KYLE, Texas -- About two-and-a-half-hours after deputies responded to the scene of an alleged kidnapping, they say Webb County authorities pulled over 28-year-old suspect Romero Garcia just 22 miles from the Mexican border.
Family members called Hays County deputies to the Cresthill Causeway trailer around noon Tuesday after they say Garcia compelled his estranged wife and children to leave with him in his blue Ford Explorer.
Hays authorities have yet to interview Garcia and couldn't say for sure what motivated the kidnapping.
Lt. Jeri Skrocki said Garcia became a suspect in a separate sexual misconduct investigation the night before, and it may have prompted him to run away.
Skrocki could not provide more details about the sexual misconduct investigation, other than to say the alleged victim was a family member.
Authorities were able to activate an Amber Alert for the missing two and four-year-old because of the threats the father made against them.
A next door neighbor named Jeanette said authorities knocked on her door, after the family went missing, to ask her to help translate for the Spanish-speaking family. She said the suspect continued to call family as he fled, threatening the children's safety.
"He did threaten to kill one of the kids, one of his children, and take the other one to Mexico. You don't have a heart, you can't have a heart to say something like that. These are your children. They're your flesh and blood," said Jeanette.
Garcia is currently in the custody of Webb County deputies, near Laredo. Garcia is expected to be transported to Hays County to face kidnapping charges.
