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Boulder Man Helped End Amber Alert After Cellphone Text, Toddler Rescued

TRINIDAD, Colo. (CBS4) - A Boulder man driving home through New Mexico helped end an Amber Alert and capture the suspect. The man led authorities to the suspect captured after a high-speed chase on Interstate 25.

The witness, Joel Leach, alerted police to the suspect vehicle near Raton, New Mexico.

Colorado State Patrol troopers approached the suspect vehicle, a Cadillac Escalade with New Mexico license plate number 44736US, near Trinidad. That's when the suspect sped away.

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The scene of the Cadillac Escalade crash (credit: Heurfano World Journal)

Colorado State Patrol told CBS4 the chase, reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour, continued for 27 miles on northbound I-25. The chase ended once stop sticks were deployed and the suspect's car crashed into the median and the SUV rolled into the southbound lanes.

The driver, kidnapping suspect Ramiro Tirado, 19, was ejected along with the kidnapped victim, his daughter, 2-year-old Denise Tirado. Both suffered moderate injuries.

Ramiro Tirado
Ramiro Tirado (credit: Albuquerque Police)

Denise was the focus of the Amber Alert issued in Albuquerque Monday night. Police believed that the toddler was in danger when she was allegedly abducted from her mother by Ramiro at about 7:30 p.m.

The Amber Alert was issued and police said Ramiro was last seen in the Gibson and San Mateo area of Albuquerque about 9 p.m. driving the Escalade with a "CADILLAC" sticker on the rear window.

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(credit: Heurfano World Journal)

Leach, from Boulder who was driving home from California through New Mexico, received the Amber Alert text on his phone when he spotted the SUV matching the suspect vehicle. He passed the Escalade, but then pulled over and followed the SUV to a gas station. When he saw the license plate matched that belonging to the suspect vehicle, he called police.

"The Escalade exits, well I thought, 'Uh-oh,' so I followed him, I went from left lane to right and took the exit. He went and got gas and at that point I called authorities (and) said, 'I'm seeing this vehicle, it's here, I've got eyes on it,'" said Leach.

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