Asian-on-Asian Kidnapping

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, March, 2001 by Michael Berkow, Bucky Cox

Understanding Cultural Influences

South Pasadena, California, is a small community located between the cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena. Despite its location, most residents choose to live there for the small town atmosphere, an outstanding school district, and a low crime rate. In fact, violent crime rarely occurs there.

However, on December 22, 1998, a man knocked on the door of a wealthy Asian's residence located in a hilly, suburban area of South Pasadena. He held a wrapped Christmas present in his hand and asked for the resident by name. When the occupants opened the door, two other men, wearing Halloween masks and toting guns, forced their way into the house.

Within minutes, the gunmen bound and gaged the occupants--the parents of the owners, two cousins, and a housekeeper--and locked them in a back bedroom and then forcibly took the homeowners' 9-year-old daughter from the home. Before leaving, one of the gunmen instructed the family not to call the police if they ever wanted to see the girl again.

One of the occupants ultimately freed herself and then called the victim's mother at her place of employment, who in turn called 911 to report the crime. However, before the police arrived, the father of the victim came home. When South Pasadena officers reached the scene, the father attempted purposefully to tell the police that nothing was wrong and that the call had arisen from a domestic dispute. The officers prudently insisted on searching the house and found the other occupants still bound in the back bedroom. After sorting out the information, the officers began a kidnapping investigation.

If the officers had not insisted on conducting a thorough initial investigation and had accepted the vague explanations of the father at the front door, this kidnapping may have gone unreported. Luckily, the officers pursued the issue, and less than 48 hours later, the police resolved this case successfully. In spite of the father's initial denial of a problem and subsequent lack of cooperation, the police safely recovered the 9-year-old girl, apprehended the suspects, and secured the ransom.

Why might parents jeopardize their child's safety? In this case, the victims and the suspects were of Asian descent and significant anecdotal evidence suggests that most of these types of crimes go unreported. This, and other seemingly abnormal behavior, can cause officers many problems when they investigate Asian-on-Asian kidnappings.

Initial Response

The first officers on the scene faced what appeared as a fairly standard crime scene, albeit the victim's father spoke limited English. Fortunately, these initial officers and supervisors did not follow their first instincts--to string crime scene tape, call for evidence technicians, and begin processing the house for related evidence--but, instead, immediately initiated convert tactics. They removed all police vehicles from the area, parked the evidence technician vehicle inside of the victim's closed garage, shifted police communication from radios to cell phones, and immediately notified the local office of the FBI.

The police set up the command post at the South Pasadena police station because of the immediate availability of equipment (e.g., multiple telephone lines, a copier, and white boards) and physical location of the building. Less than 2 hours after the mother reported the crime, and long before additional law enforcement personnel arrived on the scene, the kidnappers placed the first call to the victim's family. Although police had arranged to monitor and record calls to the residence, they did not expect the kidnappers to call the victim's father's cellular telephone. Luckily, officers recorded the conversation by using a portable tape recorder, although most of the recording only captured the father's side of the call.

The police initially contained the individuals who had the first contact with the suspects--the grandparents, cousins, and housekeeper--and removed them from the crime scene to the police station. The police debriefed them and obtained a composite sketch of the one unmasked suspect. Simultaneously, joint teams of local detectives and FBI agents were placed in the house with the victim's parents to monitor and manage the calls from the kidnappers.

Investigation

This case progressed quickly as the suspects frequently contacted the family. Immediately, officers divided their investigative strategies into a fourpronged approach. First, they processed evidence from the crime scene. This meant standard crime scene considerations (e.g., fingerprints, photographs, and sketches), including composite drawings prepared through witness/victim interviews. While this material initially would unlikely cause an immediate arrest, it would prove critical in the ultimate prosecution of the case. The second approach more closely resembled a common reactive investigation, whereby officers considered leads provided by the victim's parents. Who did they believe could do this? Why would the kidnappers target their family? Who would know about their access to funds? Third, the officers proactively attempted to identify and locate the kidnappers through technology and surveillance. This proved the most active and fast-moving portion of the investigation and demanded a major effort to get ahead of the suspects as opposed to merely reacting to their demands. Last, the officers investigated the parents and their potential role or link to the crime.