Kidnapping suspect arrested in Fresno, victim found safe, Sacramento police say

Authorities have arrested a man for allegedly kidnapping a woman in Natomas before being apprehended in Fresno.

The Sacramento Police Department said in a social media post that officers were called Monday morning to the 4400 block of Truxel Road in the Village 5 neighborhood for a possible kidnapping. When officers arrived, witnesses told them that a man had entered a residence and demanded at gunpoint that a woman leave with him.

Witnesses also told police that the man pointed a handgun at “multiple residents while threatening to kill them,” including a 4-year-old. Police said that the female victim ultimately left the scene with the man, identified as Jonah Amattai Barkum, 20.

Detectives working the case located Barkum and the victim in Fresno several hours later, where Fresno Police Department officers arrested Barkum and located a loaded handgun. Police said the victim was not injured.

Barkum was booked into Fresno County Jail, but it was not known when he’d be transported back to Sacramento. He faces seven felony charges, including kidnapping, assault with a firearm, criminal threats and child endangerment, according to Sacramento Superior Court records.

This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 8:08 AM.