LAS VEGAS — Authorities investigating the abduction of a 6-year-old boy from his Las Vegas home focused Saturday on three people, including a Mexican citizen and the youngster’s grandfather, who they said might have stolen millions of dollars from drug dealers.
The Mexican man, identified as Jesus Gastelum, is in his mid-30s and thought to be in Las Vegas or Southern California, police said at a news conference. The other “person of interest” was not identified.
Authorities already had arrested the grandfather of Cole Puffinburger, who was abducted Wednesday morning by two men posing as police officers. Police said they think that the men were Mexican drug dealers and that the kidnapping at gunpoint was a “message” to the grandfather, Clemens Tinnemeyer, 51.
Tinnemeyer was arrested late Friday in Riverside. Authorities hope his arrest will help lead them to Cole’s abductors.
Detectives continue to investigate “a very strong network, all in very close proximity,” Las Vegas police Capt. Vincent Cannito said Saturday.
“As we start putting those pieces together, certainly we’re optimistic that it’s leading us in the right direction,” Cannito said.
He told reporters the investigation had resulted in “a number of search warrants in several jurisdictions.” Officials also uncovered a “large amount of cash,” but Cannito would not say where.
Authorities had issued an Amber Alert that triggered a public search for the boy and flashed the photo on billboards and highway signs throughout Nevada and California.
The alert was called off Saturday because it helped lead to the arrest of Tinnemeyer, and its effectiveness “had run its course,” Cannito said.
But the hunt for Cole continued.
Police concentrated efforts on a largely Latino neighborhood northeast of the Las Vegas Strip. Along with children’s advocates and members of the Nevada National Guard, they circulated fliers in English and Spanish with photos of Cole.
In an interview aired Saturday on CNN, Cole’s father, Robert Puffinburger, spoke directly to his son’s abductors: “I just want him home. Drop him off somewhere, I don’t care. Just let him go.”
Tinnemeyer might have stolen millions of dollars from the Mexican citizens, said Officer Cris Johnson, a Las Vegas police spokesman.
