Teen saved at Canadian border when accused kidnapper didn’t have COVID test, feds say
At the Canadian border, a 16-year-old girl was saved from her accused kidnapper when he failed to provide a COVID-19 test, U.S. federal officials said.
Prior to her rescue, she was reported missing from Connecticut.
The 19-year-old suspected kidnapper was denied entry into Canada “due to the lack of a COVID-19 test and behavioral abnormalities” after trying to cross over through the Highgate Springs Port of Entry in Vermont on Dec. 2, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a Dec. 7 news release.
Officers said they soon discovered the teen girl had been reported missing.
They were both separated, the release said, and the girl told officers she was “kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and threatened with a knife by the driver.”
During a pat-down search, CBP said the suspect was found to have a knife and then was arrested and turned over to the Justice Department, which identified him as Christopher Jesus Constanzo in a Dec. 7 news release.
On Dec. 1, the night before the suspected kidnapping was thwarted, the victim said she met Constanzo at Stillwater Pond State Park in Torrington, Connecticut, according to the Justice Department.
Then, Constanzo is accused of sexually assaulting her and forcing her into the trunk of her own car, restraining her with a shoelace before continuing to drive.
“At some point during the night, Constanzo removed the minor victim from the trunk and sexually assaulted her again,” the release said.
Vermont state police announced a kidnapping was interrupted on Dec. 2 along the U.S.-Canada border in a Dec. 3 news release, identifying Constanzo as the suspect and accusing him of sexual assault.
Police said that on the morning the kidnapping was interrupted, Constanzo stopped at a convenience store to take the girl out of the car’s trunk, placing her in the back seat, before continuing to Canada.
Surveillance footage captured a man believed to be Constanzo at the convenience store, police said.
“As they neared the Canadian border, Constanzo has the minor victim sit in the front passenger seat of the car,” the Justice Department said. “Constanzo instructed her to ‘act normal’ and ‘go along with the story.’”
When speaking with Canada Border Services Agency officials, Constanzo said the girl was his sister and they were planning on visiting friends in Canada for four days, federal officials said.
After Constanzo’s car was stopped at the Canadian border, “U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents then questioned the occupants of the vehicle, at which time the victim reported being held against her will and sexually assaulted,” state police said.
Constanzo was charged with kidnapping in a federal criminal complaint filed in the District of Connecticut, according to the Justice Department. An investigation is ongoing.
He faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 25 years and a maximum term of life imprisonment.
The particular penalties are enhanced since the victim is a minor, the release said.
“A missing young woman was rescued and her life potentially saved,” Jennifer De La O, CBP Boston director of field operations, said in a statement.
Constanzo is also under a separate sexual assault investigation in Connecticut in connection to an incident that occurred earlier in 2021, according to the Justice Department.
Officers with CBP are trained to look for “suspicious behavior, displayed signs of distress, and imminent danger from people attempting to enter or exit the U.S. via ports of entry,” De La O told McClatchy News via email.
“The CBP officers at Highgate Springs used that training to successfully remove a 16-year-old girl from her alleged kidnapper and neutralize a dangerous situation,” she added. “CBP’s first mission is to protect the American people and I’m proud to say that our team was able to do that.”
McClatchy News reached out to the Justice Department, and it referred queries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, which declined additional comment.
This story was originally published December 8, 2021 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Teen saved at Canadian border when accused kidnapper didn’t have COVID test, feds say."
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