HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – A 23-year-old man is charged with aggravated kidnapping after allegedly driving around Houston’s East Downtown neighborhood with a 14-year-old girl last week.

Sixth Precinct officials said the man threatened to shoot the child’s father if he approached the car.

On the evening of August 15, all hands were on duty as police intensively searched for a 14-year-old girl who had been kidnapped in front of her home in East Downtown.

“She got in the car voluntarily, but she didn’t expect him to drive off. Apparently he was going to use the gun on her father if he approached the vehicle, so that would have been bad,” said Sergeant Alvarado of the Harris County 6th District Sheriff’s Office.

Sergeant Alvarado says it’s unclear how the teen met 23-year-old Ruben Elijah Rodriguez, but he says they had been texting for months and may have met online.

When the victim’s family realized she wasn’t home, they found the couple in a car near Avenue S and North Cesar Chavez Boulevard, not far from their home. Investigators say when family members went to confront the man, they noticed he had a gun. When they asked him what he was doing with their daughter, he drove away.

“The suspect then sped away at a high rate of speed. The parents went back to the house, got into their own vehicle and began searching for the suspect and their daughter,” said Sergeant Alvarado.

The victim’s family was able to get police to help after flagging down an officer on Navigation Boulevard. Investigators say the teen was simultaneously attempting to get out of the car and that Rodriguez was touching her inappropriately and trying to take her to a hotel.

“She was with many police officers and continued to pressure him to let her go,” Alvarado said.

Precinct 6 says the man eventually died right outside Fire Station 17, and investigators say the victim ran more than 2 miles home.

Rodriguez is now charged with aggravated kidnapping. He was released from prison on bail and is due back in court in October.

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