Sheriff: Man escapes captors after 4 days' torture

POSTED: 7:22 AM Jul 05 2012   UPDATED: 8:51 AM Jul 05 2012
MISSION, Texas (AP) -

A man whom investigators say had been wrestled into a van at gunpoint escaped his captors after what he says was four days of beatings and torture.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino told The Monitor of McAllen that Alton mechanic Alejandro Gomez has no obvious links to organized crime.

Nevertheless, witnesses said he was bundled into van outside his home Friday. According to Trevino, Gomez was taken to a mobile home in Mission, where he was beaten and burned with a butter knife headed on an open flame. The men eventually left, allowing Gomez to escape Tuesday night.

Trevino said he "just can't seem to find the basis" for the abduction, "but we're going to find it."

  • Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.