Martin Severiano Vela allegedly tried to kidnap his wife, who managed to escape in Texas. (Brownsville Police Department)
A Texas woman made a daring escape after her husband kidnapped her at gunpoint, put her in a car, and drove off in it screaming with him on the hood in front of witnesses who called police, authorities said.
The case came to light on Saturday at 7:13 a.m. when police officers responded to a call of an aggravated kidnapping in progress in the 4100 block of Westland Drive in Brownsville, authorities said in a news release.
The caller told police that a man — later identified as Martin Severiano Vela, 37 — had gone inside her residence and taken his wife at gunpoint and into a white Chrysler 300 while pointing the gun at the homeowners and telling them to “get away” as he did so.
Then witnesses called police about 10 minutes later, saying a man was on the hood of a Chrysler 300 and a woman was inside the vehicle screaming at a gas station convenience store in the 3500 block of East Ruben M. Torres, about a mile away from the Westland Drive address.
When police arrived, they found the victim but no suspect — and no car. The victim told police how she managed to escape by jumping into the driver’s seat when Vela had stepped out of the vehicle to get her out at an abandoned property where she told police he was going to hurt her, authorities said.
She told police that when she drove off to get away from Vela, he jumped onto the hood of the car. When she drove to the convenience store and got out of the vehicle, Vela took off, police said.
Police quickly caught up with Vela after a pursuit when the Texas Department of Public Safety spotted him driving recklessly in the Chrysler 300, officials said. The pursuit ended when he crashed, and he was found hiding in a shed on a property about 12 miles away from where he kidnapped his wife, authorities said.
He was booked into the Brownsville City Jail. He faces a slew of charges, including aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon, burglary, aggravated assault, and DUI and other driving-related offenses. His bond was set at $212,000 bond.
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