Alleged Kidnapping Victim Led Police To A Garage Full Of Other Victims
DENVER (CBS4) - Police made a stunning discovery connected to the raid on a Denver home last week -- four women had been kidnapped, held hostage and abused.
Court documents explain that one of the victims was kidnapped outside the Breakfast King diner on Mississippi Avenue and Santa Fe Boulevard early Thursday morning. She told police two men with guns forced her into their car and took her to a home less than three miles from the diner where she and three other women were violently abused.
Inside the garage of the home located on South Eliot Street the four women were stripped, bound with duct tape and assaulted. At least one of them was forcibly given excessive amounts of methamphetamine, and may have been sexually abused.
Police say the four men allegedly responsible have been identified as Edgar Barroso, Juvenal Tamayo, Pedro Valdez and Steven Hillen.
The case unfolded after one of the women was released by the suspects and went to Denver Health Medical Center early Friday morning. That's where investigators learned more women were being held against their will inside the garage on South Eliot Street. There authorities found the three other victims and three suspects -- Barroso, Tamayo and Valdez.
The three other women told police they had been kidnapped as well and were also held captive. Two of the women said they were also assaulted inside a home on Mariposa Street. The two claimed Barroso beat them with the end of a handgun and fired one round into the floor before threatening to kill them.
A Denver SWAT team busted into the home on Mariposa Street Friday in search of the fourth suspect, Hillen. Inside investigators found drugs, weapons and other evidence, but didn't find Hillen until Monday.
All men are facing felony kidnapping, assault and menacing charges.
Police believe they've located all the victims in the case.
The investigation is ongoing and it's possible the men may also face sex assault charges.
At this point it's unclear if all the victims know the suspects, but at least one of them told police she is "friends" with one of the men arrested.