Federal authorities say they’ve identified the two men they believe grabbed a 14-year-old girl from her Ellenwood home last week, as more details emerged Thursday about the kidnapping that drew attention from around the country.
Among the new information was that Ayvani Perez remained blindfolded through much of the 33-hour ordeal, she was kept at two locations and as many as six people, including possibly two women were involved in the kidnapping, authorities said.
Nine ransom demands were made to Ayvani’s family from phones linked to one man federal authorities arrested in connection with the abduction. Federal agents recorded five of those calls.
Wildrego Jackson is being held by federal officials on charges that he conspired to kidnap Ayvani. U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell G. Vineyard on Thursday denied Jackson bond.
FBI Special Agent Joseph Fonseca testified Thursday that he matched the voice he heard in recorded ransom calls with the voice he heard when he interviewed Jackson.
“I believe I recognize Mr. Jackson’s voice on the first two calls I recorded,” Fonseca said. The second man in custody, the live-in boyfriend of Ayvani’s mother, Juan Alberto Contreras-Rodriguez is being held on immigration violations, federal officials said.
Authorities believe the men breaking into the Ellenwood home were looking for him, but he was not at home.
Investigators now believe they know the men who broke into the home.
“We believe we have ID’d both men from the sketches,” Fonseca said from the witness stand, frequently referring to one of the men by the initials “C.J.”
Neither of the two suspects was named, however.
Two men broke into the home where Ayvani lived with her mother, younger brother and her mother’s boyfriend around 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 17, demanding cash and jewelry.
When the mother and her children didn’t comply the two men dressed in black shot the family’s dog, and took Ayvani, authorities said.
Hours after she was taken, federal authorities believe Jackson called Ayvani’s family demanding a $10,000 ransom.
“They received calls at approximately 8:50 (a.m.), and at approximately 8:58 a.m.,” Fonseca said. “I believe another call was made and recorded around 11 (a.m.).”
Fonseca said investigators tracked Jackson’s cell phone calls, to a second phone that he once owned and found one of those phones in Jackson’s possession when he was arrested on Sept. 18, within an hour of when authorities recovered Ayvani at her relative’s Conyers home.
It’s unclear whether the ransom was paid.
Ayvani, Fonseca said, wasn’t able to see where she was taken for much of the time she was in the kidnappers’ custody, and she likely was held at multiple locations.
“She was blindfolded during the drive from her house until she got to an apartment, or to a subsequent house,” he said. “At some point, she was able to see, but it wasn’t enough that she was able to ID anyone.”
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