TIJUANA, Mexico -
Prosecutors in the Mexican state of Baja California said Mexican police freed a San Diego college student who was kidnapped last week near the border.
Assistant state prosecutor Fermin Gomez said the 21-year-old woman was found in a closet in the border city of Tijuana on Saturday, after a suspect was detained by U.S. authorities in San Diego. Gomez said Monday the suspect told police where to find the woman, whose name was not released. She was found bound, gagged and beaten, and two other suspects were arrested.
The woman, a psychology student at the University of San Diego, is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, according to Gomez. She met her kidnappers at a Tijuana nightclub, Mexican police said. Three men in hoods snatched the woman from her car Wednesday evening near the San Ysidro border crossing as she headed back to San Diego. They forced her into the trunk of a 1998 Grand Am sedan with California license plates, Mexican authorities said.
The kidnappers contacted the student's family, demanding a $200,000 ransom, Gomez said. They threatened to kill her if they weren't paid or if the family contacted police, he said.
The family contacted the FBI despite the threat.
"This young woman who was a U.S. Citizen was down there and prior to her crossing back over to the border she was abducted," said FBI Special Agent, Darrell Foxworth.
A break in the case happened Friday, when police arrested Eric Brando- Pulido-Muzquiz in Chula Vista on cocaine charges, Gomez said. He told the FBI where the woman was being held in Tijuana and gave them detailed information on the car they had used to transport her.
Mexican detectives went to the house, liberated the young woman and arrested Mario Vargas Alvarez and Bruno Ivan Diaz Andrade. Mexican authorities are trying to determine if the suspects have links to organized crime.
"We do know that she is alive and she's healthy so that's good," said Foxworth.
Assistant state prosecutor Fermin Gomez said the 21-year-old woman was found in a closet in the border city of Tijuana on Saturday, after a suspect was detained by U.S. authorities in San Diego. Gomez said Monday the suspect told police where to find the woman, whose name was not released. She was found bound, gagged and beaten, and two other suspects were arrested.
The woman, a psychology student at the University of San Diego, is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, according to Gomez. She met her kidnappers at a Tijuana nightclub, Mexican police said. Three men in hoods snatched the woman from her car Wednesday evening near the San Ysidro border crossing as she headed back to San Diego. They forced her into the trunk of a 1998 Grand Am sedan with California license plates, Mexican authorities said.
The kidnappers contacted the student's family, demanding a $200,000 ransom, Gomez said. They threatened to kill her if they weren't paid or if the family contacted police, he said.
The family contacted the FBI despite the threat.
"This young woman who was a U.S. Citizen was down there and prior to her crossing back over to the border she was abducted," said FBI Special Agent, Darrell Foxworth.
A break in the case happened Friday, when police arrested Eric Brando- Pulido-Muzquiz in Chula Vista on cocaine charges, Gomez said. He told the FBI where the woman was being held in Tijuana and gave them detailed information on the car they had used to transport her.
Mexican detectives went to the house, liberated the young woman and arrested Mario Vargas Alvarez and Bruno Ivan Diaz Andrade. Mexican authorities are trying to determine if the suspects have links to organized crime.
"We do know that she is alive and she's healthy so that's good," said Foxworth.
