Fury of a Father’s Fists Halts Abduction of Girl

Armed with only his fists and a rush of “adrenaline from a loving father,” a 39-year-old Tustin man rescued his 9-year-old daughter and beat unconscious a stranger who was trying to drag her from her home at knifepoint early Wednesday.

“I told him, ‘You’ll kill me first,’ and I jumped him,” Kenneth Routon told a press conference at Tustin police headquarters. “It’s probably a father’s worst nightmare that something like that would happen.”

Tustin Police Capt. Steve Foster said officers do not know why the intruder--who regained consciousness about 12 hours later Wednesday--chose the Routon house on Bryan Avenue for the attempted abduction about 1:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Taken From Her Bed

Foster said the man entered the house through an unlocked door and dragged Jennifer Routon from her bed. He held a knife to her throat and had an armlock on her as he forced her down the hall, Foster said.

Routon said he was awakened by his 15-year-old son, Joshua, who screamed, “Somebody’s taking Jennifer downstairs.” Routon ran down the stairs to the family room and heard his daughter screaming outside a sliding glass door, he said.

The man was holding a knife to his daughter when he saw the father approach, Routon said.

“He said, ‘If you come any closer, I’ll kill her,’ ” Routon said. “I told him, ‘You’ll kill me first . . . You’re not getting away.’ ”

That was the only conversation, Routon said. Then he “rushed” the suspect, knocked the knife out of his hand and “got into a scuffle,” he said. Meanwhile, his 16-year-old daughter, Deanna, called police.

Foster said the intruder suffered a cut on the forehead, but it was not known whether a blow or the fall caused him to lose consciousness. Tustin Police Sgt. H. D. Williams said the man apparently had been drinking, but it was not known whether he was intoxicated.

Police identified the man as Edward Paul Kumbartzky, 33, a transient who also has used the names Buford Wimple, Michael Johnson and various spellings of those aliases.

Faces Several Charges

Kumbartzky was in the intensive-care unit of Western Medical Center in Santa Ana Wednesday afternoon, in stable but guarded condition, police said. He will be booked on suspicion of residential burglary, attempted kidnaping and assault with a deadly weapon, Foster said.

Routon did not use excessive force and police do not plan to seek charges against him, Foster said.

Routon, who is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds, told reporters the last time he was in a fight was in high school. The carpet salesman said he occasionally works out but did not go into details about the fight.

“It seems like it was over real quick,” he said.

Asked if he had difficulty controlling his anger and stopping after the intruder was unconscious, he said, “I don’t recall.” He said that “like any father,” he has wondered in the past what he would do if he found his family endangered.

Says He Is No Hero

“I think there’s a lot of concern by people . . . and a feeling of helplessness,” he said.

But he said he should not be regarded as a hero.

“I think I should be treated like a loving father, not like a hero,” he said.

Tustin police contacted authorities in Santa Ana, where 9-year-old Patricia Lopez was slain last week. But a Santa Ana police spokesman said a preliminary investigation showed “no connection whatsoever” to the Lopez case. Santa Ana police are looking for a husky Latino man with a mustache, while the suspect in the Tustin case is white, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds and has brown hair, blue eyes and no mustache.

Routon said his family had never seen the intruder before and that the man did not try to take anything from the house “except my daughter.” Jennifer suffered only a scrape on her head.

Foster said police were called by a “hysterical female” and knew only that there was a burglary in progress until officers arrived at the house. There, they found the unconscious man.