Kidnapping suspect caught near TorC

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Feb. 20—ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man is behind bars after allegedly beating and kidnapping his estranged wife last weekend in Las Cruces.

Patrick Fernandez, 36, was arrested near Truth or Consequences on Wednesday night and has been booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

He is charged with kidnapping, aggravated stalking and three counts of aggravated battery against a household member in the Feb. 13 incident. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

The estranged wife — who shares three children with Fernandez — had a restraining order against him at the time.

According to a motion to detain Fernandez until trial, he had been convicted of assaulting her three times and violating the restraining order once in 2017.

More recently, prosecutors say Fernandez was arrested for violating the restraining order in 2020 and had two additional cases pending where his estranged wife is the victim.

According to a statement of probable cause filed in Magistrate Court:

Las Cruces police responded to the 3850 block of North Fork Arc for a domestic disturbance and were told Fernandez had kidnapped his estranged wife.

The woman's mother told police she was helping her move out of the house when Fernandez showed up and her daughter tried to drive away but he blocked her from leaving.

She said Fernandez dragged the woman from the vehicle and put her inside his vehicle and drove away.

Hours later, the estranged wife showed up in Fernandez's vehicle. She told police Fernandez dragged her by her hair and arms into his vehicle and was "hitting her continuously."

The woman said he drove them to the desert where they were arguing and he was crying. She told police Fernandez said he would kill her and commit suicide.

The woman said Fernandez then apologized and ran from the vehicle before she drove home.

Recommended Stories

  • Clippers edge Jazz 116-112, snap Utah's 9-game win streak

    Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, reserve Lou Williams had 19 and the Los Angeles Clippers edged Utah 116-112 on Friday night, snapping the Jazz's nine-game winning streak. The Clippers avenged an 18-point loss to Utah two nights earlier, when starters Leonard, Paul George and Nicolas Batum were sidelined. George had 15 points in his return from a seven-game absence with an injured toe.

  • Malaysia to start COVID-19 vaccination drive early as first doses arrive

    Malaysia moved up its COVID-19 inoculation drive by two days as the first batch of vaccines arrived in the Southeast Asian nation on Sunday. Malaysia aims to vaccinate at least 80% of its 32 million people within a year as it pushes to revive an economy that, slammed by coronavirus-related curbs, recorded its worst slump in over two decades in 2020. It has imposed more lockdowns this year amid a fresh wave of coronavirus infections.

  • No. 1 Gonzaga remains unbeaten, rolls over San Diego 106-69

    SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) Even after wrapping up yet another West Coast Conference regular-season crown a few days earlier, No. 1 Gonzaga didn't let up. Drew Timme scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half, Jalen Suggs added 17 points and the top-ranked Bulldogs won their 26th straight game with a 106-69 romp over San Diego on Saturday night. ''I think we are just becoming more mature and understand that just playing these games doesn't mean we are going to get a guaranteed national championship and we have to raise our level and keep improving every game,'' Gonzaga guard Andrew Nembhard said.

  • Paul has 19 assists, Suns rally to beat Pelicans 132-114

    Chris Paul had 15 points and a season-high 19 assists, spearheading an 11-point, fourth-quarter comeback in the Phoenix Suns' 132-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night. Paul, who rose to stardom with New Orleans after being drafted fourth overall in 2005, appeared to be gesturing that he owned the arena after hitting a step-back 3 that gave Phoenix a 118-107 lead with less than five minutes to go.

  • Inside the All-Star voting numbers: The NBA is a tough crowd

    NBA players are apparently not easily impressed — even by other NBA players. LeBron James and Kevin Durant were the only two players to appear on more than 50% of the ballots cast by their playing peers in All-Star Game starter balloting this season, based on a review of the numbers released by the league. James appeared on 56% of the ballots, Durant on 55%.

  • 3 dead in New Orleans area gun store shootout

    The person believed to be the initial shooter was killed, authorities said.

  • Garland to prioritize civil rights and fighting domestic terror

    In his opening statement for his confirmation hearing, the nominee for attorney general plans on highlighting the Justice Department's role in protecting civil rights and guarding against extremist violence.

  • 'I thought we were done': Parts fall from sky in plane scare

    David Delucia was settling back into his airplane seat and starting to relax on his way to a long-awaited vacation when a huge explosion and flash of light interrupted an in-flight announcement and put him in survival mode. The Boeing 777-200, headed from Denver to Honolulu on Saturday with 231 passengers and 10 crew aboard, suffered a catastrophic failure in its right engine and flames erupted under the wing as the plane began to lose altitude. As Delucia and his wife prepared for the worst, people in this Denver suburb reacted in horror as huge pieces of the engine casing and chunks of fiberglass rained down on a sports fields and on streets and lawns, just missing one home and crushing a truck.

  • Isaiah Thomas returns to score 19 points, US beats Bahamas

    Isaiah Thomas knocked down three quick 3-pointers, showing that his shot is still there. Thomas scored 19 points in his first competitive game in more than a year, helping the U.S. to a 93-77 victory over the Bahamas on Friday in a FIBA AmeriCup qualifying game. “My first time playing in a little over a year so I was a little rusty, but it felt amazing to be out there competing against really good players and also representing my country,” Thomas said.

  • Myanmar protesters gather again after worst day of violence

    Early on Sunday, police arrested a famous actor wanted for supporting opposition to the coup, his wife said, while Facebook deleted the military's main page under its standards prohibiting the incitement of violence. The military has been unable to quell the demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes against the coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others, even with a promise of a new election, arrests and warnings against dissent. In the main city of Yangon, several thousand young people gathered at two sites to chant slogans, while hundreds massed peacefully in the second city of Mandalay, footage shown by a media outlet showed.

  • Biden pays a visit to ailing former GOP Sen. Bob Dole

    President Joe Biden paid a visit Saturday to former Sen. Bob Dole, days after the World War II veteran and 1996 Republican presidential nominee announced he'd been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Biden, who served in the Senate with Dole for more than two decades, arrived Saturday afternoon at the Watergate complex where Dole, 97, and his wife, Elizabeth, have maintained a longtime residence. The White House described Dole as a “close friend” of the president.

  • Stranded international college students feel abandoned. They are suing the US government.

    Without in-person classes, DHS and ICE banned first-year international students from entering America. Now they're fighting back with a lawsuit.

  • United Airlines Boeing 777 lands safely in Denver after engine failure

    A United Airlines flight landed safely at Denver International Airport on Saturday after its right engine failed, the Federal Aviation Administration said, with dramatic images showing debris from the plane scattered on the ground. The Boeing 777-200 plane, with 231 passengers and 10 crew on board, was heading to Honolulu when it suffered an engine failure soon after takeoff, the airline said. Images posted by police in Broomfield, Colorado showed significant plane debris on the ground, including an engine cowling scattered outside a home and what appeared to be other parts in a field.

  • Feds deport former Nazi concentration camp guard who lived for years in Tennessee

    Friedrich Karl Berger, 95, had been living in Tennessee. He helped guard a concentration camp near Meppen, Germany, near the end of World War II.

  • Trump ally violated UN arms embargo with Libya mission involving British mercenaries, leaked report alleges

    An ally of Donald Trump violated an arms embargo on Libya by sending British and other foreign mercenaries into the midst of the country's civil war, UN investigations found in a report seen by US media outlets. Erik Prince, a private security contractor and the brother of Mr Trump's former education secretary, provided foreign mercenaries and weapons to strongman Khalifa Haftar to support his bid to overthrow the UN-backed Libyan government in 2019, the report findings alleged. The confidential report is the result of an 18-month investigation and was delivered to the UN Security Council on Thursday and later leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post. According to investigators, Mr Prince pitched the $80 million mercenary operation to General Khalifa Haftar shortly after his assault on Tripoli, which began in April 2019 and sparked the country's civil war. Libya has been engulfed by violence since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddaffi's dictatorship in 2011. The country has in recent years been split between a Government of National Accord in Tripoli, and an eastern-based administration, backed by General Haftar.

  • Conservative African cardinal who clashed with pope leaves post

    Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from a top Vatican post of Cardinal Robert Sarah, a hero to many conservatives who often clashed with the pontiff on theological matters. The African cardinal, who is from Guinea, held various Vatican positions in the last 20 years, the latest as head of the department that oversees matters of worship and sacraments. Sarah had submitted his resignation in June last year when he turned 75, as Church law requires of all bishops, but the pope often allows Vatican officials to remain in their posts longer.

  • Vietnam was ranked 2nd for successfully handling the coronavirus pandemic, and its contact tracing was so good it barely had to lock down

    The Lowy Institute ranked Vietnam No. 2 behind New Zealand in successfully handling the pandemic. The US ranked 94.

  • Naomi Osaka's boyfriend didn't know she was a tennis star before they met and revealed he felt 'really out of place' at the 2019 US Open

    Rapper Cordae told GQ he could only name tennis players like Venus and Serena Williams before meeting his current girlfriend, Naomi Osaka.

  • Parents at Ted Cruz’s daughter’s exclusive Texas school demand they quarantine as family is pictured maskless on beach

    Senator accused of displaying ‘hypocritical behaviour’

  • UK's Prince Charles visits father Philip in hospital

    Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, on Saturday visited the hospital where his father Prince Philip is being kept as a precaution after feeling ill, a Reuters photographer at the hospital said. Charles arrived at the back of the London hospital where Philip, the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, has spent four nights. Charles was at the hospital for just over half an hour before departing.