By David Lohr

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(Continued)

Investigators located the suspect's truck and found a ransom note he had allegedly written; however, Beltran-Moreno was nowhere to be found. Authorities eventually learned he was hiding out in Mexico.

Yesterday afternoon, Manatee County Sheriff, Charlie Wells, held a press conference and announced that Beltran-Moreno had voluntarily turned himself in after several days of negotiations with the FBI.

"We learned later (after the kidnapping) that he was in Mexico," Wells said.  "An awful lot of effort has gone into getting him and getting him back here."

Sheriff's Maj. Connie Shingledecker also spoke at the press conference. 

"He has family here, he has two small children here, he has a girlfriend," Shingledecker said. "And I think the prisons in the United States are probably in a lot better condition than the prisons in Mexico. And we pretty much told him we weren't going to give up. This isn't something you can run away from."

Shingledecker said more details of the arrest would be made available to the public in the coming days. As of this writing, extradition proceedings are underway to return Beltran-Moreno to Florida.

Clay was unavailable for comment yesterday, but his stepfather told the Associated Press that the family was relieved the kidnapper had been captured. 

"We're just overjoyed," said Kelle.  "And we're glad we could get past this and kind of make this closure to another chapter in Clay's life and our lives."

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Contact  David Lohr at           crimewriter74@hughes.net

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