Mom Says Alleged Kidnapper 'Just Smiled' Driving Off with Her Toddler

Written by City News Service

An Aliso Viejo woman testified Wednesday that a man “just smiled” when she screamed at him to stop as he drove her SUV out of her garage with her 2-year-old son in the backseat.

The attorney for car theft defendant James Christopher Corr, 35, of Mission Viejo, didn't dispute much of the case against his client, but denied any intentional kidnapping.

The boy's mother, who was 30 weeks pregnant at the time, testified she was getting ready to meet her husband, who had been running in Newport Beach, for breakfast around 7:45 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2011, when her son said, “Mommy, can I have a cup of agua?”

The victim was overcome with emotion as she recalled dashing back into the house for 30 seconds to fill her son's “sippy cup.”

As she opened the door to the garage, “I saw a man was jumping into my car,” she testified.

The mother “rushed toward” the shirtless, tattooed man with a shaved head and hurled the plastic sippy cup at him, she said.

A scuffle ensued and the woman fell backward on her elbows, she testified.

“I kept on saying, 'Give me my baby, please. Give me my baby. Take the car, whatever you want,' " she testified.

Asked how Corr responded, the woman said, “He just smiled.”

The woman frantically tried to get her son out of his car seat as Corr backed the Volvo out of the garage, running over one of her feet in the process, she testified. The family's St. Bernard also was in the backseat.

Corr backed out so quickly he damaged the SUV door next to the boy and left skid marks on the garage floor, Deputy District Attorney Aleta Bryant said.

He drove off with the door by her son still open, and she chased after the vehicle while screaming for help, Bryant said.

Corr was unfamiliar with the neighborhood, so he drove around trying to find a way out, only to end up in a cul de sac. He turned the car around, got out and tried to close the door, Bryant said.

The door wouldn't shut and, when neighbors started closing in on him, he got back into the SUV and sped off, Bryant said.

One of the neighbors gave chase in her vehicle, “honking the horn like crazy,” Bryant said.

Corr “blew through a red light,” as did his pursuer, Bryant said. During the chase, “their eyes met through the rear-view mirror,” the prosecutor added.

Corr “bailed out” near Da Vinci and Medici with the vehicle ending up on a curb, still in drive with the door hanging open, and the toddler and dog still inside, Bryant said.

Corr ran and, at one home, tried to pry open a sliding glass door.

He was eventually caught and police said they also found evidence he broke into a car in Mission Viejo -- a crime reported shortly before he allegedly took the Aliso Viejo SUV.

Corr's DNA was on a wallet containing $42 and papers taken from the earlier vehicle and victim, Bryan said. Witnesses identified Corr in lineups, Bryant said.

The Aliso boy was OK, but his mother was cut and bruised, Bryant said.

Corr's attorney, Lawrence Volk of the Orange County public defender's office, said he would not dispute much of prosecution's case during the trial.

But when the mother hollered at Corr, he responded with a “blank stare as if he's on drugs,” Volk said, adding his client did not make any threats and was apparently unaware the boy was in the vehicle.

“At no time is he using (the toddler) to get away,” Volk said.

“There are two issues you need to pay attention to,” Volk told jurors. “Did he know (the toddler) was in the back seat? If so, did he take the boy to steal the car to effectuate his escape?"