Corny Dog 'Heiress' Rescued After Kidnapping
Police say woman was not harmed during kidnapping.
By FRANK HEINZ
Updated 7:54 AM CST, Wed, Dec 10, 2008
A young woman is safe after being kidnapped from her Double Oak home Monday morning.
Police said Amber Fletcher, 21, placed a call to her mother at about 9 a.m. and said she needed $100,000 or that she would be killed by her abductors.
Fletcher, whose family introduced the "Corny Dog" to the Texas State Fair, had spent the night with her parents and was returning home when she was taken by three men.
"She was going back home to get some clothes, and two suspects were waiting for her," said Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree.
Her hands were bound with duct tape, and she was blindfolded. She then called her mother, Glenda Fletcher, saying she needed $100,000 or the kidnappers would kill her, according to an affidavit.
Nearly 10 hours into the investigation, coordinated between the Double Oak Police Department, Texas Rangers, Denton County Sheriff's Office, East Texas Fugitive Task Force, the United States Marshal Office and the FBI, officials decided to allow the victim's mother to take the kidnappers their money.
Murphree said that officers had the "drop" under surveillance, and that's when they nabbed 39-year-old Adolfo Chavez. Chavez told officials where they fould find Fletcher, near the Bartonville Food Store on the 3300 block of FM 407 East in Denton Co.
Officers arrived at the location to find a white Ford truck and two other men, Candelario Romero, 44, and Porras Placido, 37, along with Fletcher, who was uninjured.
Romero and Placido were taken into custody, along with Chavez, without incident and were booked on a charge of aggravated kidnapping for ransom/reward. Bond was set at $200,000 for Chavez and at $250,000 each for Placido and Romero, according to jail records.
All three are suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and will be held in custody due to a hold placed on them by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Officials later uncovered that Chavez had once lived next door to the Fletcher family and sold them a home.
Fletcher later told officials that the men had made a lot of threats but didn't harm her. After she was abducted, she was taken to Romero's home in Justin but spent most of the day with the two men as they drove around, officials said.
Officials believe the suspects, who never received any ransom money, acted alone.
The Fletcher family faced another ordeal Tuesday the funeral of their son. Neil "Dutch" Fletcher III, 50, died Saturday from a long illness, according to an obituary in The Dallas Morning News.
First Published: Dec 8, 2008 10:40 PM CST
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