A Turlock man was one of two local men arrested Tuesday night in connection to a kidnapping that originated in Santa Rosa.
Jorge Emanuel Martinez, 26, of Turlock and Miguel Baeza Arevalo, 20, of Modesto were booked into Stanislaus County Jail and are expected to be sent to Santa Rosa to face criminal charges. Both are being held at the jail without bail.
The incident leading up to their arrests began around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. The Santa Rosa Police Department received a report of a kidnapping, stating a 25-year-old man had been taken at gunpoint from his yard. With his wife and two young children watching, the victim was forced into a waiting pick-up truck, the Santa Rosa Police Department reported.
Family members received phone calls from a man who demanded they deliver money in exchange for the victim’s release. Police followed up on leads throughout the night and into the next morning in an attempt to locate victim, but to no avail, according to the police department.
The victim was taken by his captors to the Modesto area where he was placed in the trunk of another car. At some point he was able to free himself and escape out of the trunk.
The victim was located by Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies, who also spotted a vehicle leaving the area. The deputies stopped the vehicle and detained the two men, believing them to be connected to the kidnapping. The vehicle they were in had also been reported stolen.
The armed suspect who originally took the victim has not been arrested and is still outstanding.
The Santa Rosa Police Department suspects the kidnapping is related to illegal marijuana cultivation and sales, but the connection between the victim and his captors remains un-clear.
With the assistance of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Rosa Police Detectives went to and conducted follow-up investigation in Stanislaus County. This investigation is on-going.
Anyone with information related to this case can call the Santa Rosa Police Department’s Violent Crimes Team at (707) 543-3590.
