San Diego

The FBI and San Diego police are continuing to search for a 4-year-old boy who was abducted Tuesday with his father from their South San Diego home.

The father, Francisco Sanchez, was found at 3:30 a.m. Thursday walking near the intersection of Interstate 15 and Friars Road after he had phoned home and told his wife the captors released him.

The two were kidnaped Tuesday by three armed men wearing ski masks and plastic gloves who told Francisco’s wife, Armidia Aguilar, she should gather $50,000 within five days if she wanted to see her husband and child again.

Sanchez had several cuts and bruises on his body, and was treated at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Chula Vista. He was escorted home about 2 p.m. Thursday after several hours of interrogation by the FBI and San Diego police officers. No details about the questioning of Sanchez have been released.

The abductors entered the house on Dunning Circle through an unlocked garage door, according to police. They handcuffed Sanchez, placed duct tape around his head and then told Aguilar that if she called the police, her husband and son would be killed. The men escaped in the family’s light blue Dodge station wagon with the license number 1NDX542.

The men also took about $400 in cash, necklaces and rings. According to the police report, the men told Aguilar they knew the family had money in a Tijuana bank and that they owned their house. The report also stated one of the gunmen said to Sanchez: “You killed my brother and now you are going to pay for it.”

FBI spokesman James Bolenbach declined to discuss leads in the case or any details of Sanchez’s questioning.

“Our main interest is recovering that child,” Bolenbach said. “I can say we have a lot of leads, but I can’t tell you what areas we are investigating or if they are good leads. They may be a partial license plate, a neighbor who saw something, but most of them are just sidewalk-pounding and not necessarily good ones.”

The FBI spokesman said the FBI will continue to work with San Diego police until the child is found because neither organization can assume the case is not in its jurisdiction.

Sanchez and his wife could not be reached for comment.