The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
6
http://www.click2houston.com/news/3988633/detail.html
Woman, 68, Kidnapped, Held For 2 Days
2 Men Arrested, Charged With Kidnapping
POSTED: 1:04 pm CST December 10, 2004
UPDATED: 5:06 pm CST December 10, 2004
HOUSTON -- Two suspics were arrested Friday in connection with the abduction of a 68-year-old woman who police say was held for ransom over two days inside an east Houston home, Local 2 reported.
Shirley Cashiola, the widow of Houston homebuilder Tommy Cashiola, was abducted from her home on Apache Plume Drive at Ludington at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"She's normally very cautious, but heard a knock on her back door. She opened it, expecting her daughter. The suspect was standing there with a gun and so he grabbed her and forced her into the suspect's veh
icle," said Lt. Rick Maxey, with HPD Homicide.
A neighbor said he saw Cash
iola being driven off in a late-model Ford Bronco.
"At first, I heard a lady screaming. When I came outside, she was still screaming. Then, when I walked back to get some more of my Christmas stuff and bring it back, I saw a car pass, the back end of a white car, like a Bronco," neighbor Donald Ashley told Local 2.
Houston police said the men threatened to kill Cashiola, if her family failed to pay a $500,000 ransom.
The alleged kidnappers negotiated Cashiola's ransom over the phone during the next 39 hours, instructing family members to drop the money off in a remote area in Jefferson County between Beaumont and Baytown at 1 a.m. Friday, investigators said.
Investigators said they determined Jesus Prieto was behind the kidnapping. Prieto was a carpenter who had done work for the Cashiola family's construction company.
He was under surveillance when he arra
nged
a meeting to pick up the ransom early Friday morning, officers said.
However, on the way to the drop site, a Cha
mbers County deputy, unaware that Prieto was under surveillance, pulled him over in a traffic stop. The deputy let Prieto go, but Prieto abandoned the plan and began driving east on Interstate 10 until police stopped him near Winnie.
Prieto then led the officers back to a house on Lenox Street in east Houston, officials said.
A second suspect, Adrian De La Cruz, was holding Cashiola, according to authorities.
"We knocked on the door once and believe it or not, De La Cruz answered the door. He was right there, almost like he was exspicting us. (He) opened the door. (We) took him down," Maxey said.
Cashiola was found bound and gagged in an upstairs bedroom.
Her family said she had no injuries and appeared to be in good condition when she was found.
Both suspics have been charged with aggravated kidnapping.
Houston police
asked l
ocal television stations and newspaper not to report the story until Cashiola was safely found, in fear that the suspects would harm or kill her.
Loc
al 2 and other news outlets held the story until she was found.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/3988633/detail.html
Woman, 68, Kidnapped, Held For 2 Days
2 Men Arrested, Charged With Kidnapping
POSTED: 1:04 pm CST December 10, 2004
UPDATED: 5:06 pm CST December 10, 2004
HOUSTON -- Two suspics were arrested Friday in connection with the abduction of a 68-year-old woman who police say was held for ransom over two days inside an east Houston home, Local 2 reported.
Shirley Cashiola, the widow of Houston homebuilder Tommy Cashiola, was abducted from her home on Apache Plume Drive at Ludington at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"She's normally very cautious, but heard a knock on her back door. She opened it, expecting her daughter. The suspect was standing there with a gun and so he grabbed her and forced her into the suspect's veh
icle," said Lt. Rick Maxey, with HPD Homicide.
A neighbor said he saw Cash
iola being driven off in a late-model Ford Bronco.
"At first, I heard a lady screaming. When I came outside, she was still screaming. Then, when I walked back to get some more of my Christmas stuff and bring it back, I saw a car pass, the back end of a white car, like a Bronco," neighbor Donald Ashley told Local 2.
Houston police said the men threatened to kill Cashiola, if her family failed to pay a $500,000 ransom.
The alleged kidnappers negotiated Cashiola's ransom over the phone during the next 39 hours, instructing family members to drop the money off in a remote area in Jefferson County between Beaumont and Baytown at 1 a.m. Friday, investigators said.
Investigators said they determined Jesus Prieto was behind the kidnapping. Prieto was a carpenter who had done work for the Cashiola family's construction company.
He was under surveillance when he arra
nged
a meeting to pick up the ransom early Friday morning, officers said.
However, on the way to the drop site, a Cha
mbers County deputy, unaware that Prieto was under surveillance, pulled him over in a traffic stop. The deputy let Prieto go, but Prieto abandoned the plan and began driving east on Interstate 10 until police stopped him near Winnie.
Prieto then led the officers back to a house on Lenox Street in east Houston, officials said.
A second suspect, Adrian De La Cruz, was holding Cashiola, according to authorities.
"We knocked on the door once and believe it or not, De La Cruz answered the door. He was right there, almost like he was exspicting us. (He) opened the door. (We) took him down," Maxey said.
Cashiola was found bound and gagged in an upstairs bedroom.
Her family said she had no injuries and appeared to be in good condition when she was found.
Both suspics have been charged with aggravated kidnapping.
Houston police
asked l
ocal television stations and newspaper not to report the story until Cashiola was safely found, in fear that the suspects would harm or kill her.
Loc
al 2 and other news outlets held the story until she was found.