EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Borderland lived an intense 24 hours on Thursday, March 14 following Amber Alerts sent out by El Paso Police as early as 6 in the morning, that led to a desperate search for 2-year old Kenji Montoya, whose life was in danger after being allegedly kidnapped by his father Miguel Montoya.
After an hours-long SWAT standoff and negotiations with Montoya, El Paso Police took him into custody at the Studio 6 motel, located along the 11000 block of Gateway Blvd West at Lomaland, just before 9 p.m. Thursday evening.
The boy was located unharmed and was returned to his mother Cheyenne Roman, who described the moment she received the call.
“They called us and they’re like, ‘We have your son,’ and I just started crying. They thought (family) it was a bad call, but I was like, ‘No they have him!’ So we we drove around until we got here and, oh, my god, words can’t describe how happy I felt,” Roman said. “He’s doing good (Kenji). He’s eating pizza. He’s saying hi to everybody. He’s happy. He doesn’t want to be out of my arms for sure. I don’t think I’ll ever let him go again.”
El Paso Police said that a call came in at 12:52 p.m. about a suspicious person at the Studio 6 motel, that potentially matched Montoya’s description.
NewsNation local affiliate KTSM was following the SWAT situation in the afternoon as it unfolded, but El Paso Police asked the media not to report on it for the boy’s safety.
“We don’t have very many Amber Alerts, and these types of investigations are very emotionally charged, especially when it involves family members. A young child, we don’t know the mental state of the suspect, and what we don’t want is for any news to be released that could possibly escalate that person and have them decide to harm the child,” said EPPD spokesman Sgt. Robert Gomez, at a press conference moments after the boy was rescued.
“There was a lot of reports of SWAT teams being there and we asked you all (media) to hold off on reporting and I, just from the bottom of my heart, want to say thank you to all the news agencies that cooperated with us,” Gomez said.
Roman spoke with KTSM on Thursday as the manhunt was taking place, recounting the events of the day, when she said Montoya tried to kidnap her, Kenji, and even her niece, to use them as bait to kidnap his 12-year old daughter from a previous relationship and kill her.
Roman said that both her and Montoya’s daughter have pending sexual assault cases against him.
Montoya currently faces charges for aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon, family violence, and the unauthorized use of a motor-vehicle. His bond is set at $230,000.
