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Police: Missing 3-Year-Old Victim Of Foul Play
Mom Said Toddler Snatched From Her Arms
POSTED: 3:39 pm MDT September 21,
2007
UPDATED: 1:05 am MDT September 22,
2007
DENVER -- Police believe that a 3-year-old girl who was reportedly snatched from her mother's arms may be a victim of foul play.It's not exactly clear what happened Friday afternoon but police suspect that Angel Ray Montoya had something to do with it.Montoya, who is wanted for investigation of a homicide, was captured Friday evening after an all-night manhunt. The girl, Nevaeh Gallegos, has not been found.
Investigators would not say if they believe the girl is dead, but Detective John White said, "We do have our homicide investigators working on this."Officers are asking anyone who saw Nevaeh to call 911.Nevaeh was wearing a red, long-sleeve sweatshirt with an elephant on the front, red jeans and pink princess shoes. She is Hispanic, has straight dark hair, is about 3 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 45 pounds.Montoya was arrested near Lincoln Street and 13th Avenue. Officer said they saw a man who looked like Montoya. When they confronted him, there was a brief scuffle and the man ran off. Police chased him, took him into custody and confirmed that it was Montoya.The strange set of events began at abut 3 p.m., when officers were called to the scene at 11th and Cherokee on the report of a possible kidnapping.The girl's mother said she was holding her 3-year-old daughter while walking down an alley. She said she was taking the girl to the hospital when two men drove up, grabbed the girl and drove off in a white four-door vehicle. She described one suspect as a tall man with red hair and a full red beard. He was wearing a green baseball cap, she said. She said the other man was also white.Officers gathered at the parking lot of KRMA, the public television station near the scene, and seized tapes from the station's security cameras, which look into that alley, in hopes of getting pictures of the car.About an hour later, officers left the area and abruptly canceled the Amber Alert they had issued at 4:30 p.m. Police did not explain why they canceled the Amber Alert, other than to say that what they learned during their investigation made them "move in the direction away from an Amber Alert."It's not known if Montoya and the girl are related, or if the woman had filed a false report when she said that her child was kidnapped by two white men.According to court records, Montoya was found guilty in 2005 of child abuse.Please watch 7NEWS for more on this story.
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