.
And while this kid was being held captive, there were other crimes
occurring. You want to tell a rape victim that the department has dropped
her case for a few days while everyone concentrates on one case?
And sadly, in the vast majority of these kinds of cases, the kid is dead
within 24 hours and all the extra attention in the world won't change that.
I do agree with you that a lead so close to the kidnap location, with an
address, should have gone to the top of the follow-up list. But that isn't
a matter of calling in extra manpower, but of prioritizing the manpower you
have.
I also agree with you that the woman he was living with needs to be looked
at by CPS to see what, if any, abuse her kids have suffered. I also like
the point in your other post, that when he was talking about disposing of
the victim's body, who was he talking to? Cell phone records should unravel
that one.
Bo Raxo
Lori
-----------------------------------------
You do raise some good points, Bo, however I am going to argue my side
a little further.
$$$...sure $$$ is tight all over. Where else would the $$$ be better
spent? I would bet there isn't a taxpayer anywhere in CA that wouldn't
want two year's of budgeted overtime spent finding their kidnapped
child. Perhaps some of the allotted moneys from some of the more
frivolous programs in that state could have been used to cover the need
for more manpower.
As to the neglect of other victims of crimes, first lets assume that
these crimes have already occurred and the victims are out of immediate
danger. Post incident, if they are safe and have received medical
assistance (not a LE responsibility) that victim goes to second on the
list...behind any person who is currently being victimized. If the
kidnap victim is already dead? Well, then we would have to weigh the
wisdom of spending time and money finding and prosecuting a kidnapping
murderer against the time and money spent to do the same to a rapist,
bank robber or potted. Granted, I have the luxury of being a civilian
unrestrained by rules, regulations and politics.
Lastly, how many times have we seen ten, or possibly more, officers
involved for weeks in a prostitution sting? Or four or five cops riding
around trying to buy a $20 rock of crack cocaine? IMHO, an almost total
waste of taxpayer's money. Especially if these arrests, and the
manpower needed to make them possible, erode LE funds so substantially
as to hinder the rescue of a kidnapped 9-year old girl. We can search
the "bay" for days looking for cement anchors to help convict one
murderer...we can spend whatever is needed to find a child in
life-threatening danger.
Bo Raxo
Sure, but how many of them would spend that to find someone else's child?
Especially when the victims are usually dead within 24 hours.
>Perhaps some of the allotted moneys from some of the more
> frivolous programs in that state could have been used to cover the need
> for more manpower.
Frivolous? This state won't provide a free pre-natal checkup to every
pregnant woman. The only "frivolous" stuff now has fees attached that make
it pay its own way.
>
> As to the neglect of other victims of crimes, first lets assume that
> these crimes have already occurred and the victims are out of immediate
> danger.
First, that isn't true all the time. Second, the criminal may offend again.
Rapists usually don't stop at one victim, same with muggers, burglars, and
most types of crime.
>Post incident, if they are safe and have received medical
> assistance (not a LE responsibility) that victim goes to second on the
> list...behind any person who is currently being victimized.
If you don't have cops out on the street, crime will go up. In your world,
every time a kid gets kidnapped and every cop was working it, dirtbags would
know its the perfect time to go out and hold up a liquor store. Or go out
to a bar and get drunk and drive home, 'cause those cops aren't going to
waste a couple of hours booking a DUI when there's a kid's life at stake.
Sadly, I even think somebody might kidnap a kid, if they knew it would tie
up all the cops in an area, just to be able to commit another crime, say, a
bank robbery.
>If the
> kidnap victim is already dead? Well, then we would have to weigh the
> wisdom of spending time and money finding and prosecuting a kidnapping
> murderer against the time and money spent to do the same to a rapist,
> bank robber or potted. Granted, I have the luxury of being a civilian
> unrestrained by rules, regulations and politics.
I am all for making violent crimes the top priority. But you can't make one
crime or class of victim the sole priority, it just won't work in a
practical manner.
>
> Lastly, how many times have we seen ten, or possibly more, officers
> involved for weeks in a prostitution sting? Or four or five cops riding
> around trying to buy a $20 rock of crack cocaine? IMHO, an almost total
> waste of taxpayer's money.
I agree completely. Wholeheartedly.
>Especially if these arrests, and the
> manpower needed to make them possible, erode LE funds so substantially
> as to hinder the rescue of a kidnapped 9-year old girl. We can search
> the "bay" for days looking for cement anchors to help convict one
> murderer...we can spend whatever is needed to find a child in
> life-threatening danger.
>
>
> Lori
But there is a point of diminishing returns. You can assign a hundred
officers and track down every lead, but from experience you can also weed
out half the leads as junk - too vague, from a known crank who phones in a
useless tip on every case, etc.
Meanwhile, there are cars getting stolen and fires being set and people
beating each other up and all those other crimes. They don't just wait.
I think from a moral point of view, you're 100% right. But from a practical
standpoint of how things work, and how badly things fall apart when people
know cops aren't on the job (look at the looting that accompanies widepsread
power outages) it just wouldn't be practical
But I appreciate your taking the time to make a well thought out response, I
can see you have given the subject a lot of thought.
Bo
JLplsSS
>within 24 hours and all the extra attention in the world won't change that.
This may have been true in the past, but the advent of Amber Alerts seem to
have stemmed that tide - I read today somewhere that of 28 Amber Alerts that
have been called, all 28 children have been found alive. All 28. That is an
amazing statistic.
Obviously, Amber Alerts are only used when there is serious information about
the perpetrator, but the immediate media bombing of information about the perp
really seems to have affected some outcomes.
In this case, there was a lot of info about the suspect due to the video and
the fact that two people were close enough to him to engage in hand-to-hand
combat with him. That made this case different.
Donna
My opinions might have changed, but not the fact that I am right.
Bo Raxo
Yes, but I believe the majority of those Amber alerts were NOT for
stranger abductions, it was a relative that snatched the kid. In
those cases, the kid almost always comes back alive.
Messalina
I'm not completely sure but I believe that, barring unusual
circumstances, family member kidnapping do not quality for amber
alerts. They are intended for children in mortal danger, not just to
retrieve the child from a non-custodial family member.
M.
rebeka...@gmail.com
The author blamed it on all of the liberals due to the rapist being an "illegal alien"!!
I don't identify with any political party (as I enjoy my rights to be an individual and believe and follow who and what I choose) but it doesn't take a genius to understand that sexual predators come in all shapes, sizes, RACES, and identities. Furthermore, if you want to talk statistics, middle age WHITE males hold the ongoing record for the most prevalent and prolific serial killers EVER to this date.
The most ridiculous aspect of this article (basically painting EVERY illegal alien as a potential homicidal rapist) is that the very own victims mother, who fought with her last ounce of strength, who was beaten with a metal pot so severely that she lost consciousness and received severe lacerations, was in fact, herself, an illegal alien!
I suppose I shouldn't even count on THAT sense of logic appealing to the author and the type of nonsense she was spouting since I'm pretty sure her rebuttal would be to blame the mom in the first place, for illegally being in America and subjecting her daughter to the predetor.
Maybe we should be warning illegal aliens not to enter the states, as it will raise their likelihood of being murdered by a white middle aged serial killer!
Okay...maybe not...but BOTH countries have their issues and dangers. The mother was in the process of receiving her legal citizenship, but had already been living in the states for some time.
rebeka...@gmail.com
malcolm.t...@gmail.com
Youngster was very cool under duress! Kudos and award to her for taking this creep off the streets!
Now she needs to make sure she attends his trial to ensure he is put in long term f'k-in-arse-prison for a really, really long time!
malcolm.t...@gmail.com
> "Lori"
You'all probably remember when they (all white in 'oil city owned by multimillioNaires' actually arrested a CSULB football star and 'hung' him from his cell! Entire police dept GOT ONE LAW FIRM REPRESENTING THEM AND ALL TOOK THE FIFTH AMENDMENT (NO TALKING AT ALL)! NO ONE FOUND RESPONSIBLE AND I DO THINK EVERYONE RETIRED EARLYON CITY DIME (AS ALL CALIF POLICE DO ANYWAYS!) AND I THINK CITY IS NOW SUBCONTRACTING TO ANOTHER LARGE CITY NEXT DOOR... I HOPE AT LEAST!