A Connecticut man is accused of kidnapping a 5-year-old boy from a bus stop after arguing with the boy’s mother, according to authorities, who said he threatened to kill her and the child if she called the police.
Christopher Rodriguez has been arrested on charges of first-degree kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor, two counts of second-degree breach of peace and a fugitive from justice offense, the New Haven Police Department said in a Monday, September 21, news release.
The fugitive of justice charge against Rodriguez, 32, is due to an outstanding parole violation warrant out of New York stemming from a previous second-degree murder charge.
On September 14, the child’s mother alerted New Haven police that Rodriguez had abducted her son following an argument, according to police. Rodriguez is not the child’s biological father.
The dispute happened at a Family Dollar store in West Haven, where Rodriguez also argued with a cashier and asked the employee whether they had been intimate with the boy’s mother, the woman told police, according to Rodriguez’s arrest warrant obtained by CT Insider.
Rodriguez ultimately left the woman in West Haven and drove to her child’s bus stop in New Haven, police said. There, he allegedly kidnapped the child in his car.
Rodriguez is accused of refusing to return the boy to his mother after she contacted him.
“He told her that if police were contacted, he would engage officers in a pursuit & kill both her & her son,” police said.
Authorities ultimately issued an AMBER Alert and a be on the lookout (BOLO) notice for Rodriguez.
Special Victims Unit detectives and members of a Crisis Negotiation Team eventually contacted Rodriguez over the phone and spent several hours trying to negotiate with him, according to police.
“While speaking with him, he exhibited irrational and paranoid thoughts, including revving his engine and saying he saw police following him, repeatedly claiming that he would intentionally crash the car,” according to police, per CT Insider.
Eventually, the detectives and negotiators convinced Rodriguez to let the 5-year-old go, police said.
The alleged abduction ended with Rodriguez handing the child to a tow truck driver in Bridgeport, according to authorities. He reportedly told the driver to bring the boy “safely to New Haven.”
Afterward, New Haven Officer Gregory Reynolds, who is assigned to the U.S. Marshals Task Force, began searching for Rodriguez, who was located at a hotel in Branford three days later, police said.
Rodriguez was apprehended on Thursday, September 17, according to police. He had his bond set at $300,000.
At the time of the alleged kidnapping, Rodriguez had several arrest warrants, including a parole violation out of New York in connection with a second-degree murder charge.
Information on his legal representation wasn’t immediately available.
New Haven Police Chief David Zannelli credited investigators “for successfully deescalating a very tense & rapidly evolving situation” and said that “because of their efforts, multiple lives have been saved, & a dangerous individual is now safely in custody.”
