KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com | Odessa Man Possibly Kidnapped in Mexico

by Jen Kastner
NewsWest 9 

ODESSA- NewsWest 9 has uncovered a possible kidnapping of an Odessa man who went to Mexico for the weekend.  He and two of his family members have gone missing. Now, the FBI is stepping in.

Cathy Garcia of Odessa pleaded, "We just want them back."

She says her brother, 22-year-old Barnaby Gabaldon, a U.S. citizen, was kidnapped. Gabaldon went to Permian High School and recently graduated from Odessa College. He and his girlfriend drove to Ojinaga, Mexico on Friday to visit family members who live there.

Garcia says at around lunchtime on Saturday, Barnaby Gabaldon, her father, Alfredo Gabaldon and her brother-in-law, Gamaliel "David" Garcia, disappeared.

"My brother's girlfriend tried contacting them on their cell phones and it would ring at first but after maybe the fourth attempt their phones started going to voicemail," Cathy Garcia said.

Almost six hours later, a family friend told them what she witnessed on the street next to Millennium nightclub.

"Two police trucks corralled them [and] pulled them over. They put my dad in one of the police trucks and my brother-in-law in another police truck. They left my brother in the truck that they were in and one of the policemen jumped in and drove away and sped off is what the witness said," Garcia said.

The family says when they went to the police station nearby, officers denied any such allegations and told them they couldn't help.

Garcia tried getting authorities in Odessa involved but it's simply out of their jurisdiction.

Sgt. Gary Duesler with the Sheriff's Department told NewsWest 9, "We're not getting involved because they're not missing in the United States. They're not missing in Odessa. They're missing in Mexico."

NewsWest 9 helped the family get in touch with the State Department to file an emergency report at the nearest U.S. consulate in Juárez, Mexico. Later Sunday night, the family was told this was now considered a kidnapping and the FBI would be stepping in.

Family members in Odessa are in complete shock. One agreed to talk to NewsWest 9, but he wanted to have his identity disguised.

"You see it all the time on the news or shows or whatever. [You see] people being abducted or disappearing and stuff and you never think it will happen to you or someone close to your family and that's what we're struggling with," the man said.

If you have any information on their whereabouts, please contact any law enforcement agency right away.