Police Search for Kidnaped Cypress Baby

Police in helicopters and on the ground searched the Corona area late Sunday for a 9-month-old Cypress girl who was kidnaped when someone stole her family van as she was sitting in her car seat, authorities said.

Raul and Melissa Cortez were house-hunting and had stepped away from their gray 1986 Ford Aerostar van for “no more than a few seconds,” leaving daughter Kaitlynn inside, when a man jumped in and drove away, said Corona Police Sgt. Terry Gustin.

The Cortez family issued a desperate plea last night for the kidnaper to return their daughter.

“I know you have a heart,” Raul Cortez said in an interview. “This is a beautiful baby. She’s got a life ahead of her. We’ve worked so hard to give her a life. Please don’t hurt her.”

Cortez’s wife broke down in tears as she asked the kidnaper to return her child and begged for the public’s help.

“If he has her with him, he should keep on announcing her name” to calm the child, she said. “Please don’t hurt her. I’m sure he’s gonna feel sorry for her. And please, everyone, look outside your door.”

Raul Cortez, a driver for Minute Man delivery in Gardena, said he and his wife dressed Kaitlynn in “white pajamas with little bunnies” and white shoes for the house-hunting trip to Corona. When they made their first stop to look at a house, the would-be kidnaper stole the van.

“There’s food in the van. I hope he feeds her,” Raul Cortez said. “God is going to give him a chance to give her back to us. Please save her life.

“We don’t care about the van,” he said. “He can have it, he can have everything in it. But please, the best thing to do is save this baby’s life.

“We need her back. We can’t live without her,” he said. The couple planned to spend Sunday night at the Corona police station while the search continued.

Gustin said the would-be kidnaper apparently did not know the infant was in the vehicle. “The van had tinted windows and the child was asleep in the back seat,” Gustin said. “The engine was left running, so he just hopped in and took off.

“The keys were in the vehicle,” Gustin said. “The mother was away from the van for no more than a few seconds when the man got in and drove away.”

The incident occurred about 5 p.m. in the 700 block of West Grand Street, he said.

Police said Kaitlynn was in a child’s seat behind the driver’s seat. Police used helicopters to search the area for several hours Sunday in hopes of locating the vehicle.

“We’re concerned that if (the suspect) abandons the van with the child inside, we might not be able to get to it in time,” Gustin said.

Gustin said officers who work three separate shifts were asked to join in the search for the infant. Late Sunday night, Corona police asked the Riverside County Sheriff’s helicopter crew to make one last search in the Lake Matthews area, Gustin said.

Investigators described the suspect as a Latino age 18 to 20; 5 feet, 8 inches tall; 135 pounds; with black hair combed back, and wearing jeans and a gray sweat shirt.