Abducted Boy’s Clear Head Leads to Suspect’s Arrest

In less than one minute, the time it took for Mariza Manalo to run into the house to retrieve a box of tissue, the West Covina mother’s sleepy suburban routine turned into an urban nightmare.

Manalo had just loaded her sons Brian, 6, and Brandon, 2, into the car at 7:15 a.m.

But a thief seized the moment of opportunity created by Manalo’s last-second dash into the house. When she returned, Manalo saw the man, whom she had earlier noticed walking outside, driving off with the boys.

Alerted by the mother’s shouts and screams, neighbors quickly called police and sprang from their houses to comfort her.

Brian ignored his captor’s order to “shut up” and called for help. When the car slowed, the boy opened the door, jumped out and ran home.

Though the family suffered through what father Rudy Manalo called “the worst five hours of my life,” Brandon was found unharmed about noon in the car, which was parked in the shade on a nearby residential street.

Brian remained cool throughout the crisis, and was able to describe his captor so thoroughly--from the man’s ponytail to his shoes--that police arrested a suspect on a West Covina sidewalk by 3 p.m.

The West Covina man, who identified himself as Merrick Moore, 23, was booked on suspicion of kidnapping and auto theft, police said.

Asked how he knew what to do after being abducted, Brian, a first-grader, gave a simple answer that showed why he got the better of his captor: “I used my brain,” he said.