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On Friday, August 22, 2025, New Mexico State Police officers located a kidnapped teenager and arrested her suspected abductor.
At about 7:46 p.m., license plate readers (LPRs) alerted officers to a Volkswagen sedan traveling westbound on Interstate 10. The LPR hit indicated the vehicle was connected to the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl from Texas.
Officers located the Volkswagen near milepost 88 on I-10. When they activated their emergency lights and sirens, the driver crossed the center median and eastbound lanes before crashing into a water-filled ditch.
After officers approached the vehicle, they found the suspect, identified as 20-year-old Kyle Steven Eckmann, and a girl standing outside. Eckmann threatened approaching officers, claiming he was armed and would shoot them while motioning toward his waistband. Officers determined he was, in fact, unarmed and arrested him soon after without incident. As Eckmann was being escorted to a patrol car, he ordered the girl with him not to speak to the police.
The girl was later confirmed to be the missing 15-year-old from Texas. She was placed in the care of the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD), which notified her parents.
Eckmann was booked into the county jail on charges of:
- Kidnapping (first degree)
- Aggravated assault upon a peace officer with a deadly weapon
- Aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer
- Child abuse
- Intimidation of a witness
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