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 News from Around Banderas Bay | July 2005 
Mother Reunited with Her Kidnapped Children
 Lorena Moguel - Associated Press
| | Isabel Acosta embraces her 18-month-old son, Bryan Cervantes, as he and his 3-year-old sister, Jennifer, were reunited with their mother Tuesday in Mexico. |
Puerto Vallarta – A tearful mother reunited with her two previously kidnapped children said Tuesday she had been convinced she would never see the youngsters again.
Carrying a suitcase of clothes, munchies and gifts for 18-month old Bryan Cervantes and his 3-year-old sister Jennifer, Oneida Isabel Acosta laughed and cried as she rushed to hug and kiss the pair on a street outside federal prosecutors' office in this resort city.
"I didn't think I'd seen them again, but now they're with me," Acosta said. "I am so proud of my country. What the authorities of the United States couldn't do, they succeeded in doing here. This is my Mexico!"
Police say Acosta's husband and the children's father, Rodrigo Cervantes Zavala, killed her parents and brother in Arizona, before abducting the youngsters. He was captured Monday near a truck stop here.
Authorities from the attorney general's office for Jalisco State, which includes Puerto Vallarta, questioned Cervantes Zavala, and a spokesman in Guadalajara, the state capital, said the suspect had confessed to killing Acosta's parents and brother because they had "treated him badly."
Lino Gonzalez, a spokesman for state prosecutors, said Cervantes Zavala told investigators that an "incident" occurred inside the home of Acosta's parents on the night of the triple killing, which forced him to pull out a pistol and open fire.
Speaking after being reunited with her children, Acosta said that there was no doubt Cervantes Zavala was guilty, saying "what he did to my parents and the kidnapping of my children that's unforgivable by God."
Arriving with U.S. and Mexican officials, Acosta later ducked into a private room to clean and dress the children. She said she was planning to fly back to the United States with the youngsters later Tuesday.
The attorney general's office for Jalisco said Cervantes Zavala first arrived in Puerto Vallarta on Friday. Authorities have not said what information led to the arrest.
U.S. investigators had been searching for Cervantes Zavala since July 10, when the children were reported missing a few hours after the bodies of their mother's parents and brother were found in a home near Queen Creek, southeast of the Arizona capital of Phoenix.
Acosta has said that she left her husband a few months ago and had been living with her parents.
U.S. authorities have said Cervantes Zavala, 34, will be extradited to Arizona to stand trial on murder and kidnapping charges.
Autopsies showed the grandparents – Saul Lopez Acosta, 63, and Trinidad Castro Acosta, 51 – were each killed by a gunshot to the head, according to the Maricopa County medical examiner's office. The 17-year-old uncle, Jesus Manuel Acosta, was shot in the abdomen. |
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