SAPD report says migrant “was being held against her will.” They’ve now arrested a man for kidnapping.
SAN ANTONIO — An SAPD officer showed up to a northwest side home on Sunday for a welfare check. He found a woman hiding in a closet under a blanket.
According to an affidavit, the woman had been held against her will for a ransom and a man had threatened to kill her if she ever went to the police.
Still, the woman had also managed to get her hands on a computer tablet when her captor wasn’t aware and sent a message to family to tell them where she was.
SAPD later arrested Elvin Roberto Mendez Flores for Aggravated Kidnapping Ransom/Reward. He now sits in jail with a $75,000 bond.
Police documents state the 34-year-old kidnapping victim had entered the United States from Mexico with the intention of helping support her family who is still in Guatemala.
The people who were transporting her had already collected at least $6,000 from her family but now they were demanding another $6,000 from her husband.
The report states, “According to the victim, the Defendant threatened to kill her and to harm her family in Guatemala if she ever left from the house or (tried to) seek assistance from the authorities.”
It states the woman was eventually able to get her hands on a computer tablet in the early morning to contact her husband and give him her location. The woman told her husband not to call the police, because she was afraid of her captors threats.
The affidavit states that the woman had been forced to cook and to braid hair to earn money for her captors but was never paid for her labor. It states Flores did admit to “some portions” of the victims statements but claimed he was making the ransom demands on behalf of someone else.