SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Investigators trying to find a 3-year-old kidnap victim, snatched from his home by armed robbers who threatened to kill him, have received dozens of tips but no solid leads, officials said Tuesday.
There was no ransom demand 48 hours after the abduction, and San Bernardino County sheriff’s Lt. Rick Ells said detectives were worried that news vans outside the home could be deterring the kidnappers from making contact.
“Every minute, every second that passes, is critical,” Sgt. Doug Hubbard said at a news conference. “But we are remaining positive and investigating it as if we just went on scene.”
Two gunmen burst through the family’s front door Sunday and tied up 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez, four of his siblings and their mother, Maria Rosalina Millan, then ransacked the house, stealing money and other property, the Sheriff’s Department said.
After about 20 minutes, the men left with Briant, ordering his mother and the other children not to call police, the department said in a statement.
“They grabbed my kid, told me ‘I’m going to take the kid to Mexico and I’m going to kill him,’ ” the distraught Millan said in Spanish to reporters gathered in her front yard Monday night. “I said ‘Why? Don’t take my kid,’ and he told me to ‘turn around, I’m going to shoot you. Stop talking.’ ”
No motive had been established, and federal and local investigators were looking at several theories, including that the Spanish-speaking kidnappers were from Mexico and may have had ties to organized crime there.
Authorities along the Mexican border were put on alert, and FBI agents were helping in the investigation.
The boy’s father was at work at the time and the initial investigation pointed to the kidnappers being strangers to the family, Ells said.
