Police seek man who kidnapped, held immigrant in Austin
CBS 42 Reporter: Rebecca Taylor
Email: retaylor@keyetv.com
Last Update: 6:33 pm



Immigrant Escapes From Kidnappers

The victim jumped from this second floor window to escape. Police are searching for two men they say kidnapped a Mexican man as he crossed the border and held him in an Austin apartment for several days.

The Austin Police Department said that Tereso Lopez-Leon, 44, kidnapped Victor Antonio Martinez as he was crossing the Texas-Mexico border illegally. Martinez told police that while he was crossing the border with 10 other men, one of the men attacked him, tied him up and forced him into the trunk of a car on March 20.

Martinez said that he was taken to an apartment at 1906 Hearthstone Drive, between Burnet Road and Highway 183, and held there in a room with only a bottle of water and a TV for several days. Martinez escaped the room by jumping out of the second-story window, by doing which he broke his ankle.

Martinez was able to evade the two men holding him and go to another apartment and contact police. When police found him, the office said he was wearing only boxer shorts and was hyperventilating.

The officers took photos of the Lopez and Jose Paseo, and Martinez identified them in a photo lineup. There is currently a warrant out for their arrest.

Ismael Alvarez is a suspect in another kidnapping that happened last year. (APD) CBS 42 News talked to a woman who witnessed the victim's leap from a second-story window that's right next to hers.

"He didn't have nothing on but underwear," Lamesa Milligan said.

Police say the suspects are believed to be connected to another kidnapping case in Southeast Austin. In that case, detectives found a naked man hiding in a pickup truck after he fled from his captors, who were also trying to extort money from his relatives in Mexico.

Police say they believe the men are part of a smuggling ring in Austin, where they fear there could be more victims.

Austin police say the suspects in this case are believed to be connected to another kidnapping case.

The victim told police a man helped him enter the U.S. illegally through Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. When the victim made it to Austin, he was held captive.

In September 2008, police found the victim in Southeast Austin, naked hiding in a pickup truck after he said he escaped.

In May police arrested Ismael Alvarez, a suspect in the abduction. He is in custody charged with aggravated kidnapping.


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