Police Rescue Missing Boy

A 4-year-old Vista boy was returned safely to his mother Sunday morning after the FBI and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department rescued him in Tijuana, officials said.

Authorities arrested Jeronimo Meliton Madrigal Maceda, a 23-year-old unemployed resident of Oaxaca, Mexico, on charges of kidnaping and extortion. He was being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown.

The boy, Gerardo Carillo Olvera, was reported missing by his mother Thursday. Alicia Olvera, the boy’s mother, was showering about 1 p.m. Wednesday when she heard her 18-month-old child crying. When she left the shower, she discovered the 4-year-old was missing.

Olvera did not immediately report the child’s absence because she believed she knew who had taken Gerardo and that he would be returned, authorities said.

On Friday evening, an acquaintance of Olvera told her he had been accosted by three men, officials said. The men told the acquaintance that they knew the youngster’s location and warned him he would have to pay a $200 ransom if he wanted to see the boy again, officials said.

The acquaintance was released to deliver the message to the boy’s mother. The three men did not make clear when and where the ransom was to be paid, authorities said.

On Saturday, Olvera received a letter demanding $10,000 for the safe return of her son.

A joint investigation by the FBI and the Sheriff’s Department resulted in the return of the boy and the arrest of Maceda. Authorities found the boy in Tijuana with the help of the Mexican authorities.