CHAMBLEE, Ga. — What started as a walk on a sunny day for a local mother quickly led to several terrifying hours on Saturday when her 1-year-old son was snatched from his stroller and taken 60 miles away.
Now, the boy is safe, two suspects are behind bars and the child’s aunt is thinking back to the moment she learned of what had happened. It wasn’t until her nephew and sister came home safely that the emotions swept Jessica Bamaca all over again.
“I just want to go inside,” she said. “I just want to go inside and hold him.”
She was home Saturday afternoon when the two men kidnapped her nephew at gunpoint right outside of their home in Chamblee on Clairview Drive, off Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.
“I heard my sister yelling and by the time I got out there, there was nobody there,” Jessica said.
Investigators say the two suspects arrived in a maroon SUV. The driver jumped out of the car with the gun and tried to take 1-year-old Mateo Montufar-Barrera out of his stroller.
But Mateo's mother fought back hard, ripping off some of the man's clothes and even taking his gun away. Police said she tried to shoot the suspect, but the gun didn't go off.
The suspect's passenger then grabbed Mateo out of the stroller, and they took off.
“We don't know who they are. We don't know how they even came up to this area,” Jessica said. “We don't know what their intentions are.”
Chamblee Police and the FBI worked the case for hours and, eventually, arrested the suspects in Carrollton.
They say the suspects in custody are Maynor Dario Valera Zuniga and Kristin Nicole Valera Zuniga (Nash). Photographs taken of them under arrest were provided to 11Alive on Sunday.
Kristin Nicole Valera-Zuniga is charged with kidnapping and Maynor Dario Valera Zuniga is charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery. They are being held at the DeKalb County jail.
Mateo was with them and was unharmed. He’s now home, easing the fears of those who love him.
“Extremely thankful with God that we're able to have our baby back home tonight,” Jessica said.
The FBI is now taking over the case.