Ellie
LUCERNE VALLEY – A suspect charged with torture and assault against a female victim was tracked down by a police dog on Sunday morning.
David Ignacio Siova, 34, of Lucerne Valley, was taken into custody on three separate charges after San Bernardino Sheriff’s deputies investigated a call shortly before 9 a.m.
The female victim reported she had been kidnapped by a male acquaintance. Deputies said she reported the man had lured her to his house, tied her up, held her captive while torturing her and assaulting over a several-hour span. Eventually, deputies reported, Siova, took her home. She called authorities to report the crime.
Upon arrival, deputies were taken by the unnamed victim to a spot where the suspect’s footprints were shown in the desert, pointing in the direction in which he had fled on foot.
Deputies followed the footprints for several hundred yards before losing the track on hard-packed dirt near a roadway.
Using a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s canine, Ellie, the dog reportedly acquired the suspect’s trail from his footprints, according to Deputy Staci Parks.
“Ellie trailed the suspect approximately one mile to a residence,” said Parks, noting a residence at the 11800 block of Midway Road. Ellie, said Parks, “showed interest in a motorhome,” and Siova was taken into custody after a search revealed he was hiding inside.
Siova was originally being held without bail, but over the weekend, bail was set at $500,000. He is scheduled to appear in Victorville Superior Court on Tuesday, facing false imprisonment charges, along with that of torture and assault with a deadly weapon that is not a firearm.
