Dad kidnaps wife and kids, buries her phone so no one can find them, FL cops say

A woman fled Puerto Rico with her kids to escape her husband, then he took them hostage in Florida and threatened to kill them all, authorities said.

A jury now has convicted the 36-year-old dad of three counts of kidnapping and two counts of assault, the State Attorney’s Office for the 20th Judicial Circuit announced May 19.

Prosecutors called it a “day of terror” that spanned several counties.

McClatchy News is not identifying the father to avoid identifying his family. His attorney declined to comment on the case until his sentencing, which is scheduled for July 7.

The man’s wife described him as abusive and said she left Puerto Rico with their four kids to get away from him, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

They wound up living at a women’s shelter in southwest Florida, then the dad came to Florida and stayed at a motel, deputies wrote in an arrest affidavit.

On Jan. 2, 2023, the family members were visiting the dad at his motel, then the next morning he insisted they leave with him, according to deputies.

The mom refused and said the arguing continued in the parking lot of a grocery store. Then the dad grabbed her keys, wallet and phone, and got into the driver’s seat of her car, investigators said.

He “put the car in reverse and said he was going to destroy the vehicle and kill everyone,” deputies wrote in the affidavit.

The mom threatened to jump out, so the dad stopped the car and she got out, but then he began hitting her and bit her face, investigators said.

Another man saw the altercation and called 911 while trying to block their car from leaving, but by the time police got there, the family was gone, according to deputies.

The dad later pulled over in a rural area of another county and told the mom and two of the kids to get out as two kids remained in the car, deputies said.

The mom told him she wouldn’t get out, but the dad threatened to kill two of the children, and he beat his wife with a tire iron as one of the kids tried running away, according to deputies.

He “ordered everyone back into the car, under threats of death, and they started driving again,” deputies wrote.

The husband said he was going to Home Depot to buy a shovel and would kill them all, then the woman started getting calls from her family, who were concerned and had contacted law enforcement, deputies said.

He coached her on what to say on the phone, then he pulled into a citrus field and buried her phone so no one could track them, deputies said.

The mom convinced him she needed to stop at the shelter to get their documents, so he drove there and let her out but threatened to kill their children if she didn’t come back with the documents in 10 minutes, deputies said.

The woman had the shelter staff call 911, and deputies said they found the man watching her behind palm trees and arrested him.

He denied kidnapping his family, deputies said.

Another charge of witness tampering was added later after deputies said he asked his aunt from jail to convince the mother of his children to drop the charges if he promised to leave her alone, records show.

He’s facing the possibility of life in prison.

Collier County includes the Naples metropolitan area.

This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Dad kidnaps wife and kids, buries her phone so no one can find them, FL cops say."