Man Arrested in Kidnap, Torture

A North Hollywood man who allegedly kidnapped a 24-year-old woman and raped and tortured her for three weeks was arrested Monday, authorities said.

Luis Uriarte, 32, is suspected of moving the woman to various motel rooms in Los Angeles and Riverside counties, where she was beaten, bitten, burned, forced to take drugs and repeatedly raped, law enforcement officials said.

Uriarte and the victim knew each other, but the extent of their relationship was not disclosed.

“He was clearly retaliating against her,� said Det. John Alviani of the Los Angeles Police Department’s sexual assault unit.

The woman, also from North Hollywood, was abducted Dec. 1 from a street in that community.

“He held her captive for 21 days, and they bounced from city to city,� Alviani said. The locations included Inglewood, Palm Springs, Riverside and Los Angeles, authorities said.

Uriarte threatened to kill the woman numerous times, said Anthony Burke, a supervisory inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service in Los Angeles.

Uriarte released the woman Dec. 22 in North Hollywood, authorities said.

She contacted her family but had been beaten so badly that initially they didn’t recognize her, Alviani said. They took her to a hospital, where she was treated for a ruptured spleen and multiple wounds. She has recuperated.

The Los Angeles Regional Fugitive Task Force, made up of federal, state and local law enforcement authorities, arrested Uriarte at a motel in Phoenix. He was believed to be en route to Miami.

Deputy marshals found a loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun in the motel room, said Marshals Service Inspector Andres Jimenez.

Uriarte was being held in a Phoenix jail and was expected to be extradited to Los Angeles.