Police tracked cell phone calls to help rescue kidnapped teen

By Conor Shine

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012 | 12:27 p.m.

Repeated phone calls made to the parents of kidnapped 17-year-old Melissa Duran helped police locate her alleged abductors and safely rescue the Green Valley High School senior from a downtown Las Vegas apartment last week, according to an arrest report released Thursday.

Duran was kidnapped shortly before 7:30 a.m. Friday when a man knocked on the door at her house, threw sand in her eyes and forced her into a vehicle, police said.

She was found bound and blindfolded but unharmed in an apartment on Flower Avenue near Stewart and Eastern avenues shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday.

Police arrested Alejandro Manuel Sanchez-Sanchez and Cesar Sanchez on counts of first-degree kidnapping of a minor, conspiracy extortion, extortion, first-degree conspiracy kidnapping, child abuse and conspiracy child abuse, according to court records.

According to the arrest report, a phone call was made from a cell phone to Duran’s parents at 7:33 a.m. Friday shortly after the kidnapping, and a male demanded $100,000 for the safe return of Duran. The man said if the ransom was not delivered, Duran would be killed.

A dozen more calls were made to Duran’s parents over the next 16 hours, and police began tracking the phones. Most of the calls were routed through a cell phone tower at 2110 E. Fremont St., near where Duran was eventually found, the report said.

Records also showed calls being made from the area near Duran’s home about the time the teen was kidnapped, the arrest report said.

During their investigation, police also found a burning vehicle, registered to Caesar Sanchez, near Sunset Mountain that matched the description of the vehicle used in the kidnapping, the report said.

Police began monitoring Sanchez’s apartment on Flower Avenue, and made contact with him while serving a search warrant about 4 a.m. Saturday morning, police said.

Sanchez reportedly admitted to police the burning vehicle belonged to him but that it had been stolen the night before, a story he would change several times, the arrest report said.

While serving a search warrant on Alejandro Sanchez-Sanchez, police found the cell phone that had been used to place calls to Duran’s parents in his pants pocket, the report said.

Sanchez-Sanchez eventually told police he was offered $5,000 to assist in the kidnapping and drove to Duran’s home with Sanchez and another unidentified male, the report said.

After Duran was rescued from a nearby apartment, Sanchez and Sanchez-Sanchez were arrested. Both are being held at the Henderson Detention Center on $1.1 million bonds.

Henderson Police spokesman Keith Paul declined to comment on whether the department is seeking additional suspects, saying only that the investigation remained open.