Man accused of kidnapping and assaulting boy arrested in Miami
MIAMI (AP) — A man arrested by police early Tuesday is accused of abducting, sexually assaulting and shooting a 12-year-old boy who had snuck out of his home to walk to a friend’s house in South Florida.
A passerby saw the boy wandering along a Miami street before 3 a.m. Saturday and alerted authorities. The boy later told police he had heard a loud bang and was pushed out of a car. He had been shot in the jaw and was temporarily blinded.
“He had lost his sight and he was using his touch trying to find his way around to seek help,” Miami-Dade detective Alvaro Zabaleta told news outlets.
Police said they arrested Aliex Santiesteban, 43, early Tuesday. He’s charged with sexual battery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping a child under 13 and attempted murder. Major Brian Rafky of the Miami-Dade police’s Special Victims Bureau said detectives were able to track down the suspect through “good old-fashioned police work and DNA evidence.”
The boy is recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital, police said.
The good Samaritan, whom television stations did not identify by his full name, was recorded on surveillance video escorting the crying boy into a food mart to get help.
“He was screaming, ‘Help, someone, help me, please.’ So I (brought) him to the store where they could call the police,” the man told television stations.
Santiesteban denied the accusations, police said. It was not clear whether he has an attorney.