Police: Woman kidnapped son at gunpoint in custody battle

August 28, 2011

An Albuquerque woman is accused of kidnapping her own son and threatening her mother-in-law with a pistol after police say a child custody battle turned ugly. Police say Mary Soto, 26, kicked down her mother-in-law's door on Corte Del Sol NW, near Coors Boulevard and Iliff Road, around 9 p.m. Friday and demanded her children. Soto is separated from her husband who has legal custody of the children. Soto's mother-in-law, Yolanda Martinez, says Soto had two or three men with her, and she says some of them had guns too. "She hit me. She was kicking me and biting me 'cause I was trying to hold the kids back from her," said Martinez. "She was pulling at me, screaming. It just happened so quick, you know. I'm just glad it's over, and we just let her take the baby because he had the gun pointed at us." Police say Soto took her two-hear-old son, Bonifacio Lujan, and left with a volley of gunshots fired into the sky. "All of a sudden I heard like 5 shots and pretty loud," said neighbor Greg Sedillos. "So my wife and I just got down. We have a little baby, and we got down low and the cops arrived probably like 5 minutes later." An Amber Alert was issued before Soto turned herself in around 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Police say her son was not harmed. Mary Soto is charged with kidnapping, aggravated burglary and conspiracy. Police are still looking for the men who were with Soto Friday night. They were last seen in a white, four-door Infinity.