Police Nab Woman Suspected of Carjack Kidnapping

LOS ANGELES, CA — A woman suspected of stealing an Infiniti in Van Nuys with an 11-month-old boy inside was taken into custody Wednesday, five weeks after she had told police she would voluntarily surrender, police said.

Maria Elizabeth De La Torre was in custody as of about 2:30 p.m. and was being questioned by detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Station, according to an LAPD official, who said she was expected to be booked on suspicion of grand theft auto and/or kidnapping.

Details about how De La Torre was taken into custody were not immediately available, although LAPD Detective Meghan Aguilar said the suspect did not surrender voluntarily as she had promised last month, which resulted in a warrant for her arrest.

The Infiniti, with the boy still strapped into his car seat inside, was taken about 10 a.m. April 3 from the 15400 block of Gault Street, near Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys, according to the LAPD.

Authorities began a massive search, releasing the baby's picture and describing the white 2001-model G-20 sedan and releasing its license number.

About noon the same day, an "alert citizen" spotted the car abandoned near where it had been stolen, and the child, named Leo, was found safe in the sedan, police said.

Paramedics took the child to a hospital for an evaluation and he was later reunited with his mother, who had gone to a babysitter's residence to pick up another one of her children and had left the car unattended with the engine running and Leo inside, according to police.

De La Torre allegedly confessed over the phone to taking the car and said she would turn herself in, but she did not and subsequent calls to her number went to voicemail, police said.

De La Torre was known in the area and allegedly stole the car in a "crime of opportunity" and may not have realized the boy was inside, police said.

The boy's mother said she did not know the woman.

City News Service; Photos courtesy of the LAPD