Dispute sparked abduction report

A report by witnesses of a Tuesday afternoon incident at a Santa Fe apartment complex prompted a nine-hour investigation by about 100 city police and federal agents into a possible abduction before authorities finally determined late Tuesday that it was a simply domestic dispute between a Santa Fe man and a 19-year-old woman.

The FBI, city police and U.S. Marshals Service spent much of the afternoon and evening looking for a man who witnesses said appeared to grab a teenage girl and shove her into a car around 12:30 p.m. near the Tuscany at St. Francis apartments on Miguel Chavez Road.

Descriptions of the man, his car and a female who witnesses said looked like she was between 12 and 16 years old were distributed to news media. However, at a 10:30 p.m. news conference, Santa Fe police Chief Patrick Gallagher said that no crime had been committed and no further details would be released on the subjects of the aborted manhunt.

The investigation, which began after two witnesses walking a dog in the apartment complex called police to report what looked like an abduction, traumatized some residents of the midtown neighborhood, where officers searched car trunks as people returned to their homes Tuesday evening and some apartment dwellers were reluctant to open their doors to reporters.

Law enforcement officials said the man involved in incident saw the news and called police to tell them he recognized details of the incident and that it was simply a domestic dispute. Police then found the man, whose name and age were not released, and the 19-year-old woman, whose name was also withheld, at a mobile home park on Airport Road.