Mother, 3-Year-Old Rescued After Being Kidnaped, Held 4 Days

The wife and 3-year-old daughter of a Long Beach market owner were rescued unharmed by sheriff’s detectives Friday morning, nearly four days after they were abducted from their home and held for $150,000 ransom. Five men were arrested on suspicion of kidnaping for ransom.

Detectives found Maria del Refugio Sanchez, 33, and her daughter, Yesenia, 3, in the rear bedroom of a small Los Angeles house, where they had been held since their abduction Monday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block said at a Friday afternoon press conference.

Block said that the pair had not been physically abused but that “they were not very well fed during the four days that they were gone.” The mother was blindfolded but neither she nor her daughter had been bound, the sheriff said.

“They said that their food consisted of greasy french fries and parts of fast-food sandwiches,” Block said. “They appeared to be almost on the verge of shock, but rejuvenated very quickly when they saw the other members of the family.”

Attempts to reach the Sanchezes were unsuccessful.

In custody Friday were Eliazar Romero Cuaei, 25; Juan Carlos Pena, 27; Martin Galvan Ceja, 25; Juan Manuel Cordova, 20, and Jose Luis Estrada, 43. Bail was set at $100,000 each.

The men carried no identification but told detectives they lived at the home in the 400 block of 121st Street where Sanchez and her daughter were found, Block said.

The five were arrested without a struggle, but detectives found a pistol in a car one of the men was driving.

Block said Froilan Sanchez, 39, was at his La Michoacana Market on Paramount Boulevard in Long Beach shortly before noon Monday when he received a call telling him that his wife and daughter had been abducted from their La Mirada home earlier that morning. The caller demanded $100,000 for their safe return.

Not sure whether to believe it, he called neighbors and his daughter’s nursery school to try to track down his wife and child.

When he couldn’t, he called the Sheriff’s Department. The department began investigating but decided to keep the case quiet to protect the mother and child.

On Tuesday, Sanchez received another call, raising the ransom amount, authorities said.

“They didn’t leave any room for negotiation,” said Lt. Frank H. Woodall, the operations commander in the case. “They said, ‘The ransom has just increased to $150,000. We’ll call you later.’ Click.”

There were seven calls in all during the four-day period, Woodall said.

The final call came at the Sanchez home just before midnight Thursday. The caller told Sanchez to drop off $150,000 at a phone booth in a parking lot in South-Central Los Angeles. Sanchez, who had scraped up the cash from his business, his bank, relatives and friends, took the money in a plastic garbage bag to the phone booth, Block said. Detectives had him under surveillance.

“His primary concern was the safe return of his family and the money was secondary to him,” Block said.

Cuaei, who appeared to be fixing his car, picked up the money and drove off, not realizing that detectives were following him, Block said. After a time, he stopped and set out on foot with the bag, the sheriff said. He was arrested about 2 a.m. and led detectives to the 121st Street home, where the other four were arrested, Block said.

Maria Sanchez and her daughter had a tearful reunion with her husband and the family’s two other children at the sheriff’s Norwalk substation later that morning, Woodall said.

Block said the Sanchezes told detectives that they had never before seen any of the five men who were arrested.

“Mr. Sanchez is a successful businessman,” Block said. “We’re only assuming he was selected because of that.”