Pair Sought in Kidnaping Ordeal of 2 Women

Police on Thursday continued to search for a man and a woman who kidnaped and brutalized two women and stole their car during a three-hour ordeal that began at an intersection here and ended near the Mexican border.

The attack began at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Harbor and La Habra boulevards, said Police Lt. Wayne Lowry.

“The women were stopped at a red light with their window rolled down,” Lowry said. “While they were waiting for the light to change, the driver’s door was opened suddenly and a male forced his way onto the front seat. A female accomplice carrying a knife opened the rear passenger door and got in.”

The man then drove the car south on the Santa Ana Freeway and continued on that route until they were nearly at the Mexican border. During the journey, the man and women reportedly hit the women and pulled their hair as they sat in the front seat.

The victims, Ramona Archuleta, 35, of Rowland Heights and Luana Lovato, 31, of Pasadena, were pushed out of the 1979 Chevrolet station wagon near the border after being robbed of more than $4,000 in jewelry.

The women, who were bruised and shaken, ran to a telephone booth and called San Diego police, Lowry said.

Police said the women were released only after the kidnapers argued over whether to kill them.

The man and women were described as Latinos in their late 30s or early 40s. The man had a mustache and a pockmarked face, and the woman was wearing a stud earring in her right nostril, Lowry said.

In an unrelated attack, an Air Force sergeant was killed Wednesday night during an attempted carjacking in Riverside County.

Tech. Sgt. Yvonne M. Los was shot by two teen-age boys when she refused to surrender her car outside a Moreno Valley fitness center.

The boys fired a handgun through the window of Los’ car. She started the car and tried to drive away but crashed into a parked car and died at the scene, authorities said.

No arrests have been made in either case.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.