Woman Who Assisted Subjects Of Amber Alert 'Felt Compelled To Help'
PUEBLO, Colo. (CBS4) - The mother and child who were abducted at gunpoint Thursday have been found after an extensive search that led authorities along Colorado's Front Range from Commerce City to Pueblo. The search continues for the suspect.
Police found the 26-year-old woman and her 1-year-old child in Denver on Friday after they were forced at gunpoint from a home in Adams County just before noon on Thursday.
Carol Archuleta was driving with her granddaughter in Pueblo when she saw a man and woman stranded on the side of the road with a child.
"I stopped I just felt compelled to help them," Archuleta said.
Archuelta went above and beyond, not knowing the trio was the focus of a statewide amber alert. The man with them was Maurico Venzor-Gonzalez, the suspect in the kidnapping.
"She seemed really nervous, upset, she wouldn't talk much and now that I'm looking over the whole situation I'm realizing she was protecting her baby," Archuleta said.
Archuleta first took them to the store for diapers and when their attempts to find a shelter failed, she opened her doors.
"We ended up taking them to the house. They took a shower and I fed them and they hung out for the night," she said.
On Friday morning Archuleta and her granddaughter offered them a ride.
"A cop stopped us today with them in the car and then all of the sudden they started telling us that they needed to go somewhere else," Pacheco said.
They parted ways in south Denver. At approximately 1:30 p.m. an RTD security guard spotted the three of them at a light rail station at Evans and Delaware, leading to their rescue but not the capture of Gonzales.
Archuleta says looking back at the situation, there were certainly red flags.
"I put my family in harm's way trying to help people out and I'm never going to do that again," Archuleta said.
The suspect, Mauricio Venzor-Gonzalez, 22, is described as a Hispanic male, 5-feet-6 and 129 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Karen Morfitt joined the CBS4 team as a reporter in 2013. She covers a variety of stories in and around the Denver metro area. Connect with her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @karenmorfitt or email her tips.
