Texas man kidnapped with $10K ransom demand rescued by Fort Worth police, authorities say
A man who was kidnapped from his home in Smith County on Sunday with a $10,000 ransom demand was found unharmed in Fort Worth, where two suspects were arrested, authorities said.
The victim was taken at gunpoint by two men, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. After forcing the victim into their car and driving away, the kidnappers called the man’s wife and demanded $10,000, authorities allege in an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KLTV.
The gunmen told the man’s wife they would kill her husband if she called police, according to the affidavit. The victim’s sons followed the suspects but stopped when they were threatened at gunpoint, KLTV reported.
Deputies responded to the man’s home on Farm Market Road 2015 near Tyler about 4 p.m. Sunday, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators said they learned by tracking the victim’s phone that the kidnappers were headed toward the Dallas-Fort Worth area and they contacted police in Fort Worth and Arlington.
Fort Worth police officers found the vehicle and rescued the victim from the back seat, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspects were returned to Smith County, about 130 miles east of Fort Worth. Julio Cordova, 48, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his cousin Walybert Cordova-Rascon, 38, of Strasburg, Colorado, were booked into the Smith County Jail and face charges of aggravated kidnapping for ransom/reward, according to jail records. The bond has been set at $750,000.
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