Police Chief: 14-Year-Old Kidnap Victim Was Terrorized

MT. PLEASANT � A 14-year-old East Texas girl endured what police called a terrifying experience after being abducted Sunday. Mount Pleasant Police Chief Wayne Isbell said Tuesday that during de-briefing of Ruby Zavala after her Monday rescue, it became clear the teenager was terrorized by the suspect in her abduction, Jesus Resendez Ramirez, 23. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, Isbell said the girl was forced to plead for her life several times, convincing her captor not to harm her. She was held hostage with a knife to her throat as she and her mother and little sister were forced into her family�s pickup as they left church Sunday. Police say Ramirez later freed mother Maria Zavala and her 3-year-old daughter but kept Ruby Zavala as his captive.

Police have said Ramirez was obsessed with the girl, whom he had been forbidden to see. The two dated for awhile and broke up, police said, without the knowledge of Zavala�s parents. When they became aware of it, the parents made a report to the Titus County Sheriff�s Office. Ramirez was released from Terrell State Hospital, a psychiatric facility, about a week before the abduction. After his release, police said, the girl�s parents had been so concerned about her welfare that they asked Mount Pleasant ISD campus police to watch Ruby to make sure the seventh grader got on the school bus safely.

Isbell said Tuesday that Ramirez was being held without bond. Isbell said the girl exhibited remarkable strength enduring the abduction. Late Tuesday, her parents, Santiago and Maria Zavala, issued a statement thanking local law enforcement officers and the community for their support during the ordeal.