Suspects in Baby Kidnaping Are Arrested in SWAT Action

Two men suspected of kidnaping a 16-month-old girl in the San Joaquin Valley last month were arrested in San Diego on Thursday after a SWAT team surrounded the Logan Heights house where they were staying, police said.

The arrests end a seven-week saga that included the kidnaping, a Madera County shootout that left one suspect dead and a sheriff’s deputy wounded, and tearful televised pleas by the mother for the safe return of her baby girl. The baby was found safe three days after the abduction.

Juventino Hernandez, 20, and 21-year-old Ruben Martinez Cruz were taken into custody a little after 9:30 Thursday morning after they surrendered to a SWAT team that had surrounded the house in the 2100 block of Osborn Street, said Bill Robinson, a spokesman for the San Diego Police Department.

A third man refused to come out, and a “flash-bang firecracker” was thrown into the house, Robinson said. The man then surrendered, but was later released by police, Robinson said.

Madera County officials said the two suspects were arrested on suspicion of kidnaping, murder and burglary. The murder charge stems from the fact that they allegedly caused the shootout in which another suspect was killed by deputies.

Rachel Avila was kidnaped July 7 after three suspects forced their way into the Madera County home of her mother, Adelliada Avila, a sheriff’s spokeswoman there said.

Two days later, after a ransom negotiation and a meeting, a shootout took place that left the third suspect dead and a deputy with a bullet in his hip. The next evening, the family received a call telling them they could find the baby on a street corner in the city of Madera. They found her safe and in good health, the sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

On Monday, Adelliada Avila positively identified the two remaining suspects in a photo of a police lineup. That led authorities to San Diego.

The men, who were reported to be armed and dangerous, were taken back to Madera County on Thursday, Robinson said.