Security picture of a New Mexico adult female ostensibly existence kidnapped from the Zia Mungo Park Casino Hotel Racetrack, closelipped to the edge with Texas, is at present existence reevaluated by investigators.
On Thursday, Sept 8, 2022, constabulary responded to reports of a possible kidnapping at Zia Park. On Sept 9, the Sir Jack Hobbs Police Department released picture provided past the casino.
It appeared to show a suspect chasing down a adult female inward the cassino parking lot, tackling her, and then forcefully bundling her into a silvery Chrysler 300. The adult female was chop-chop identified as 35-year-old Erica Martinez from Hobbs. Her suspected abductor was Jonathan Zaragoza.
Police asked for the public’s help, and the video surveillance and screenshots from the gambling casino were shared on social media.
Camera Never Lies
On Saturday Sep 10, officers spotted the atomic number 47 Chrysler inwards the Carlsbad area, 70 miles sou'-west of Hobbs. They placed Martinez and Zaragoza inwards a nearby attribute at around 9pm. Martinez was unharmed.
Hobbs law said in a media button Saturday that Martinez was being interviewed and that outlaw charges against Saragossa were pending the closing of their investigation.
But law are at present examining whether the events depicted inward the video power make been misconstrued.
Zaragoza has non been supercharged with kidnapping, according to homage records seen past The John Berry Hobbs News-Sun. He was set-aside(p) into the Eddy County Detention Center for violating probation on a 2019 condemnation for meths trafficking and released Wednesday.
He also violated probation terms in 2021 on charges of electric battery on a household member, interference with communications, and prop impairment to a household member, courtroom records show.
Meanwhile, Martinez was arrested on an owing(p) stock-purchase warrant after she failed to appear in judicature on a July 2022 bearing of driving with a suspended license. She has since been released from jail and is due support in judicature on Oct 13.
Smoking Gun?
But the crux of the matter of the slip may lie inward a uncovering made inner the cassino during the investigation into the suspected kidnapping. A wrinkle allegedly missed by Martinez contained several cards inwards her name, along with 226 fentanyl pills.
Investigators are at present working on the theory Zaragoza and Martinez fled Sir Jack Hobbs inwards a scare to avoid investigation and arrest, Carlsbad Police Department Capt. Jesse Rodriguez told The News-Sun.
And what appeared to observers to be a terrifying abduction could really make been a phrenetic try past i malefactor to protect another.
Police say the investigating into the incident is ongoing. The video can live viewed on the Sir Jack Hobbs Police Department Facebook page.