Police: Suspected kidnapper threatened woman with electrocution, guns, flames, suffocation, knife

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah — A Utah man is accused of holding a woman against her will and threatening to kill her in multiple ways, including by holding a gun to her head, before he was arrested outside his home.

In probable cause court documents police say Hector Ortega, 43, threatened to kill a woman by electrocuting her in a bathtub, shooting her as he placed a gun to her head, suffocated her with a pillow, threatened her and cut her with a knife and grabbed her hair and forced her head near to the flame of a gas stove. He also allegedly struck her and said he knew how to hit her so that marks wouldn’t show.

Pleasant Grove police arrested Ortega on suspicion of multiple counts, including aggravated assault, attempted murder and domestic violence in the presence of a child.

From witness interviews, police said the violence started when a woman arrived at Ortega’s home to “talk things out” when a verbal altercation started with his children present. Another man, engaged to the woman, knocked on the front door, observed through an in-home surveillance system. Ortega reportedly answered the door, pointing a gun at the man and threatening to kill him. He left and called police.

Police arrived at Hale Drive in Pleasant Grove and saw the children leave the house to be picked up by their mother, Ortega’s ex-wife, in a car. The children told police their father had multiple guns and they heard him tell a woman inside that he had one for the woman, one for himself and they were going to die. Police continued to try to communicate with those inside. At one point Ortega went to the door and the woman ran out of another door and agreed to be placed in a patrol car for protection.

She showed police police a mark on her temple that appeared to be from the barrel of a gun. She also showed a red mark under her eye, cuff marks around her wrist and red marks under her jawline.

She said while at his home Ortega forced her into the kitchen where he held her over the flame of a gas stove and told her he was going to burn her. While there, she said he also held a knife to her face that she attempted to block, cutting her. She said Ortega then cuffed her, threw her on a couch and tried to suffocate her with a pillow, stuffing a red rag into her mouth to prevent her from screaming and also held a screwdriver to her head.

“You’re not going to leave alive,” he allegedly told her. “When the police arrive, you will be dead!’

She said he then dragged her by her hair into the bathroom, made her kneel in a tub and started to fill it with water and placed a cord from a radio or speaker into the tub while plugged in, but it never made contact with the water.

Ortega’s ex-wife called him at that time, explaining that the police were outside talking to her.

“Hector had her step out of the bathtub and put her pants back on,” the affidavit of probable cause states. “He took her to the front room, sat her down, and told her to tell police there was an ‘argument’ and ‘talking’ and that ‘nothing happened.’ Hector proceeded to tell her that he was not going to kill her and to calm down. Hector went to the door, where the victim saw her chance to leave the home. She ran outside to police.”

Once outside Ortega surrendered to police and during an interview he denied all allegations but admitted to becoming angry and punching a door.

In a search, police located firearms, a handcuff key, a red rag with what appeared to be saliva on it and a surveillance system observing the outside of the residence.

“it is my belief that Hector is a danger to the victim and others,” police said in the documents. “I don’t believe that Hector should be released from jail, with no bail.”