Parents' Drug Debt May Have Motivated NJ Kidnappers To Take Philly Boy: FBI

LEONIA, NJ — New details from the police shooting of a suspect in a Philadelphia teen's abduction point to his parents' possible drug debt as a motive for his kidnapping.

Law enforcement provided basic information about the shooting at the time: A teen was kidnapped from Philadelphia. Law enforcement learned he was in Leonia. A suspect, still unnamed, died in a shoot-out with officers. The teen went home. Two men have been charged in his kidnapping.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court adds new details, including that the boy's father said he owed someone $180,000 for drugs and that the kidnapper demanded $500,000 for the boy's return. Reporter Steve Janoski of NorthJersey.com first reported these details.

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James Zajac, a special agent with the FBI's Philadelphia Division, wrote the criminal complaint. Eduardo Castelan and Jose Reyes Ochoa have been charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping in connection with the 17-year-old's disappearance.

Here is Zajac's timeline of events:

June 14, 2021

• Teen boy goes to work in Philadelphia and does not come home.
• Father searches for son and finds his car 1.5 miles away from work.
• Family begins receiving calls for ransom money.
• Security footage shows an unknown person parking the boy's car and getting into a black Jeep Grand Cherokee.

June 15, 2021

• Father reports boy missing from work.
• At some point after his initial interview, the father calls police and says he "owed a Mexican man $180,000 for a quantity of drugs that he never received and that he believed had either been stolen, or that had been recovered by the police."
• Ransom calls continue. The father tells Philly police he believes the men on the phone are Mexican or Colombian.
• The callers ask the boy's parents for $500,000. The boy is allowed to talk to his family and tells them he is being held at gunpoint.
• Law enforcement begin tracing phone numbers that have been calling family.
• Law enforcement locate the black Jeep Grand Cherokee.
• Leonia police tell the FBI that the vehicle had been previously involved in a drug case, and give the address it is registered to as 29A Lakeview Avenue.
• Investigators see the Jeep at that apartment complex.
• Law enforcement trace calls to Lakeview Avenue, Leonia.
• Investigators observe people moving between apartments 29A and 92D.

June 16, 2021

• Ransom calls continue. Kidnappers tell the boy's mother they may turn to "plan B" if they don't get money.
• Law enforcement get search warrant for 29A Lakeview Avenue and find the victim on the couch, next to a suspect.
• Suspect points firearm at agents and is killed.
• Three other people in the apartment are arrested, as well as Castelan, who as in another apartment.
• Victim tells police he was abducted from the parking lot where he works. He describes the ransom calls, driving around, and being kept in a residence with several masks over his face.
• The boy was unharmed after the ordeal and was able to tell police who two of the captors were.

Later, Ochoa told authorities he had been blackmailed into helping after someone threatened to kill his uncle. He said he did not participate in the kidnapping, and said Castelan and the unnamed dead suspect abducted the boy.

Also, as reporter Steve Janoski noted, the standoff was hours long in the early morning of June 16. The documents provided by FBI Agent Zajac point to a quick resolution, though body camera footage and reports on the ground confirm it took some time for officers to breach the apartment and confront the suspect.

Ochoa, 32, is being held at Philadelphia Federal Detention Center, federal records show. There is no information on Castelan in Bureau of Prisons records.