Calistoga Home Burglary Suspect Identified
CALISTOGA (BCN) - The Napa County Sheriff's Office Tuesday identified a suspect in a residential burglary in Calistoga on Thursday as 40-year-old Martin Cuenca.
Sheriff's Capt. Tracey Stuart said Cuenca is a transient who frequents Santa Rosa and Windsor.
Cuenca is suspected of burglarizing a home in the 3000 block of Myrtledale Road.
Three women in their 70s who were house sitting returned to the home around 8 p.m. after having dinner and found a man rooting through the home, sheriff's Sgt. Doug Pace said.
When confronted, the man told the women that he had a gun. Pace said that the suspect never displayed the weapon to the women, and instead concealed his hand in his sweatshirt pocket.
The suspect then held the women against their will and threatened to steal a car, Pace said.
One of the women escaped from the home, and the other two victims were able to safely barricade themselves inside a room. All three women contacted the sheriff's office, Pace said, with the initial call received at 8:15 p.m. The women were not physically injured, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies and a SWAT team created a perimeter around the home, but Pace said the suspect apparently slipped out of the home before they arrived.
Although a sheriff's K-9 picked up the suspect's scent, the dog lost the man's trail about one-quarter of a mile from the home.
Stuart said Cuenca allegedly stole a 1979 Ford F-250 truck from a neighboring vineyard that was later found abandoned on state Highway 128 near the Sonoma County line.
The truck's owner said it only had three gallons of gas, Stuart said.
Cuenca is between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 7 inches tall and 130 to 150 pounds with black hair and brown eyes, Stuart said.
Anyone with information about him is asked to contact detective Chris Carlisle at (707) 253-6060.
