The Loveland man sought in the kidnapping of a former girlfriend on Saturday was well-known to Loveland police, who said he terrorized patrons of a Loveland bar in January and was considered a safety risk because of his irrational and unpredictable behavior.
The man, 32-year-old Travis John Kness, is being sought in the abduction at gunpoint of ex-girlfriend Rosanna Martinez as she left work about 10 p.m. Saturday at the Dollar Tree store at 2721 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins.
Rita Davis, spokeswoman for the Fort Collins Police Department, said Wednesday that neither Kness nor Martinez has contacted relatives or friends.
Davis said Kness may have fled to the mountains but just as easily could have driven to rural areas of eastern Colorado.
A dozen Fort Collins detectives are looking for Kness and Martinez assisted by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and the Loveland Police Department.
Kness was last seen driving a late-1990s white Jeep Grand Cherokee with Colorado license plate FHX-5828. Call 970-416-2825 with information.
Kness has had numerous run-ins with police, including the stalking of another ex-girlfriend who gave birth to their child and fondling a girl at a Fort Collins mall.
The most recent incident prior to Saturday night’s abduction occurred at Scotty O’Brian’s Bar in Loveland on Jan. 11, when Kness, wearing a cowboy hat and leather gloves, pulled a BB gun, waved it in the air and in a profanity-laced greeting wished everyone a “Happy New Year.”
According to Loveland police, the bar incident occurred shortly after Kness was released from a mental-health hold.
On March 6, Kness pleaded guilty to felony menacing and was given two years’ probation.
In 1998, according to court documents and police reports, a former girlfriend who lived in Loveland said that Kness, the father of her daughter, had abandoned them. But about a month after he learned she had begun dating again, Kness threatened her, her father, her brother and her boyfriend, she said.
She said Kness stalked her, called her repeatedly, confronted her new boyfriend at his place of business and walked into her home and threatened her.
Kness pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal trespass and was granted a two-year deferred sentence.
And on July 23, 2003, a 17-year-old girl reported that, while at the Foothills Fashion Mall in Fort Collins, Kness approached her, rubbed her legs and eventually began to “hug” her legs. He also attempted to kiss her.
He served 41 days in jail and was given 12 months’ probation.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
