Parental kidnapping is illegal under both Michigan and federal law. Lilliana Caballero and Luis Gutierrez went out for an evening on the town together and left their 3 month old son in the care of Luis’s brother, Roberto. During the course of the evening they got into a fight that resulted in felony charges and extradition – not a happy outcome for anyone involved.
As a result of their argument, Caballero and Gutierrez parted ways, with Gutierrez returning to their home in Honey Creek, Wisconsin alone. According to Roberto, Gutierrez took his infant son, the baby’s supplies and over $3,000 in cash. He told his brother he intended to go to New York to seek out cousins who lived there. He left driving his brother’s Ford pick-up truck.
Gutierrez tracked across several states and arrested
Gutierrez was tracked across several states, during which time he switched out his pick-up truck for a Ford Ranger in Mauston. His vehicle was photographed at an Illinois toll booth and noted again in Portage, Indiana before being stopped in Michigan. He was arrested by Michigan State Troopers in the village of Mattawan, near Kalamazoo, MI.
Gutierrez is facing felony charges of interfering with child custody. This is because, even although he is the child’s father, he does not have legal custody. He is being held at the Van Buren County Jail in Paw Paw, MI awaiting extradition back to Wisconsin.
An Amber Alert was not issued for the infant because one of the criteria for issuing the alert is concern that a child is likely to be in danger. Caballero told authorities when she reported the child missing, that she did not feel that he was in any danger of being harmed by his father. The child was found to be safe and unharmed, and will be returned to his mother in Wisconsin.