Twin Infants Allegedly Kidnaped

Two 8-month-old babies were allegedly abducted Wednesday night during a carjacking in Downtown Los Angeles after their father--a San Jose man on his way to Texas--pulled over to put some packages into the trunk of his vehicle, police said.

The twin infants--a boy and a girl--were apparently kidnaped about 6:30 p.m. near Olive Street and Washington Boulevard, at the southern end of Downtown, said Officer Don Cox of the Los Angeles Police Department. The carjackers, Cox said, pulled a gun on the father, demanded the keys to his black 1990 Ford Mustang and told him to “hand it over or we will kill the babies.”

Cox said the father, Alexander Maldini--who told police he was a widower whose wife died in childbirth--was heading home from San Jose with his children, Sarah and Uzziel, strapped into their car seats when they pulled off the freeway at the Grand Avenue off-ramp to get gas.

After Maldini filled the tank, Cox said, he told police he became confused and lost his way back to the freeway. Cox said the father pulled over in front of a McDonald’s restaurant near Olive and Washington and began transferring some packages from the interior of the car to the trunk.

As Maldini stood behind the car with its open trunk, two men pulled up in a 1985-89 red Honda Civic with primer on the fender and hood, the father told police. He said that when he resisted, the gunmen threatened to hurt the children so he handed over the keys, Cox related.

One of the men then sped off in the Honda while the other fled with the infants in Maldini’s car, police said.

Police Lt. Clay Farrell of the Newton Division said the father’s story--related to them in a “very calm, very passive” manner--was difficult to corroborate.

For example, he said, Maldini could not recall his full license plate number and could not say whether the plates on the Mustang were from California or Texas. Also, Farrell said, the father could not offer proof of his identity because, he said, the carjackers had stolen his wallet. Authorities also could not immediately reach relatives whose names Maldini gave them.

Nonetheless, as night fell, police launched a manhunt for the carjackers, described as Latino men in their late 20s, Cox said. Both wore white T-shirts, he added, and one wore black jeans while the other wore blue jeans.

The babies were described as having light brown hair and were wearing white pajamas. Sarah was wearing earrings; Uzziel has a half-inch birthmark on his left knee, police said.

Maldini’s car, a Mustang 5.0, has tinted windows, a World Cup sticker on the right rear bumper and a partial plate number of 1PVM, Cox said.

Cox speculated that the carjackers may be thinking: “ ‘I’m taking this car--do I want to get stuck with two 8-month-old kids?’ Probably not.

“So you have to reason that they might drop them off somewhere.”