Man Sought in Kidnap of Ex-Girlfriend in Brea Is Held

An insurance salesman who allegedly kidnaped his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint in Brea last week was arrested in a telephone booth at a shopping mall near Carmel while he was talking to Brea police about the incident, authorities said Tuesday.

Martin Jay Boyer, 43, is being held in Monterey County Jail pending his return to Orange County, where he will face charges of kidnaping, assault and weapons violations. His bail has been set at $100,000.

Police had begun a search for Boyer after his former girlfriend, Sharon Marie Pearson of La Palma, reported that he had abducted her Friday. She was released unharmed several hours later.

Court records show that Boyer was convicted in October, 1980, on a count of assault with a deadly weapon in Alameda County.

Brea Detective Grant Gulickson said Boyer, whose last known address was in Orange, became distraught after Pearson, 33, broke off the relationship a few weeks ago.

Armed with a semiautomatic handgun, Boyer waited for Pearson outside her office in the 300 block of Valencia Boulevard on Friday and forced her to drive to a remote area in Anaheim Hills, Gulickson said.

“He wanted reconciliation,” he said. “She tried to convince him that she still cared for him, that she didn’t want to hurt him and that Jesus Christ still loved him.”

Gulickson said Pearson persuaded Boyer that he should release her. She later reported the incident to police.

On Sunday, a Fullerton police officer chased Boyer on foot after he spotted the suspect in the area of Brea Boulevard and Rolling Hills Drive. With a helicopter from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department hovering above, Brea and Fullerton police used bloodhounds in a door-to-door search, but Boyer eluded capture.

On Monday, however, Boyer telephoned his employer in Fullerton, who hooked him up to Brea police.

Gulickson said detectives kept Boyer on the phone while they traced the call to a booth in the Crossroads Shopping Center near Carmel. Police hurriedly alerted the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department about Boyer’s whereabouts.

“He was talking to Brea (police) when we got there,” Monterey Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Palmer said. “He turned around and said, ‘Oh no, the cops are here.’ But he cooperated fully with us.”

He was arrested about 3 p.m., and officers seized a semiautomatic handgun.