Ex-Husband Held in Mexico After 2 Vanish

The former husband of a live-in housekeeper who disappeared with her current spouse after what police said was a bloody struggle in a Burbank home is being held in Mexico where he was found driving his ex-wife’s car, authorities said.

Dumitru Pop, 35, who once was married to Violeta Cirdei, 24, was taken into custody for questioning by Mexican authorities across the border from San Diego. Burbank police said that evidence in the woman’s car included a large amount of blood, “indicates foul play.”

“They’re looking into evidence . . . which I’m sure indicates homicide,” Burbank Police Sgt. Wayne Bell said. “But without the bodies it’s kind of tough.”

Pop was arrested last year for allegedly beating his former wife, police said. It was unclear whether he was charged in the incident.

Cirdei and her husband, Constantin Cirdei, 27, were the apparent victims of an abduction marked by a violent struggle at their home at 212 S. Sunset Canyon Drive early Friday authorities said.

Violeta Cirdei’s 18-month-old daughter, whose biological father was Pop, was found by a neighbor unhurt but wandering alone in the neighborhood shortly before the couple’s disappearance was discovered Friday afternoon, police said.

The couple live with Dr. Elbert Pratt, a 94-year-old retired Burbank physician, and his 90-year old wife, in a rambling, two-story stucco home surrounded by neglected gardens and orange groves.

Violeta Cirdei works as a housekeeper--cleaning, shopping and cooking for the invalid couple. Constantin Cirdei is a contractor. The couple, along with Pop, are Romanian immigrants.

“She always waved to me ‘hello’ when I was out walking the dog,” said Rene Center, 90, who lives across the street from the Pratt home. “A pretty little woman. God, I hope nothing happens to her, for the child’s sake.”

Neighbors said the Pratts were at home upstairs when the couple disappeared but were unaware of a struggle.

“I don’t think to this day they know what happened. They’re very upset about it, you know,” said Sylvia Sherrell, 80, a neighbor who said she visits the couple almost every day.

Sherrell, who said she had spoken with one of the Pratts since the couples’ disappearance, said they suspected something out of the ordinary when their breakfast wasn’t served at 7 a.m. Friday.

But the disappearance wasn’t reported to police until 1 p.m., by a neighbor who discovered the child wandering unattended at the base of the long driveway to the Pratt home.

Violeta Cirdei, according to several neighbors, divorced Pop soon after he was arrested late last year. She married Cirdei several months later.

Elbert Pratt, who had reported the alleged beating to police, had forbidden Pop from entering his property again, neighbors said.

After the divorce, Violeta Cirdei regularly took her daughter to visit Pop on Saturdays, several neighbors said.

“She worked very hard there, did practically everything for them,” Kathleen Morris, 63, said. “I was very happy when she got married a second time. I thought that would help her a lot.”

Constantin Cirdei is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, about 130 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Violeta Cirdei is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall, about 145 pounds, also with brown hair and blue eyes.