Man booked on kidnapping, child abuse, gets probation a year later
By Hamilton Kahn
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DEMING, New Mexico (KOAT) — When Kyle Eckmann, 21, was arrested on August 22, 2025, he had driven from Texas to New Mexico with a 15-year-old girl against her family’s wishes.
When he got out of the car, Eckmann said he had a gun (he did not) and threatened to shoot a New Mexico State Police officer. Once he was in custody, he told the girl not to talk, but after she was taken to a hospital she told officers that Eckmann allegedly threatened to kill her and her family if she didn’t go with him, court documents said.
After being read his rights, Eckmann told police that he’d given her his phone to text her mother, then read her mother’s text saying she should tell him to drive her home and that she was a minor.
Eckmann was charged with kidnapping in the first degree, child abuse, bribery of a witness, aggravated assault of a police officer, and aggravated fleeing from a police officer.
Fast forward to February 16 2026, after Eckmann had spent 179 days in pretrial custody and had reached a plea deal. The recommended 18-month sentence was suspended, and instead he ws given supervised probation, with counseling and therapy required, and no contact with the victim allowed.
Eckman pleaded guilty to the aggravated fleeing charge. The child abuse, witness bribery, aggravated assult of a police officer, and contributing to the delinquincy of a minor charges were dropped.
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