What started out as the story of a missing four year-old North Texas boy that triggered an Amber Alert, is turning out to be the tale of youngster kidnapped by a father wanted for the murder of the boy’s mother.
An Amber Alert had been put out on the youngster, Ricardo Alekzander Lara, on Saturday, December 13, CBS DFW reported; but it was canceled by Tuesday, December 16, even though the authorities were still looking for the boy.
They now believe that his father, 23 year-old Ricardo Martinez, abducted the boy and took him out of the country. FOX-4 reported that Lara’s mother, 27 year-old Maria Isabel Romero Medina, was found dead on Saturday. Her slain body was inside of the Sanchez Insurance & Tax office where she worked in Denton.
Officials hope to find the boy unharmed.
Previously, Officer Shane Kizer of the Denton Police Department told reporters that the officers were pretty confident that Lara was with his father, although, at the time, he said that the officers were unable to locate them.
Martinez had ties to Mexico and detectives later located the father and son outside of the United States, according to FOX-4.
Denton police told the news media at a subsequent press conference that they did not want to release too much information out of concern for the little boy.
Police would not confirm many details and did not say where “out of the country” the pair was ultimately found, the Dallas Morning News reported.
At the press conference, Kizer explained that with by leaving the country Lara no longer met the criteria for an active Amber Alert.
An arrest warrant has also been issued for Martinez for Medina’s murder.
Kizer did not say much else at the press conference, and he did not take questions from media, according to FOX-4.
“The circumstances surrounding this investigation require us to be very careful,” he said, warning that giving too many details would “put the child in more danger” and compromise the investigation, Kizer said.
Kizer he also divulged that they learned Martinez had left the country by the time they discovered Medina’s body around 5pm on Saturday. According to Denton police, Martinez has family in Mexico, but Kizer never said the boy and his father were in Mexico.
Police did not divulge to Fox-4 what lead them to learning that the boy was taken out of the United States. They did tell the local news media that the Texas Rangers were also involved in the investigation.
The Dallas Morning News noted that Martinez and Medina had not been together as a couple in long time but were embroiled in a custody battle over their son.
Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom
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