Loveland resident Travis Kness, who is accused of kidnapping his former girlfriend at gunpoint on July 19, was arrested without incident at about 1:45 p.m. today in the foothills west of Fort Collins.
During the past week, Kness took ex-girlfriend Rosanna Martinez to Washington state and California before they returned to Colorado, according to his mother, Kathy Kness.
Kathy Kness said that at about 7 p.m. Sunday, she found Martinez huddled and crying in the garage of the Kness home in Loveland.
She had driven herself there in the same white Jeep Grand Cherokee that she was abducted in after her shift ended July 19 at the Dollar Tree store in Fort Collins.
Travis Kness left Martinez in the mountains, allowing her to take the Jeep and head for the Kness home, Kathy Kness said.
Deputies with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department made contact with 32-year-old Kness today after a citizen reported seeing a man fitting his description walking in the Stove Prairie area near Rist Canyon, officials said in a news release.
Kness was taken to the Larimer County Detention Center for investigation of second-degree kidnapping, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, menacing with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment.
Kness’ arrest followed 18 hours of fast-breaking developments in the nine-day search after Martinez showed up at the Kness home.
“She was huddled on the top of the stairs, crying and saying, ‘Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him, he needs help,’ ” said Kathy Kness. “I hugged her and hugged her.”
Kness said that her son had been deeply depressed after Martinez, who had been separated from her husband, decided to return to her husband. She said that her son, who is bipolar and recently had been in a mental institution, loved Martinez and wanted to be with her.
“He wanted Rosanna and felt this was the only way. He never hurt her,” she added.
Martinez told her that during the trip, they stayed in motels, were never stopped by police and that in California, “she saw the ocean.”
On Sunday, as they returned to Colorado, Martinez, 45, convinced Travis to let her have the Jeep. She drove off and left Kness on foot, said Kathy Kness.
After finding Martinez, Kness said she called police and then went with her to a hospital.
SWAT teams from the Fort Collins Police Department and the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office had been conducting ground and aerial searches all morning for Kness.
At the time, he was believed to have a handgun and rifle and was considered dangerous.
Kathy Kness said that a family relative is a deputy with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and assisted in the search. She said authorities were helpful and understanding.
Earlier this year, Kness terrorized patrons of a Loveland bar and was considered a safety risk because of his irrational and unpredictable behavior.
On Jan. 11, he showed up at Scotty O’Brien’s Bar in Loveland wearing a cowboy hat and leather gloves. He suddenly pulled a gun and waved it in the air.
The weapon, police later discovered, was a BB gun.
One patron said that before the incident, Kness had been asked to leave the bar and go outside while he smoked. Once back in the bar, he “began flipping his cowboy hat multiple times,” she said. “Then, I saw him take white leather gloves out and start hitting them on either side of him. After a couple of slaps, he put them on real dramatically and then reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a black gun. Then he said, ‘Happy F—— New Year.’ ”
At that point, she said, he got up, marched to the door with his hat off and began looking at people “with huge eyes.
“I thought he was going to shoot everyone in the bar,” she said. “He was acting crazy.”
According to Loveland police, the bar incident occurred shortly after Kness was released from a mental-health hold. After his release, Loveland police noted his “odd and potentially dangerous behavior” and considered him a danger both to himself and to officers.
The night Kness left Scotty O’Brien’s, Loveland Officer Ben Eisentraut encountered him two blocks away and asked him why he was carrying a gun.
“He said he was fighting crime. I asked him what crime he was fighting. He told me people were harassing him. I asked him who was harassing him, and he said, ‘No one.’ Then he told me there are a lot of drug dealers out there, and it costs a lot to have a police force, so he likes to help with criminals to save the city money,” said Eisentraut.
On March 6, Kness pleaded guilty to felony menacing, a Class 5 felony and was given two years’ probation.
Kness’ alleged anger at Martinez was not the first time he was upset with a former girlfriend.
In 1998, according to court documents and police reports, a former girlfriend who lived in Loveland said that Kness was the father of her daughter and that he had abandoned them both. But about a month after he found out that she had begun dating again, Kness threatened her, her father, her brother and her boyfriend, she said.
She said on different occasions, Kness stalked her, followed her to her new boyfriend’s home, called her repeatedly, confronted the new boyfriend at his place of business, and walked into her home and threatened her.
Kathy Kness said that her son, because of mental illness, has been in and out of trouble for years, a pattern that has been difficult for her and her family.
She said that when he takes his medications, he acts normally. But when he doesn’t, he behaves the way he did at Scotty O’Brien’s.
“That was stupid,” she said of his actions at the bar. “He didn’t wish anyone harm. He thinks everyone is staring at him.”
She added that he served time in prison as a result of defrauding First National Bank in Fort Collins.
The bank was trying to repossess Travis Kness’ 1996 Dodge Neon, which he had failed to make payments on for seven months. Instead of returning it to the bank, he drove it into a muddy field and then aggressively shifted gears when it became stuck, causing it to catch fire.
Kathy Kness said that his mental illness, combined with his brushes with the law, left him homeless in Boulder last year.
She said that as a street person, he built a “cave” for himself out of cinder blocks, where he lived until he became ill. He then admitted himself to a hospital.
She said the Kness family — he has two brothers and a sister — has done everything it can to get him the help he needs and that the Loveland community has been understanding and considerate.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
