Woman’s desperate plea: ‘He’s not in his right state of mind’

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    IRVINGTON, Alabama (WALA) — On the same day authorities say James Carl Caballero nabbed his kids on Thursday, his estranged wife asked a judge for a protection-from-abuse order.

The woman, who is the mother of the two young children, said in her handwritten court petition that Cabarello, 27 assaulted her on Friday and then tracked her down at Penelope House shelter for abused women.

“He’s not in his right state of mind, has shown up to the shelter trying to get me,” the woman wrote on Thursday. She describing him as a danger to himself and others.

A frantic search for Caballero, 1-year-old Annalese Caballero and 2-year-old Kevin Caballero ended Friday morning following a standoff that lasted a few hours at a house on Wilcox Way, off of Magnolia Road. Capt. Paul Burch, chief investigator of the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said law enforcement officers tracked Caballero to a friend’s house in the area and tried to coax him into surrendering.

“We made repeated please over the loudspeaker,” he said. “We’ve made attempts to send him text messages and phone calls and such, and he had his phone off.”

Then, Burch said, the Sheriff’s Office decided to send in its tactical team.

“We had to actually make entry to several residences behind us,” he said. “So, he did come out peacefully. We caught him hiding inside of a residence. So, after multiple announcements, attempts to contact, the decision was made to make entry.”

Caballero was stoic as deputies walked him across the property and placed him in a waiting patrol vehicle. He is being held at Mobile County Metro Jail on a variety of charges, including domestic violence/strangulation and interference with a 911 call.

Court records show Caballero and his wife married in March of last year. But the marriage didn’t long. They separated in January, and she filed for divorce in February, citing “incompatibility of temperament.” The divorce petition also accuses him of physical and mental abuse.

She was more explicit in her application for a protective order, writing that he broke into her house and strangled her on Friday. She also wrote that he pulled a gun on her.

“I feel afraid because he is not in the right state of mind,” she wrote. “He has kept my children away from me numerous times because I won’t get back together with him.”

The domestic relations judge, Walter Honeycutt, issued an order Thursday forbidding Caballero from having any visitation rights and instructed authorities to pick up the children where they were staying – the home of Caballero’s mother.

Burch said that when the defendant found out about that order, he took the kids, setting off the search for them. He said Caballero was not armed when deputies arrested him, although he added he could not immediately say whether a gun was in the house.

Neighbor Anita Kress said she saw on the news Wednesday night that the children had been taken and then saw heavy law enforcement presence on the road Thursday.

“I’m glad they’re safe,” she told FOX10 News. “And I’m glad they’re back with their mom. And I’m glad nothing serious went down.”

Burch said the children, fortunately, aren’t old enough to have perceived they were in danger.

“They don’t really know what’s going on,” he said. “And again, we believe they’re in good health, but we want to get them checked out. So, we’re happy with that.”

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