JULIANI CARDENAS - 4 yo - Patterson/Stanislaus CA

An Amber alert was issued at 4:12 p.m.(PST) for Juliani Cardenas, abducted from the Patterson/Stanislaus area.



Juliani is a Hispanic boy, 3' 6" tall, 40 pounds with black hair, and brown eyes, last seen wearing
dark pants, light blue shirt.

The suspect is Jose Esteban Rodriguez,
a 27 year-old Hispanic male, 5' 9" tall, weighing approximately 180
pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, last seen wearing a white and black
shirt, checkered shorts, and a beanie

Rodriguez was last seen driving a silver Toyota Corolla with California license plate 6HBW445,
and possibly en-route from Patterson to San Jose.

Another vehicle may be involved with oversize aluminum wheels.
The left rear wheel is a smaller spare wheel.

If anyone has information pertaining to this crime, please contact Sgt. Camarda at Stanislaus
County California Highway Patrol at (209) 380-6015.

Amber Alert Issued for Stanislaus County Boy
9:22 p.m. EST, January 18, 2011

PATTERSON —

An Amber Alert has been issued for a 4-year-old boy who police say has been kidnapped by his mother's ex-boyfriend. The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department says Juliani Cardenas was at his grandmother's house in the 300 block of Barros Street when he ran out to greet 27-year-old Jose Esteban Rodriguez, who snatched him and drove off.

They say Rodriguez had tried to take the little boy from school earlier in the day, but wasn't allowed on campus. Cardenas is described as Hispanic, 3 feet 6 inches tall, 40 pounds, wearing dark pants and a light blue shirt. Rodriguez's vehicle is a silver Toyota Corolla with California license plate 6HBW445. The vehicle has oversized aluminum wheels, left rear wheel is a spare. Rodriguez was last seen wearing a white-and-black shirt, checkered shorts and a beanie. He's Hispanic, 5 feet 9 inches tall, and weighs 180 pounds.

Police believe Rodriguez may be en-route from Patterson to San Jose, and he does have a history of domestic violence. If you see this vehicle, please contact the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department at (209) 380-6015.

The Patterson police department and the FBI are assisting. No weapons were involved in the kidnapping.

Statewide Amber Alert for boy, may be headed to San Jose or Central Valley


STANISLAUS COUNTY, CA - An Amber Alert issued for 4-year-old Juliani Cardenas, who was abducted from Patterson late Tuesday afternoon, has been expanded to a statewide search.
The boy was taken forcibly from his grandmother by the child's mother's ex-boyfriend Jose Esteban Rodriguez on the 300 block of Barros Street in

Patterson at 4:12 p.m., according to Chief Tori Hughes with the Stanislaus County Sheriff Department.
Rodriguez has an extensive criminal background, including a 1991 manslaughter conviction. Stanislaus sheriff's said Rodriguez may be heading from Patterson to the San Jose area or he may be heading to the Central Valley, where he also has family.

read more>>

http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=118341&catid=2

Interview with the grandmother and mother
http://www.news10.net/video/default.aspx?bctid=754827811001

Statewide Amber Alert Issued For Missing 4-Year-Old

UPDATED: 1:02 pm EST January 19, 2011


PATTERSON, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities say a 4-year-old boy whose abduction in Stanislaus County led to a statewide Amber Alert was snatched from his grandmother's arms.

Stanislaus County Sheriff's spokesman Royjindar Singh said Wednesday the suspect, 27-year-old Jose Esteban Rodriguez, pulled into the driveway of a Patterson home the previous afternoon and abducted Juliani Cardenas while he was with his grandmother in the garage. Singh says Rodriguez is the boy's mother's ex-boyfriend, but she had not seen him for the past six months. He says Rodriguez is not the boy's father. Authorities do not have a possible motive for the abduction.

Rodriguez was last seen driving a silver Toyota Corolla with license plate number 6HBW445. The vehicle had a "donut" spare tire on the front passenger side.

Kidnapping Suspect’s Car May Have Been Found In Canal

PATTERSON, Calif. (CBS13) — The search for the kidnapping suspect who snatched a 4-year-old boy from his grandmother’s arms Tuesday is focusing on a Patterson canal, according to authorities.

Fresh tire tracks and witness reports indicate that a vehicle matching the description of 27-year-old Jose Esteban Rodriguez’s car may have driven into the Delta-Mendota Canal just off Zacharias Road near Highway 33 in Patterson, according to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department.

The canal is a short distance from the home where 4-year-old Juliani Cardenas was kidnapped at 4:12 p.m. Tuesday.

A farm worker reportedly saw the car plunge into the canal just after 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, but was too afraid to immediately report it.

Dive teams are working to determine whether the vehicle is the silver Toyota Corolla that Rodriguez used to flee the scene. It is not known if anyone is inside the vehicle.
read more>
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/01/19/amber-alert-boy-4-abducted-in-stanislaus-county/

Report: Kidnapping Suspect’s Car Drove Into Canal

snipped....

Authorities found a car in the water just after 5:00 p.m., but the vehicle was a stolen Honda from Modesto and is not connected with the kidnapping, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The search will continue downstream for several hours.

read more>

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/01/19/amber-alert-boy-4-abducted-in-stanislaus-county/

A Sheriff's deputy said that a car pulled from a
Stanislaus County canal Wednesday afternoon was not connected to an
Amber Alert case. That news put the search for four year old Juliani
Cardenas of Patterson back on the front burner for all law enforcement agencies in California.
Officials searched the canal after a man said he saw it go in the
water in the hours after Cardenas was kidnapped just a few miles away.
Authorities have been looking for little Juliani since Tuesday
afternoon. His mother's ex-boyfriend took the child from his
grandmother's arms and drove off in a silver Corolla.
The car pulled from the waters Wednesday was black.

Authorities: Another Car Found In Canal Near Patterson
PATTERSON, Calif. -- Another car has been found in the Delta-Mendota Canal near Patterson, but it is not clear if it is the vehicle being sought in connection with the abduction of a 4-year-old boy.

read more>
http://www.kcra.com/news/26555954/detail.html

2nd Car Found In Canal; Vehicle Not Connected To Kidnapping
PATTERSON, Calif. -- A second car was found in the Delta-Mendota Canal near Patterson, but it is not the vehicle being sought in connection with the abduction of a 4-year-old boy, authorities said

http://www.kcra.com/news/26555954/detail.html

Abducted child may have been spotted in Delano

A 4-year-old boy who was abducted in Stanislaus County may have been spotted in Delano.
Delano police detectives are reviewing surveillance video from a store that may have captured footage ofJuliani Cardenas, Cmdr. Raul Alvizo said. He said a news release will be sent out once identities have confirmed whether or not the boy was Juliani.

read more>
http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/BreakingNewsTeam/64420

Investigators from neighboring Merced
County will be in Patterson Friday morning, with sonar technology, to
search the north and south section of the Delta-Mendota canal, that was
too treacherous for divers to search.

"If the vehicle that we're looking for might be possibly stuck in the
side of the pipeline or underground in the pipeline going underground,"
Stanislaus County Deputy Raj Singh said.

Juliani's grandma, Amparo Cardenas, is dreading that search.

"I don't want it to be his car because I'm thinking of something else.
That's my baby (who) can be in there and I refuse to think that," she
said with tears.

Former Patterson Mayor Becky Campo says the canal is cleared out every 10 years.

"There's all kinds of junk down there and they just pile up. And so, you
never know. we want to make sure we cover every avenue," Campo said.

Thursday night, the FBI
was enhancing photos of tire tracks left in the gravel by the canal, to
compare them to surveillance of the suspect's car, taken from a gas
station hours before the abduction.

"We won't have an answer on those tire tracks that we had from the
gravel, (whether they) are going to match or not match until sometime
tomorrow," Singh said.

Until then, the family is praying that Juliani comes home to them safely.

"I tell him that I love him and he knows that mama and me, we're waiting for him," Cardenas added.

Some piece of evidence or some report is causing them to spend a great deal of time searching for a submerged vehicle.
This is not looking good...

Search for missing 4-year-old boy enters day four

snipped....
Around 10 a.m., officials lowered the $200,000 piece of equipment into the north side of the canal in preparation to begin the search. The sonar equipment will be used to comb the site around and inside three tubes that lead into a siphon system that extends between the north and south basin of the canal, deep underneath the Del Puerto Creek, Singh said.

If the sonar equipment detects something, Singh said it would produce a readout comparable to the image of a sonogram.

Divers were unable to come within 100 feet of the siphon in their search yesterday because of force of water currents. Today, one of the canal’s five pumps has been shut off to allow water levels to lower up to 20 percent and slow significantly, Singh said.

Singh said Sheriff’s officials believe there is a possibility a vehicle could be lodged in one the large tubes, normally used to filter the canal water, or the siphon itself.

Sheriff’s officials have been scouring the canal since receiving a report from a witness Wednesday morning that claimed to have seen a vehicle drive into the canal that looked similar to the car belonging to Rodriguez.

Read more: Patterson Irrigator - Search for missing 4 year old boy enters day four

Crews will use sonar to search the Delta Mendota Canal for Juliani Cardenas



PATTERSON, CA -- The Sheriff's Department says the dive crew has found a third car in the Delta-Mendota Canal in their search for 4-year-old Juliani Cardenas.
The search for Juliani Cardenas resumed Friday morning. A dive crew from Merced used sonar to search for the silver Toyota Corolla he was driven away in.
Around 11:30 a.m., they announced the sonar had located a vehicle in the water near the tubes that take the water underground. The sheriff's office is currently contacting the Bureau of Reclamation to see if they can lower the water level.
At the moment, they have one pump out of the five shut off. They may shut the others down as well. They estimate it will take four hours to lower the water level enough to get to the car. The dive team is still developing a plan on how to get the vehicle out as it's caught between two of the tubes and up against the wall.

read more>
http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=118829&catid=2

I sure hope they find this boy ALIVE somewhere, but it's not looking good. My heart just breaks for the Grandmother, she is so distraught

Divers Find Another Car in Water, Decide to Lower Canal Level


Irrigation System Will be Impacted

PATTERSON —
Crews using sonar technology have found another car in the Delta/Mendota canal and have decided to drain the water.

Divers have been at the canal since Wednesday afternoon looking for a car matching the description in an Amber Alert. 4-year-old Juliani Cardenas was taken from his grandmother's arms Tuesday night by 27-year-old Jose Esteban Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was seen driving a silver Toyota Corolla on surveillance video from a gas station before the abduction.

A farm worker saw a car matching the description drive into the canal late Tuesday, and told cops Wednesday morning. Dive teams have already pulled two cars from the canal, neither one was related to the Amber Alert.

Officers brought out sonar equipment Friday morning and located a car in the water right before a tube that leads further underground.

The Bureau of Reclamation has decided to lower the water level by shutting a pump down to help in the removal of this car. Initially, officers say they didn't have enough information to justify shutting the water down.

It is estimated to take four hours to lower the water level, just before 4 p.m. Friday. By shutting down the one pump, it will reduce the water flow in the canal by 60%, which could impact farmers down stream who use the canal for irrigation.

Meanwhile, divers are getting a plan together to get the car out.

No one has said what kind of car this is, and it's possible they will not know anything more about it until the water level is dropped.



http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-divers-find-another-car-in-wat-01212011,0,1877521.story

Live stream of the canal search

http://www.news10.net/news/liveonline/default-on.aspx?menuid=181

http://www.fox40.com/news/livechannel/

They really need to have CTV cameras up round that canal - just sayin!

The red car pulled out of the Delta Mendota Canal was not the car Juliani Cardenas was taken in

PATTERSON, CA - Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said the car pulled up a from the Delta Mendota Canal Friday afternoon was not the car Amber Alert suspect was driving when 4-year-old Juliani Cardenas.
The search for Juliani Cardenas resumed Friday morning. A dive crew from Merced was brought in to use sonar to search for the silver Toyota Corolla Juliani was driven away in.
Divers went back into the canal around 2 p.m. after the water flow was stopped for about 30 minutes. Divers hooked the red car they found and pulled in out of the water.
Christianson is confident there are no cars left on the north side of the siphon. Divers will relocate back to the south side.
read more>
http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=118829&catid=2&GID=gT9lThtN5d2a23Qp6zY/pBhDsiwEx6uDPVaw1o7WPbA%3D

Authorities say a third vehicle found in a Stanislaus County canal
is not the car linked to a 4-year-old boy's kidnapping. Sheriff
Adam Christianson says the red car searchers found Friday morning in
the Delta-Mendota canal near Patterson is apparently another stolen
vehicle unrelated to the kidnapping. A statewide Amber Alert
was issued Tuesday after authorities say the ex-boyfriend of Juliani
Cardenas's mother snatched him from his grandmother's arms.
A witness reported seeing a vehicle that looked like the alleged kidnapper's
silver Toyota Corolla go into the canal. Christianson
says the evidence so far points to canal remaining the best credible
lead as hundreds of others have not panned out.
Crews will continue searching the canal while authorities will discuss whether to discontinue the Amber Alert.

4th Car Found Turns Up Nothing Of Missing Boy


Juliani Cardenas Subject Of Amber Alert

PATTERSON, Calif. -- A fourth vehicle found in the Delta Mendota Canal near Patterson, where investigators are searching for a missing 4-year-old and his alleged kidnapper, is not the vehicle divers had been searching for, according to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department.

The vehicle was discovered after a red Ford Mustang was pulled out of the canal on Friday morning. The fourth vehicle was found less than a mile south from where the earlier search took place, police said. It was pulled from the water at about 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Authorities said the Mustang, the third vehicle found in the canal, was not the car linked to a 4-year-old boy's kidnapping. Sheriff Adam Christianson said the car searchers found Friday morning in the Delta-Mendota canal near Patterson is apparently another stolen vehicle unrelated to the kidnapping.

A statewide Amber Alert was issued Tuesday after authorities said the ex-boyfriend of Juliani Cardenas's mother snatched him from his grandmother's arms. A witness reported seeing a vehicle that looked like the alleged kidnapper's silver Toyota Corolla go into the canal.

Christianson said the evidence so far points to canal remaining the best credible lead as hundreds of others have not panned out.

Crews will continue searching the canal while authorities will discuss whether to discontinue the Amber Alert.

Search for missing boy shows Delta Mendota Canal to be underwater junk yard


PATTERSON, CA - After three days of scouring the bottom of the Delta Mendota Canal, search teams have pulled up four cars while trying to find the one that might have been used to abduct four year-old Juliani Cardenas. The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said there are likely several more vehicles waiting to be found underwater.
"It's a popular area for criminals to dump stolen cars," said Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department spokesman Raj Singh.
"If we keep finding cars, we're going to try to go in, identify them, remove them out of the water, and rule out the fact that it possibly could be our suspect's car."
They are looking for a silver Toyota Carolla, but in the process have found four other vehicles. The latest -- a 1990 Honda, reported stolen -- was discovered Friday evening about one mile south of the original search location.
Local farmers who irrigate from the Delta Mendota Canal have long known that cars regularly wind up at the bottom of the 117 mile-long waterway.
"From what I understand, on average, there can be 250 cars every year going into that canal," said Jim Jasper, an almond grower who's family has farmed in the area for 50 years.
When the water was lowered 12 years ago, more than 100 cars were pulled out by a towing company in Tracy. Most of the vehicles had been stolen.
Jasper said that while the cars in the canal are a sad sight when they come out, they don't do much damage to farmers' water supply. With millions of gallons of water flowing south every day, the gas and oil inside cars is diluted before it hits the farm lands.
http://origin.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=119004&catid=2