6729 Amber Alert - Elizabeth Lopez
Jun. 22nd, 2004 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottobearCurrent case - Hollywood, Florida, covering Broward And Miami-Dade
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/AmberAlerts/elizabeth_lopez.html
The child was abducted at gunpoint by the abductor. Abductor forced the child to take another change of clothes that consisted of a blue t-shirt with a fish on the front, a long blue skirt and a white beach hat. The suspect should be considered armed and dangerous.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=20342
http://www.nbc6.net/news/3445687/detail.html
Amber Alert Hollywood Florida Update Urgent
Grandparents sought after Amber Alert issued for missing Hollywood girl
HOLLYWOOD -- Police now say the case of a little girl who was believed abducted last night could be a family affair.
Elizabeth Lopez Investigators have been talking to the mother of 5-year-old Elizabeth Lopez since late last night when she told them a man claiming to be a police officer abducted the child from her Hollywood apartment.
The whereabouts of Elizabeth Lopez remains unknown and police continue their efforts to find her.
Alicia Sylvia DeLopez, left, and Edgar Lopez (Hollywood Police) Jun 22, 2004
They now say the woman has told them her own parents may have orchestrated the abduction ---perhaps hiring someone to abduct the child--- in an attempt to take her daughter out of the country.
Police identified the child's maternal grandparents as Edgar Lopez, 71, and his wife Alicia Sylvia DeLopez, 62, and said they want to question them.
Elizabeth went missing around 10:15 p.m. Monday.
The child is described as 3-foot5, 40 pounds, with brown hair and eyes. She was wearing blue pants, a white shirt with "army" on the front and pink Barbie sandals that light up in front.
Here's what police initially reported happening:
The child's mother said a man knocked at the front door of their apartment in the 3500 block of Washington Street. When she answered, he showed a police badge, pointed a gun at her and forced himself inside the apartment. He asked for the child. The mother, fearing for their safety, went to the bedroom and brought the child to the living room.
The armed man forced the girl to take a change of clothes -- a blue T-shirt with a fish on the front, a long blue skirt, and a white beach hat -- before leaving, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The suspect the took the child and fled, according to the police report.
The suspect was described as a white male, 36 to 40 years old, 6-foot-2, 220 pounds with gray hair and hazel eyes, according to police. He was wearing a white short sleeve shirt, a blue pullover or vest, black jeans and black boots, and was armed with a handgun.
Police issued an Amber Alert shortly after they were alerted. It covers Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The Amber Alert system uses the state's emergency notification process to give the media a description of a missing child and of a suspect's vehicle. That description is also displayed on electronic highway signs.
It is named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and killed in Arlington, Texas, in 1996 and have been instituted in the 48 contiguous states. Hawaii and Alaska are working on their systems.
Anyone with information should call the Hollywood Police Department (954) 967-4357 or Crime Stoppers (954) 493-TIPS.
Update - 6:46pm -
Amber Alert Cancellation
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 18:44:06 -0400
AMBER ALERT
CANCELLATION
ELIZABETH LOPEZ
DATE MISSING: 6/21/04
MISSING FROM: Hollywood,FL COUNTY: Broward
Abductor
Name: Unknown Age: 36-40 years of age
Race: White Height: 601 Weight: 220
Sex: Male Hair: Gray Eye: Hazel/Brown
NARRATIVE:
THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT/ MISSING CHILDREN INFORMATION
CLEARINGHOUSE HAS CANCELED THE FLORIDA AMBER ALERT THAT WAS ISSUED ON
6/22/2004 FOR ELIZABETH LOPEZ. ELIZABETH HAS BEEN RECOVERED SAFELY.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/AmberAlerts/elizabeth_lopez.html
The child was abducted at gunpoint by the abductor. Abductor forced the child to take another change of clothes that consisted of a blue t-shirt with a fish on the front, a long blue skirt and a white beach hat. The suspect should be considered armed and dangerous.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=20342
http://www.nbc6.net/news/3445687/detail.html
Amber Alert Hollywood Florida Update Urgent
Grandparents sought after Amber Alert issued for missing Hollywood girl
HOLLYWOOD -- Police now say the case of a little girl who was believed abducted last night could be a family affair.
Elizabeth Lopez Investigators have been talking to the mother of 5-year-old Elizabeth Lopez since late last night when she told them a man claiming to be a police officer abducted the child from her Hollywood apartment.
The whereabouts of Elizabeth Lopez remains unknown and police continue their efforts to find her.
Alicia Sylvia DeLopez, left, and Edgar Lopez (Hollywood Police) Jun 22, 2004
They now say the woman has told them her own parents may have orchestrated the abduction ---perhaps hiring someone to abduct the child--- in an attempt to take her daughter out of the country.
Police identified the child's maternal grandparents as Edgar Lopez, 71, and his wife Alicia Sylvia DeLopez, 62, and said they want to question them.
Elizabeth went missing around 10:15 p.m. Monday.
The child is described as 3-foot5, 40 pounds, with brown hair and eyes. She was wearing blue pants, a white shirt with "army" on the front and pink Barbie sandals that light up in front.
Here's what police initially reported happening:
The child's mother said a man knocked at the front door of their apartment in the 3500 block of Washington Street. When she answered, he showed a police badge, pointed a gun at her and forced himself inside the apartment. He asked for the child. The mother, fearing for their safety, went to the bedroom and brought the child to the living room.
The armed man forced the girl to take a change of clothes -- a blue T-shirt with a fish on the front, a long blue skirt, and a white beach hat -- before leaving, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The suspect the took the child and fled, according to the police report.
The suspect was described as a white male, 36 to 40 years old, 6-foot-2, 220 pounds with gray hair and hazel eyes, according to police. He was wearing a white short sleeve shirt, a blue pullover or vest, black jeans and black boots, and was armed with a handgun.
Police issued an Amber Alert shortly after they were alerted. It covers Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The Amber Alert system uses the state's emergency notification process to give the media a description of a missing child and of a suspect's vehicle. That description is also displayed on electronic highway signs.
It is named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and killed in Arlington, Texas, in 1996 and have been instituted in the 48 contiguous states. Hawaii and Alaska are working on their systems.
Anyone with information should call the Hollywood Police Department (954) 967-4357 or Crime Stoppers (954) 493-TIPS.
Update - 6:46pm -
Amber Alert Cancellation
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 18:44:06 -0400
AMBER ALERT
CANCELLATION
ELIZABETH LOPEZ
DATE MISSING: 6/21/04
MISSING FROM: Hollywood,FL COUNTY: Broward
Abductor
Name: Unknown Age: 36-40 years of age
Race: White Height: 601 Weight: 220
Sex: Male Hair: Gray Eye: Hazel/Brown
NARRATIVE:
THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT/ MISSING CHILDREN INFORMATION
CLEARINGHOUSE HAS CANCELED THE FLORIDA AMBER ALERT THAT WAS ISSUED ON
6/22/2004 FOR ELIZABETH LOPEZ. ELIZABETH HAS BEEN RECOVERED SAFELY.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-06-22 01:58 pm (UTC)i was thinking of lil bit, and how traumatizing it would be for her.
teary!
you do good stuff scotto, i appreciate you so much! gold stars for scotto!
no subject
Date: 2004-06-22 02:14 pm (UTC)time is always of the essense in these cases.
I'm sort of relieve that it was grandparents... hopefully that means the girl is less likely to be harmed.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-22 02:32 pm (UTC)I heard about another little girl yesterday...She was not found alive.
Sick people in this world. I hope this one is ok.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-22 02:53 pm (UTC)we can only hope!
recovered safely
Date: 2004-06-23 12:37 am (UTC)Re: recovered safely
Date: 2004-06-23 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-23 01:05 am (UTC)bless you mister man!
no subject
Date: 2004-06-23 01:06 am (UTC)Thankies!
no subject
Date: 2004-06-23 04:59 pm (UTC)The mother said she thinks her own parents, who turned the girl over to police on Tuesday, had hired the gunman, who posed as a police officer.
Elizabeth López was ''safe and sound'' when her maternal grandparents took her to Hollywood police headquarters, according to police.
The reunion between the mother, Eunice Alicia López, and her daughter was ''beautiful,'' said Hollywood police Detective Carlos Negrón.
''When they saw each other, they just hugged and kissed,'' he said. ``They haven't stopped crying.''
The girl's kidnapping was the culmination of a long-standing family feud that was fueled by accusations of irresponsibility and mental instability and spanned two continents.
Eunice López, asked Tuesday morning why she told police she thought her parents might be involved, told reporters, ``My mother hates me.''
On Tuesday afternoon, police said they were contacted by Gustavo Pines, a lawyer representing the girl's grandparents, Alicia Sylvia Iaffa de López, 62, and Edgar J. López, 71, of Caracas, Venezuela.
The grandparents claim they have legal custody of their granddaughter, police said. But police and state child welfare workers were trying to sort that out Tuesday night. The girl's father is not involved in his daughter's life, according to family members in Venezuela.
Detectives allowed the grandparents, accompanied by their lawyer, to leave for the night after making little progress in questioning them about the tangled family relationships, Negrón said.
Questioning is scheduled to resume today, he said.
Police said the grandparents were not saying whether they ordered the abduction or how they got the girl.
The hunt for the abductor, however, was still on, Negrón said. Investigators were looking for suspect Martin Russell Diez, 32, of Pembroke Pines.
They said they named Diez as a suspect based on evidence gathered at López's apartment and an identification from a photo lineup.
Police said Diez was last seen wearing a white short-sleeve shirt, a blue pullover, black pants and boots. He may be driving a white Lincoln Navigator.
The abductor could face felony charges of armed kidnapping, false imprisonment and battery, among others, police said.
The girl's mother told police a man knocked on her door at her apartment on the second floor of Forest Towers Apartments, 3550 Washington St., about 10:15 p.m. Monday. When she answered, the man flashed a police badge, pointed a gun at her and forced his way inside.
The man asked the mother to bring the girl to him, threatening her if she did not. Fearing for their safety, the mother said she went to the bedroom and brought her daughter to the living room, police said.
''At first I thought he might kill me, not my daughter,'' she told WFOR-CBS 4. ``She was screaming, crying.''
The man forced the child to take another change of clothes, and he took the girl's passport as well.
The man handcuffed the girl's mother, grabbed the girl and fled, police said.
Neighbors describe a sometimes volatile home life at Eunice López's apartment.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-23 05:00 pm (UTC)''They had an argument, but it got resolved quickly,'' Taylor said.
She and her roommate, Maria Nasci, have called police a number of times recently about loud fighting between the mother and her boyfriend. Monday night's shouting was not exceptional, so Taylor said she didn't bother getting up from the couch.
''The past week, there has been more [fighting] than usual,'' Nasci said.
Taylor said she saw the little girl in the swimming pool last weekend, swimming with underwear bottoms but no top. The family kept to itself, Taylor said.
''I've seen the little girl around,'' said Yvonne Roman, who lives in the building. ``When the face is so cute you don't forget.'
Neighbor Brian Morgan, 43, said he heard a fight last week between López and her boyfriend.
'He was shouting, `Let me in. Open the door, so I can get my clothes,' '' Morgan said.
In Caracas, Clara López, a maternal aunt of the little girl, said she was surprised when contacted by Hollywood police. She said her sister ``has psychological problems.
``My mother looked after the little girl for five years, up until last November. A psychologist who examined both her and the mother said they both needed treatment.''
Clara López added, ``We thought [the mother] had agreed to the girl being brought back here. Really, we don't understand her reaction. We believe she is under the influence of a man who lives with her, who is not her husband nor the father of the girl. . . . The [girl's] father never took care of her.''
no subject
Date: 2004-06-24 10:33 pm (UTC)Suspect in kidnapping of 5-year-old Hollywood girl turns self in
sun-sentinel.com
Posted June 24 2004, 1:10 PM EDT
HOLLYWOOD -- Police on Thursday said the prime suspect in the kidnapping of 5-year-old Elizabeth Lopez surrendered to the FBI around 11 a.m. and is in custody
Martin Russell Diez, of the Northwest 18th Court in Pembroke Pines, turned himself in to FBI at their Miami office. He was later driven to the Hollywood Police headquarters where he was turned over to city detectives and Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents for questioning.
Diez is suspected of impersonating a police officer to gain entrance to Elizabeth mother's home Monday night, then handcuffing her mother and disappearing with the child and a change of clothing.
The grandparents, meanwhile, said they awoke about 3 a.m. on Tuesday to a loud bang on the front door, looked out the window and saw the little girl on their doorstep, holding a small bag.
The 5-year-old stood by herself while the man police say kidnapped her hours before sped off, leaving behind a frightened child, a confused couple and questions for police investigators.
By Wednesday, only a few had been answered, and many more added to what police are calling an international custody battle. Maternal grandparents Alicia Silvia Iaffa de Lopez and Edgar J. Lopez raised Elizabeth in Venezuela from birth until December, when they brought her to Hollywood to live with her mother, Eunice Lopez, police said.
Police said Diez could also help solve the biggest mystery facing police: Whether the grandparents or anyone else orchestrated the kidnapping.
If not, investigators want to know why anyone would take the girl without prompting and deliver her to the grandparents' temporary residence. Police have not said where the couple is living.
Said Hollywood Police spokesman Carlos Negron. "The investigation is still going on, and we really don't know if the grandparents or anyone else will be charged."
The grandparents visited their daughter and Elizabeth often to help ease the transition and had come to South Florida from their native Venezuela earlier this month.
The visits also led to squabbles over how best to care for the girl, with the grandparents concerned with Eunice's job as a nude dancer and her late-night lifestyle, Hollywood police and Eunice's estranged husband said.
The grandparents and their attorney, Roberto Pertierra, gave a brief interview Wednesday in which they described what happened Tuesday. They also explained why they waited nearly 17 hours before contacting police, despite a statewide Amber Alert that had state and federal agents searching for them and Elizabeth.
Pertierra told news partner NBC 6 that the couple first took Elizabeth to the Venezuelan Consulate in Miami sometime Tuesday. They were put in touch with attorney Gustavo Pines, who escorted them to the Hollywood police station Tuesday around 7 p.m.
Edgar Lopez, a doctor catering to ranking military officers in Venezuela, and de Lopez are cooperating with police.
Eunice Lopez married George L. Sotomayor in 2001 and the couple lived in Miami Beach until separating last fall. He said the couple talked often about bringing Elizabeth to America and began preparing for her arrival last year. He is not her birth father.
In September, Eunice Lopez started working at Tootsie's Cabaret, a strip club, police said, causing a strain in the relationship. They separated a month later, Sotomayor said.