Carnival Worker Named Suspect in Thwarted Kidnap

TUSTIN — The man knocked unconscious by the father of a 9-year-old girl being dragged from her home worked for a carnival traveling nearby, police said Friday.

Edward Paul Kumbartzky, 33, booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, kidnaping and burglary, worked for an itinerant amusement carnival, Lt. Bob Schoenkopf said.

The lieutenant said carnival officials confirmed that Kumbartzky was an employee. Schoenkopf declined to identify the name of the carnival company or disclose where the itinerate group had traveled.

Kumbartzky entered an unlocked door of Kenneth Routon’s home early Wednesday and dragged Jennifer Routon from her bed. As he made his way out of the house, Routon confronted Kumbartzky, who was holding a knife at his daughter’s throat.

Routon jumped Kumbartzky and hit him several times, knocking him unconscious, Schoenkopf said.

Kumbartzky, who served a three-year prison sentence for burglary in Santa Clara County, was released Thursday night from Western Medical Center in Santa Ana and taken to Orange County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Detectives still haven’t come up with a motive for the attack, Schoenkopf said.