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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| The beauty of Multiculturalism |
| 2009-05-19 |
| Torture a hallmark of Phoenix's drug kidnappings PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN) -- Jaime Andrade had just gotten out of the shower when the men came to snatch him. His wife, Araceli Valencia, was mopping the kitchen in their family home on a typical warm spring morning in Phoenix, Arizona, "when she suddenly felt a hard object pointed to the back of her head and a voice in Spanish tell her not to move," according to a Phoenix, Arizona, police investigative report. "I told you not to look at me!" Valencia heard one of the kidnappers bark as he struck Andrade across the head. Her four children bawling, Valencia was hustled into a bedroom where an armed man fondled her and threatened to rape her if she didn't tell him where Andrade hid his money, according to the report. After beating and binding Andrade, one of the kidnappers put a gun to Valencia's head. His message: We're taking your husband and SUV. We'll be watching your house. If you call the cops, he's a dead man. Andrade, his wife would later tell police, was a mechanic and freelance human smuggler, or coyote. Police say his 2006 kidnapping was evidence of a growing trend in Phoenix: drug and human traffickers abducting each other for ransoms or retribution. The trend continues, as police investigated roughly a kidnapping a day in 2007 and 2008 and are on track to shatter those numbers this year. Police are stingy with details of fresh cases navigating the court system, but recently allowed CNN to review the files from Andrade's kidnapping. For two and a half days after Andrade's abduction, the kidnappers -- including a man whom Andrade later said had been a friend -- deprived their victim of food and water. Through the door of the closet where he was held, Andrade could hear the cries of other victims being tortured in the house, the report said. Meanwhile, Valencia had defied the kidnappers and called police, who listened to Andrade "scream and howl in pain" over the phone as the kidnappers tried to cut off his ear and a finger. The torture would continue until Valencia came up with the ransom, the kidnappers told her. They were true to their word. Andrade was pistol-whipped and beaten with a baseball bat and the butt of a rifle. The kidnappers tried to gouge out his eye and slashed open his left eyebrow. They burned his back as well -- presumably, police said, with a blowtorch found at the scene. The blindfolded Andrade "could feel his pants and underwear being cut open by an unknown person," he told police. He was told to bend over and was beaten when he refused. "Jaime felt his legs being forced apart and heard Aldo say he was going to get his money," the report said. The kidnappers then sodomized him with a broomstick, a pair of scissors and a wooden dowel used to hang clothes in a closet. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #4 "the victims are generally smugglers, drug dealers or illegal immigrants -- or some combination of the three" Which word is out of place among "smugglers," "drug dealers," and "illegal aliens"? "Victim" doesn't quite fit in there somehow.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-05-19 22:33 |
| #3 <obvious> Maybe you guys should build a border fence or something? </obvious> |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles the pedantic 2009-05-19 21:57 |
| #2 If the trend continues, Phoenix will record an increase in kidnapping for a fourth straight year. More frustrating is that the numbers represent only a third, maybe less, of the city's kidnappings, said Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a police spokesman with 16 years of drug enforcement experience. Most kidnappings aren't reported, he said, because the victims are generally smugglers, drug dealers or illegal immigrants -- or some combination of the three. Welcome to Mexico City North or Cuidad de Mexico del Norte. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-05-19 19:18 |
| #1 Police say his 2006 kidnapping was evidence of a growing trend in Phoenix: drug and human traffickers abducting each other for ransoms or retribution. Well...boo hoo. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-05-19 17:23 |