Police Explore Possible Link in Kidnappings : Crime: Authorities report similarities in the weekend slaying of a San Fernando shop owner and the abduction and later rescue of a Pacoima man.
Police said Monday they are investigating a possible connection between two kidnappings that occurred over the weekend in the northeast San Fernando Valley, including one that ended with the victim’s slaying.
“We are exploring all possibilities at this point,†said San Fernando Police Lt. Dan Peavy, whose department was investigating with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies the slaying of Juan Adolfo Herrera, a father of four and a sometime actor who owned and operated a San Fernando boot store. “There are some similarities.â€
Peavy declined to elaborate, except to note that abductions are relatively uncommon.
“There’s the possibility that drugs are involved,†said Lt. Rick Papke of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division, which investigated the abduction of a Pacoima man. “There were also similar methods of kidnapping.â€
Authorities said they do not know of a motive for either abduction, the first occurring late Friday when three armed men kidnapped Juan Carlos Torres, 23, from his Pacoima home and led police in a chase that ended in a crash, the arrest of two men and the search for the third. Torres was treated and released from a local hospital Saturday.
In the second case, Herrera, 47, of Santa Clarita, was kidnapped Saturday from his shop, El Rodeo Boots, in the 1000 block of Maclay Avenue. He was last heard from about 11 a.m. that day when he called his wife.
Shortly after 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Los Angeles sheriff’s investigators found Herrera’s van, a 1988 purple Chevrolet with the words “Rodeo Boots†painted on the doors, at a shopping center at Rinaldi Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Mission Hills.
Family members identified the body as Herrera’s, said a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. An autopsy will be conducted either today or Wednesday, authorities said.
At the victim’s home on Monday, members of Herrera’s extended family tried to comfort his widow, Luz Herrera, and their four children.
“I’m very sad,†she said. “I have my family. I have my God. I asked him to help me, and he has helped me a lot.â€
Juan Herrera was also an actor, appearing in the 1996 Spanish-language action movie, “La Mafia de Durango.â€
A poster for the movie hung on the wall of the boot shop he opened 1 1/2 years ago, selling cowboy boots, belts, purses and clothes. Family photographs were displayed under the glass top of his desk.
Police said they have no description of Herrera’s kidnappers or of the third man who kidnapped Torres.
*
Times staff writer David Colker contributed to this report.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
