Doesn't surprise me that this type of thing is happening. If they would have buried this guy they could have fixed the concrete and put some tile or carpet down and nobody would have ever known.http://www.kpho.com/news/21230021/detail.html#
PHOENIX -- A victim of an apparent kidnapping overheard talk his captors were planning to bury him alive in a makeshift grave inside a home and managed to escape to safety, Phoenix police said.
Renan Beltran-Leon told officers that his kidnappers bound his wrists and ankles with duct tape and held him captive without food for a week in a home near 79th Avenue and Osborn Road.
When nobody paid the $100,000 ransom, his kidnappers decided to bury him in the house, so they brought in cement-cutting machines, police said. Beltran-Leon overheard them saying they were planning to bury him alive.
"He actually saw the suspects bringing the machinery in to cut the cement based on what I was told," said Officer Luis Samudio of the Phoenix Police Department. "He also heard the machine. These machines make a loud noise cutting the cement."
Beltran-Leon escaped out the bedroom window to a neighbor's house and called police.
The neighbor talked to CBS 5 News on the promise of anonymity.
"He was crying and he was really in fear. He also said that his family was in danger in California. When we saw him he was taped. His mouth was taped, his hand was taped, so then we believed it," said the neighbor.
When the kidnappers noticed he was gone, they ran out the front door and were met by police, officers said.
Officers said they found wet cement next to the grave and the walls of the room were covered with plastic.
"It seems like they really knew what they were doing based on some of the equipment that they brought in to cut the cement and then making it exactly the size of a human body," Samudio said. "So they had some type of experience in doing something like this."
Officers arrested two men, police said. Beltran-Leon was uninjured but hungry.
Doroteo Estrada-Perez, 38, was booked into jail on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit murder.
Mariano Perez-Gonzalez, 27, was booked on charges of kidnapping, theft by extortion and misconduct involving weapons and conspiracy to commit murder.
According to police documents, Beltran-Leon reported he had been kidnapped on Thursday, Oct. 1, after meeting with a longtime family friend named Roman Medina. Beltran-Leon reported he was traveling to Sinaloa, Mexico, from Stockton, Calif., and was contacted by Medina who wanted to meet with him in Phoenix.
Beltran-Leon reported he told Medina he was staying at the La Quinta inn located at the Interstate 17 and Thomas Road. Three Hispanic men picked up Beltran-Leon at Medina's request and transported him in a gray Chevrolet Malibu to a residence, police said. After leaving with the men, Beltran-Leon reported he met with Medina at the residence where Medina told him that his family owes him money.
Medina offered Beltran-Leon a chance to work off the debt by transporting drugs with his commercial license but Beltran refused. One of the suspects reportedly told Beltran-Leon he would not get out alive.
Detectives said they learned the victim is possibly involved in other illegal activities that are under investigation.
Maybe someone is buried under your house.
These guys are kidnapping people in the middle of the day, not to mention the home invasions that also happen in broad daylight. I don't understand why so many people refuse to arm themselves. Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you are going to win, but at least you have another option that can be very effective and increase your chance of survival.
Update 2011:
Both Doroteo Estrada-Perez (AZDOC# 263322) and Mariano Perez-Gonzalez (AZDOC# 263321) plead guilty to kidnapping and aggravated assault and were sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.
Maricopa County Superior Court Case # CR2009-164893
Last edited by west-phoenix-az (2011-09-27 15:25:16)
