Kidnapping of Los Alamos owners remains murky

The dumpsters and walls in the alley behind Los Alamos Mexican Food are speckled with graffiti.

Vandals tagged a "No bicycles . . . " sign near the entryway.

They even tagged the belly of an iconic, sombrero-wearing chili pepper statue that stands with a vacant stare and beaming smile toward Bell Road from the sidewalk near Los Alamos' modest, sparsely decorated storefront.

The vandalism and property damage, however, just recently became the least of shop owners' crime problems at the plaza on the north side of Bell Road at 29th Street.

Police said five people kidnapped a pair of Los Alamos owners Saturday morning as they opened the shop for business, took the owners to a nearby northeast Phoenix home, where they were robbed, bound, and left to wiggle away after the attackers fled.

The eatery, tucked between a Chinese restaurant and a custom flooring store, marks one of the latest of hundreds of kidnappings in the city.

Phoenix police estimated as many as 325 kidnappings and 310 home invasions this year through Nov. 11. Last year, more than 350 kidnappings were reported citywide.

Reasons for violent kidnappings are commonly tied to human-smuggling operations and drug-related cases like one just weeks ago where drug-dealers held an Avondale mother and her 3-year-old daughter for ransom for nearly a week, seeking a similarly large amount of cash from the family.

A day before the Los Alamos kidnapping, Phoenix robbery detectives announced that seven men could face kidnapping charges after a raid at a west Phoenix home freed a 16-year-old boy who was held for ransom.

Police said the bandits wanted the boy's uncle, who was also arrested on a felony drug warrant, to provide $100,000 in cash for the boy's release.

Phoenix police, along with the Arizona Department of Public Safety and federal agents, began using a task-force approach earlier this year to address rising concerns about kidnappings tied to other illegal activity.

Earlier this fall, the Phoenix Police Department helped establish its own home invasion and kidnapping task force with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and federal agencies.

The Los Alamos kidnapping is still under investigation. Police have yet to arrest or identify any of the five suspects believed responsible.

Those who work and live near the restaurant said its owners were pleasant, that the joint drew regular customers from the commercial Bell Road Corridor.

One couple, who live behind the restaurant, said the smells of classic Mexican-American fare wafted through the area - drawing both residents and local workers.

The couple said when they asked Los Alamos' owners about a foul odor from the back alley dumpsters, rather than contesting the stink, the owners listened patiently and instructed employees to be more diligent about shutting the lids.

An owner at the next-door flooring shop and a manager at the pawnshop around the corner said they were surprised to learn about the kidnapping, but that they felt safe in the area despite the specter of crime.

Shop owners gossip about reports of bank heists or break-ins in the area, but robberies are rare in northeast Phoenix. Most of the city's robberies were concentrated south of Bell Road in 2007, police say.

Still, neighbors talk.

Relationships that led to Saturday's kidnapping at Los Alamos remain unclear. The truth could be murky for quite some time.

Write to Michael Ferraresi at michael.ferraresi@arizonarepublic.com.