A Fort Collins mother suspected of kidnapping the daughter she lost custody of in February was found in Wyoming today. The 2-year-old was recovered safely after she wandered into a Rock Springs Wal Mart alone, authorities said.
Local police later arrested the mother, Vanessa Gonzales, 28, and Antonio Solis Martinez, 52, at a home in Rock Springs.
Larimer County has issued arrest warrants for first-degree kidnapping.
Both have lengthy arrest records in Colorado.
Vanecia “Feather” Gonzales had been missing from her caretaker’s home in Fort Collins since Friday.
At about 12:30 p.m. today, she walked into store alone.
As store employees helped the child, a man thought to be Martinez came in looking for the child, she at first resisted but then “appeared to know which vehicle in the parking lot to go to without further assistance from the male subject,” Rock Springs Police Sgt. Kenneth Lorimer said in an e-mail.
After looking at surveillance tape, Rock Springs police learned a child fitting the description of the one in the store had been reported missing in Larimer County.
They found the vehicle from the store at a local home, found Vanecia and arrested the adults.
They are being held in the Sweetwater County Detention Facility on suspicion of interference with child custody, pending extradition to Colorado. Rock Springs is about 270 miles from Fort Collins.
Vanessa Gonzales, who also uses the last name Ferda, has a lengthy criminal record, including a February arrest on a pending theft charge, records show.
In April she was sentenced to two years of probation after she pleaded guilty to third-degree assault after originally being charged with assault on a peace officer in Larimer County.
In 2004, Gonzales was sentenced to 20 days in jail and two years probation after pleading guilty to felony drug possession. Her original charges included child abuse.
In 2002, she served 14 days in jail and received a 54-day suspended sentence and 18 months on probation in a plea deal on charges that originally included child abuse, underage drinking, driving under the influence and driving the wrong way on a one-way street, court records show.
Records also show she was evicted from her Fort Collins apartment last October.
Martinez has a 20-year record of arrests in Colorado, including charges involving drugs, assault, forgery, bail violations and child abuse. He currently is on parole after being released from prison in Colorado after serving time on drug charges, records show.
He was sentenced to three years in state prison in 2006 — with credit for nearly a year of time served — after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess a controlled substance in Larimer County.
Starting in November 2008, he served 60 days in jail and 14 months on probation after pleading guilty to obstructing a police officer in Larimer County , records show.
In 1998, he pleaded no contest to child abuse and possession of a weapon by a previous offender in Larimer County and served 13 days in jail and 24 months of probation. His probation was later revoked and he served another 90 days in jail, according to court records.
