Woman Held in Baby’s Kidnaping Pleads Not Guilty

A Central Valley woman who allegedly admitted to police that she snatched a 4-month-old Santa Ana infant from a shopping mall pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of kidnaping and car theft.

Maria Luisa Martinez, 36, was ordered to return to Municipal Court in Newport Beach on May 25 for a preliminary hearing to determine if she should stand trial in Orange County Superior Court. She remains in Orange County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Costa Mesa police have said Martinez, who lives in the small agricultural town of Delano, in the Bakersfield area, allegedly kidnaped Steffany Zamora on April 22 outside a South Coast Plaza department store after befriending the infant’s family.

The kidnaping sparked a regionwide search, but it was a tip from a Delano resident who had seen the child’s picture on a television program that led authorities to Martinez and the baby. Martinez was arrested on April 29, and the infant was reunited with her parents. Police contend Martinez was in a stolen car at the time of her arrest.

A Delano police detective has said Martinez also told police she had a stillborn baby last year.