Woman speaks about helping mother, baby abducted in Miami-Dade County

Auyea Rodriguez says victim feared for her life

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. ā€“ Ear-piercing screams drew the attention of a South Florida woman who saw a 26-year-old mother and her baby in need of help on Wednesday.

"She said, 'I need help because somebody stole my car and I'm scared they're going to kill me,'" Auyea Rodriguez said.

Police said the victim was putting her 2-month-old son in her Lexus SUV at Arcadia Park in Opa-locka when she was forced into the vehicle at gunpoint by a man in his 20s.

"While she was attempting to grab everything to feed the baby is when he came from the rear, and the next thing you know, she had a gun pointed at her, saying for her to drive away," Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said.

Police said the man demanded sexual favors from the victim while she was driving, which she refused. He then began groping her after pointing a gun at her baby, police said.

Rodriguez said she called 911 after the man dropped the mother and baby off at Northwest 171st Street and Northwest 38th Avenue.

"She was so frantic that my daughter wanted to help her by holding the baby, but she was holding the baby so tight," Rodriguez said. "She was scared because the baby was crying so bad, too."

Police said the armed carjacker fled in the Lexus and abandoned it near Northwest 178th Street and 33rd Court.

"It's just absolutely terrible," a man who lives in the area said. "It's terrible that someone would go through that length to do what they do with a woman and a baby involved."

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.


About the Author:

Terrell Forney joined Local 10 News in October 2005 as a general assignment reporter. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but a desire to escape the harsh winters of the north brought him to South Florida.