QuoteTwo gunmen burst through the family's front door Sunday and tied up 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez, four of his siblings and their mother, Maria Rosalina Millan, then ransacked the house, stealing money and other property, the Sheriff's Department said.
After about 20 minutes, the men left with Briant, ordering his mother and the other children not to call police, the department said in a statement.
"They grabbed my kid, told me 'I'm going to take the kid to Mexico and I'm going to kill him,'" the distraught Millan said in Spanish to reporters gathered in her front yard Monday night. "I said 'Why? Don't take my kid,' and he told me to 'turn around, I'm going to shoot you. Stop talking.''
No motive had been established and federal and local investigators were looking at several theories, including that the Spanish-speaking kidnappers were from Mexico and may have had ties to organized crime there.
Authorities along the Mexican border were put on alert and FBI agents were helping in the investigation.
While Amber alerts tend to draw the attention of the highway travelers, news watchers, social networking site members, something about this particular story has really captivated the people here in San Diego. Perhaps because it's so close? or perhaps it's because this time, the kidnapper isn't a parent, babysitter or some known person? Maybe it's a little of both.
Something about the story seems off to me. Were these people picked at random? Why were they picked? Why were the other children left behind? Why didn't they kill him/them on the spot. Why would they care to let any of them live if their motive was to rob them and then kill the boy in Mexico? Why travel the distance with the little boy and risk getting caught?
I imagine that any of those questions could have an answer which hasn't been divulged to the media for security reasons, but I can't help but be somewhat unsure.
Susan Smith turned me into a skeptic.
AOL (http://news.aol.com/article/kidnapped-boy/461388?icid=main%7Cmain%7Cdl1%7Clink3%7Chttp%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fkidnapped-boy%2F461388)
Makes you wonder if she had maybe made a "purchase" from them that wasn't paid for or if maybe someone close to her, a relative or friend, was involved with the gang and it was a revenge thing.
That's the sense I'm getting from this crapfest, too. Those people want something-- bad. And they're willing to take it to the max to get what they want. Drugs; money; revenge-- there's little else to make people take such a radical stance. And I doubt Sweet Maria spilled her guts about everything she knows about the situation. Gotta feel sorry for the little boy caught in the middle.