YOUNGSTOWN Kidnapping victims take stand in trial
The woman didn't know the man who shot and kidnapped her.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- As Maria Rosario Romano lay bleeding and sick in a closet, she begged her kidnapper to spare her children and let them go, she told jurors Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
"I could hear him laughing," she said, sobbing.
Romano testified during the trial of Jose Placeres, 29, of Glenwood Avenue, Youngstown, and Joseph Gonzalez, 21, of Ninth Street, Campbell. They are charged with conspiracy to kidnapping, conspiracy to attempted aggravated murder and four counts of kidnapping.
What happened: Romano, 25, who walks with the aid of a walker as a result of her shooting, said she was abducted at gunpoint while getting into her van, which was parked on 13th Street in Campbell, in May. Her three children, ages 7, 4 and 2, were already in the van.
Romano said she did not know the man who accosted and shot her. She said the bullet entered her left side, passed through her abdomen and exited her right side.
The assailant got into the van and drove to a nearby parking lot where a second man got in and put duct tape over Romano's eyes and mouth. She couldn't identify that man either, she said.
The family was taken to an apartment building on Glenwood and locked in a closet for six hours while the kidnappers telephoned ransom demands to Romano's husband. The men made Romano's 7-year-old son take off his clothes to clean up his mother's blood and vomit, she said.
"I heard one of them say something about finishing me off," she told jurors, saying that's when she begged for her children to be set free.
Instead, the family was driven to a gas station on Wilson Avenue and put out. The 7-year-old found a pay phone and called 911.
Knows suspect: In his opening statement last week, Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Pochiro said Gonzalez is believed to be the man who put the tape over Romano's eyes and mouth.
Romano said she knows Gonzalez because they grew up together, but did not see whether it was him who taped her face and carried her to the apartment.
Her 7-year-old son, Victor Estrada, also testified Monday. He said he saw the men who shot and taped his mother, but did not know them. He said he knows Gonzalez and pointed him out in the courtroom, but did not say he was in on the kidnapping.
"I didn't see his face," the boy said.
Pochiro said Placeres helped plan the kidnapping with another man, though it's unclear whether Placeres actually participated. The original assailant's identity is not known.
bjackson@vindy.com