Preparedness
Quick-Thinking Texas Wife Outwits Kidnapper via Phone Tracking Trick
An 18-year-old male was apprehended by Texas law enforcement following a clever ruse by the spouse of his kidnap victim. Vanessa Chavez, wife of the kidnapped man, utilised the location tracking abilities of their phone to outsmart the alleged criminal.
In a discussion with KTRK-TV, Vanessa recounted the frightening phone call she received from the abductor on her husband’s phone on May 15th.
Her husband, Juan Chavez, was out making Uber Eats deliveries that day to support their twin infants. In an alarming call, he warned her of his dire situation, prompting her instinctive thought to alert the authorities.
She narrated, “I immediately said, ‘I am calling the police right now,’ and as soon as I said that, I heard the man’s voice; he’s like, ‘You’re not calling the police. I need you to send me $2,000.'”
The victim, Juan Chavez, interjected in his conversation with KTRK, stating that Houston Charles-Stephens, the 18-year-old suspect, approached him armed at a Whataburger on Gessener Road in the Spring Branch area.
An unexpected language barrier ended up leading to the suspect’s capture. Juan, not fluent in English, contacted his wife to translate for the assailant. Vanessa, who had been monitoring her husband’s late-night deliveries for his well-being, quickly formulated a plan.
“I just really quickly said, ‘Ok, find a Bank of America.’ In my head, I was like, ‘I am going to buy my husband more time so I can call the police,'”, she explained.
Knowing that her husband’s Discover Card would be rejected by Bank of America, she used this opportunity to ring the police. By monitoring the location tracking after the call ended with the kidnapper, law enforcement traced them to the latest location on Fondren Road in southwest Houston.
The alleged kidnapper and his victim had relocated from the Bank of America to a nearby Chevron by the time police arrived.
Vanessa shared that the police contacted her to inform her that they had located her husband and he was safe. “I mean, it was in a matter of minutes, but it felt like a very long time,” she admitted.
Authorities later revealed that the suspect had kidnapped and robbed a Dominoes Pizza delivery person just a day before targeting Chavez.
“I am really happy that they did catch the guy because we didn’t know at the time, but it was probably something he did before and something he’d do again,” confessed Vanessa.
Following this traumatic event, Juan has been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, and has decided to stop delivering for Uber Eats. Vanessa lamented, “We would have never imagined something like this would have happened to him.”
Watch a local news report about the incident below:
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