CHATSWORTH, California — Two 28-year-old men suspected of kidnapping a man for ransom in Chatsworth have been arrested, and the victim was located safely in Woodland Hills, the Los Angeles Police Department announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The arrests close the first phase of a case that began with a Monday afternoon call in the northwest San Fernando Valley and ended with detectives making arrests in downtown Los Angeles.

Officers assigned to the LAPD's Devonshire Division responded at about 3:30 p.m. on Monday, October 26, to the 19900 block of Rinaldi Street in Chatsworth after reports of a kidnapping of a man for ransom, according to the department. Rinaldi Street is a largely residential corridor in Chatsworth, a Valley community at the foot of the Santa Susana Mountains, roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

How detectives ran the case down

The investigation was taken over by detectives from the Robbery Special Section of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division — the division the department assigns to its most serious robbery and kidnapping cases. Police said the detectives worked through the evening hours following leads, and identified and located the suspects in the 900 block of West Eighth Place in downtown Los Angeles.

Source: Los Angeles Police Department announcement, via MyNewsLA

The two suspects were identified by police as Anthony Christos and Morgan Peters, both 28. Each was booked on suspicion of kidnapping for ransom and was being held on $1.5 million bail. Police have released no further detail about either man's background, and both men are suspects at this stage — booking on suspicion is an allegation, not a conviction, and each is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The victim was found safe in Woodland Hills

Police said the victim was safely located in the 22800 block of Victory Boulevard, near Fallbrook Avenue, in Woodland Hills — about six miles southwest of the Rinaldi Street address where the case began. The department did not release the victim's name, age or condition beyond saying he was located safely, did not say whether any ransom was demanded from or paid by anyone in a specific amount, and did not describe how the victim came to be in Woodland Hills. Those gaps are normal at the booking stage of a kidnapping investigation, where detectives protect both the victim and the evidence they will need if the case goes to court.

Kidnapping for ransom sits among the most serious offences in California law, which is why the case was handed from patrol officers at Devonshire Division to Robbery-Homicide detectives within hours, and why bail for each suspect was set at $1.5 million — a figure that signals how seriously the court system initially grades the allegation, while remaining only a booking-stage measure, not a finding of guilt.

What this means for Valley neighbourhoods

Chatsworth, Woodland Hills and the Devonshire Division area are home to a large share of the Valley's suburban families, including Punjabi and other South Asian households spread across the northwest Valley. A ransom kidnapping reported on a residential street in mid-afternoon — followed by a same-week arrest downtown — is the kind of case that travels fast through neighbourhood networks, and the detail residents will weigh most is the one police have already given: the victim was found safe, and two named suspects are in custody on high bail rather than at large.

What happens next

The case now moves from the LAPD to prosecutors, who will decide what charges, if any, to file against Christos and Peters based on the detectives' evidence. Arraignment and any preliminary hearing dates had not been announced in Wednesday's police statement. Awaaz Punjab will follow the filing decision; the suspects' names and the allegation against them are reported here exactly as police announced them, and both men retain the presumption of innocence.