Arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the alleged kidnapping of a 21-year-old Austin woman.

Thursday, January 06, 2000

Arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the alleged kidnapping of a 21-year-old Austin woman.

Paul Mendrano, 21, and Magnolia Fernandez, 21, both of Dodge City, KS, are being sought by authorities in connection with the incident early this week in Austin.

While the victim maintains she was kidnapped, the arrest warrants charge the pair with false imprisonment and making terroristic threats in connection with the incident. Bail has been set at $20,000 each.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the female told investigators, she was reporting to work at Quality Pork Processors, Inc. in Austin at 4:18 p.m. Monday, when she was forced into a vehicle with Nebraska license plate number HNE095.

Although first believed to have been a van, authorities now say the vehicle was a four-door automobile; possible dark maroon in color.

At 8:19 p.m. Monday, police were called to the Austin Medical Center emergency room, where the same woman told them of the kidnapping in the presence of her current boyfriend.

No sexual assault occurred, and the woman identified the man as a former boyfriend, Mendrano, with whom she lived in Dodge City, KS before moving to Austin.

Austin Police Department investigators have now learned from an eyewitness to the incident Monday, that the victim did not willingly enter the car with Mendrano and his brother-in-law, Fernandez. The eyewitness has told police the woman attempted to fight-off her attacker and at one point ran away only to trip or be tackled by the man, who "picked her up in a bear hug and threw her in the back seat of the car."

The car then drove from the QPP parking lot in a hurry, according to the eyewitness.