FERNLEY, NV – Three young boys reportedly endured a terrifying ordeal after being abducted by a man claiming to be affiliated with a cartel, authorities reported. The suspect, identified as 23-year-old Guillermo Aboytes Saavedra, now faces multiple charges including robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and child abuse.
The alarming sequence of events unfolded Tuesday evening when a concerned sister notified the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office that her brother was receiving ominous threats. This prompted deputies to respond quickly to a location on Johnson Lane in Fernley, roughly 30 miles from Reno.
As the deputies arrived at the scene, urgent calls flooded the dispatch center. The source: one of the victims pleading for help, stating that he and two other boys were kidnapped and trapped under a house. Using the boy’s cell phone signal, authorities honed in on Saavedra’s property, finding their way to the house just before 7 p.m., where they freed the boys from a crawl space.
Investigators reveal that the boys suffered significant injuries, allegedly inflicted by Saavedra using a wooden rake handle and a scythe.
According to police reports, the harrowing event began while the boys played at a park. Saavedra allegedly approached them with menacing words, asserting his cartel association and threatening violence if jailed.
Saavedra reportedly coerced the boys to walk with him, instructing them to maintain a façade of normalcy to avoid drawing attention. He then led them down an alley and over a fence into his backyard, where the situation became more dire.
Chillingly, Saavedra is accused of forcing one of the boys to record the brutal beatings he delivered. The boys were repeatedly extracted from the crawl space only to face further violence, police stated.
Once safely extracted from their confinement, the teens were transported to a nearby Nevada hospital for medical treatment. Saavedra was subsequently arrested and is currently detained at the Lyon County Jail, held on a bond approaching $1 million.
