Eleia Maria Torres, abducted 10 month old New Mexico girl found safe, suspect arrested following shooting deaths of missing child’s mother, Samantha Cisneros and another woman, Taryn Allen at a Clovis park. 5 year old sister who was also wounded continues to recover as kidnapped girl was found out of state.
A 10-month-girl abducted from a New Mexico park on Friday, where her mother and another woman were discovered shot dead has been found and a suspect is in custody, the Clovis Police Department announced, Monday morning.
Eleia Maria Torres was taken to a local hospital as a precautionary measure, the Clovis Police Department said in a press release. The identity of the alleged kidnapper was not immediately released.
Police declined to state where the missing 10 month old baby girl was found — save that she was found out of state — and how they came to locate the infant along with the individual suspected of abducting the child.
Two women found dead along with strewn personal items and clue that 10 month old was missing
Eleia’s 5-year-old sister who was also found injured at the park continued to recover, police said.
An Amber Alert for the baby, Eleia Maria Torres, was issued on Friday, following officers receiving a call, 4.30pm, Friday afternoon about two women found dead at Ned Houk Park, a recreational park near Clovis. Clovis is located in eastern New Mexico close to the Texas border.
The women, both 23, were found with ‘apparent gunshot wounds’ on the ground near a minivan, police previously announced.
They were identified by investigators as Samantha ‘Harley’ Cisneros, the mother of the injured 5 year old and abducted 10 month old, and Taryn Allen. Both women hailed from Texico, New Mexico, according to investigators.
The 5-year-old was found ‘suffering from an gunshot wound to her head,’ police said, and was rushed to a hospital for treatment.
How did two women come to be shot dead?
Items including the deceased women’s purses were found near their bodies, along with a car belonging to one of the women was also found at the scene.
Cops said at a Sunday press conference that the two women made the 15-minute drive from their home in Texico to Clovis where they stopped for food before going to a Dollar Tree store. It’s unclear why they stopped at the park.
The fathers of both children have been working with the investigation team, and were not considered suspects, police stated.
During their investigations, officers discovered ‘an infant car seat, an infant stroller and a small baby bottle at the scene,’ and began searching for a young child, police said.
‘Through interviews with family members, investigators learned Samantha Cisneros was the mother to the young female child found at the scene and was also the mother to a 10-month-old child, Eleia Maria Torres,’ police said.
Not immediately clear is what led up to the two women being shot dead and how the 10 month old girl came to be kidnapped.
The FBI had joined the search for the missing child this weekend.
‘I promise that the FBI will be with Clovis until we find Eleia, and we find the individual or individuals responsible for these horrific acts,’ Raul Bujanda, special agent in charge of the FBI Albuquerque Division, said during the Sunday news conference.
Police ask that anyone with information about this incident please call the Clovis Police Department or 911.
