CORONADO, Calif. -- Blue-eyed Maria Martin was safe in her parents' arms Tuesday following a 10-day kidnap drama that ended when the police chief, posing as a family member, fooled a ski-masked kidnapper suspect into giving him a cigarette before turning over $5,000 in ransom.
Police Chief Jerry Boyd surprised a news conference by telling reporters he personally went to a drop site near the old ferry landing to confront the kidnapper, posing as the son-in-law of the victim's father.
Catching the man off gurd when he asked for the cigarette, another officer hidden in the bushes swoopped in to grab the crying 3-year-old girl and whisked her to safety.
Maria, described as 'fatigued' but otherwise unharmed, was reunited a short time later with her parents, Donald and Marjan Martin of Provo, Utah.
Arrested on suspicion of kidnapping was Robert G. Edwards, 46, described as a handyman who lives on the resort and Navy community of Coronado across the bay from San Diego. He was described as being 5-foot-7 foot with a pot belly and having sandy hair.
The police chief said other suspects may be arrested soon.
Boyd revealed that Edwards' apartment house where Maria allegedly had been held captive was located only a block away from the El Cordova Hotel where Maria was last seen on the night of Aug. 8.
Maria vanished from an alley behind the hotel as her mother was carrying in groceries to their room.
Boyd said a massive search of the area shortly after Maria's disappearance had covered Edwards' residence, a converted apartment house with more than a dozen studio rooms. But other residents there did not report any suspicious activity 'because it was not unusual for Edwards to have his door locked or be away for several days at a time.'
Police said one of several possible motives for the abduction was that Edwards planned to take the girl to Mexico and sell her on the black baby market. Boyd said it was known that Edwards traveled to Mexico during the time of the abduction -- to a trailer at Rosarito Beach south of Tijuana -- but it was not known if the girl was with him.
