Man accused of kidnapping infant and demanding $6,000 ransom in Cache County

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Renan A. Alvarez, 50, was arrested in Logan for alleged kidnapping and assault.
• Police say Alvarez demanded $6,000 ransom for the infant he allegedly kidnapped.
• Alvarez faces charges including aggravated kidnapping assault and driving without a license.

LOGAN — A man was arrested on Wednesday in Logan after police said he assaulted a woman and kidnapped her child, requesting a ransom for the infant three weeks later.

Renan A. Alvarez, 50, was working from home on July 8 when he became "frustrated with work," a police booking affidavit states. A woman was also at home with Alvarez and attempted to calm him down. The relationship between Alvarez and the woman was not disclosed in court documents.

The woman said Alvarez threw his phone at her in an attempt to hit her before approaching and strangling her, according to the affidavit. It also states the woman then told a child in the room witnessing the assault to call 911.

Alvarez stopped strangling her, the affidavit states, and afterward the woman checked on an infant in the room while dialing 911 on her own cellphone. Alvarez saw her calling 911 and "broke the phone and ended the call simultaneously" with the dispatcher, police said.

Alvarez then attempted to strangle the woman again, but she was able to halt his attack, according to the affidavit. She said Alvarez then left the room and returned to pick up the infant and take him into the garage.

The woman heard Alvarez say, "If you don't want me to hurt him, open the door," the affidavit states. As she opened the garage door, the woman said Alvarez broke through it in his vehicle with the baby "in his arms as he drove away," according to the affidavit.

The woman showed police a bag that she thought had Alvarez's driver's license in it. However, the bag, which was believed to belong to Alvarez, only contained drug paraphernalia, according to the affidavit.

The woman went to the hospital for treatment of her injuries.

On Wednesday, three weeks following the incident, the woman contacted police with information about Alvarez's whereabouts. Alvarez had broken his work phone, and the woman said Alvarez was "calling and texting her sister from his personal cellphone" to drop off the infant in exchange for $6,000 in cash, the affidavit states.

Police sought a search warrant for Alvarez's cellphone GPS location, but officers were able to locate Alvarez's vehicle before the phone company responded.

Alvarez told the woman he intended to leave the state and would not give her the infant unless she brought the money, according to the affidavit. Alvarez directed the woman to a location in Logan, where he and the woman exchanged the money, Alvarez's belongings and the infant. Following the exchange, Logan police apprehended Alvarez.

Alvarez told police he had not strangled the woman and said he had never threatened to hurt the infant. Additionally, Alvarez admitted to using marijuana and said he did not have the infant in a car seat when he took the baby from the residence, according to the affidavit.

Alvarez does not have a valid license, having only been issued a Utah ID card, police said.

Alvarez was booked on Wednesday into the Cache County Jail for investigation of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, domestic violence in the presence of a child, property damage, driving without a license, driving a child without a child restraint device and drug possession.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Joe Wirthlin

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