10 February 2024 , 09:26
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A kidnapped man was found alive with his eyes taped shut in a remote Mexican jungle after he was abducted by a group of "unknown people", according to authorities.
Joseph Constantine Buonincontri, from New York, was discovered in a straw hut after he had been kidnapped three days earlier from his house in Limones, a small town nearly 200 miles southwest of Cancun.
The 35-year-old told police he had been abducted by "unknown people" after the captors had sought a $200,000 (£150,000) ransom for the New Yorker.
However, his kidnappers reportedly fled by the time he was rescued by a huge search operation which included members of the Mexican National Guard, the Mexican Army, and the Quintana Roo police.
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Abductors fled the scene after cops arrived (Mexican Army)According to the attorney general, his captors reportedly left behind traces of marijuana, a tactical vest, and AR-15 rifle magazines.
News of the new shocking kidnapping comes just days after a man tried to abduct a child in broad daylight as the little boy’s family were leaving a pharmacy.
Footage from inside a Miami Beach pharmacy on Thursday allegedly shows Nicolas Sternman, the suspected kidnapper snatching up a 4-year-old boy as his family left the CVS on Collins Ave at around 11.55am.
A huge manhunt was underway for the missing 35-year-old (Mexican Army)Sternman walked into the store just as the 4-year-old boy and his parents were exiting the building. As the boy’s mother walked out the door Sternaman, 26, hunched over and allegedly grabbed the child by the neck and lifted the boy into the air while attempting to flee the store, according to WPLG.
The surveillance video shows the boy’s father leaping into action and grabbing hold of Sternaman while the boy’s mother pulls her son from the kidnapper’s clutches. As the furious dad wrestles with Sternaman the boy is knocked to the ground, and Sternaman’s jacket gets ripped off in the brawl.
The New Yorker was eventually rescued (Fiscalía General del Estado)The dad then slams Sternaman into the store’s glass door as the mother rushes to pick up the little boy off the ground. As a horrified crowd forms around the tussle, the boy’s dad can be seen to draw his fist back as if to punch Sternaman before the two seemingly exchange words, after which Sternaman walks out of the door.
“Everyone was just shocked because it was so quick and it was so fast. The guy just came out of nowhere,” witness Zachary Jefferson told CBS Miami.
As Sternaman ran from the store he was chased by a witness and the boy’s father. A witness and the father were following him southbound on Collins Avenue when he took off his sweater and threw it, according to police. Police officers joined the chase and Sternaman was arrested three blocks from the store, Local10 reported.
A police report, quoted by CBS Miami, described how the little boy was left visibly shaking and clutching to his mother in fear. Sternaman was charged with kidnapping a child under 13, aggravated assault, and battery, jail records show.