Arturo Calzada Becerril

Introduction

Arturo Calzada Becerril is a 40-year-old Fargo man charged with kidnapping after a maintenance worker heard cries for help at a south Fargo apartment building on November 3, 2026, and officers found a woman chained to a bed inside his third-floor unit — a woman who told investigators she had been brought to Fargo from Mexico by her ex-husband in 2024 and had not been allowed outside in two years. Police said the woman had a chain and padlock secured around her right ankle, with the other end fixed to the bed; the bedroom windows were covered in tin foil and a security camera pointed at her bed. Calzada Becerril and his girlfriend, 41-year-old Erendira Amoles, were arrested the same day and formally charged on November 5; at their first court appearance on November 6, a judge set bond at $500,000 each, and prosecutors said both defendants could face deportation. Prosecutors allege the pair kept the woman — whom they identify as an American citizen — captive in order to obtain immigration status.

Background Information

According to court documents summarized by InForum and Valley News Live, the victim was born in the United States, had been married to Calzada Becerril, and told investigators through a translation app that she no longer wished to be married to him. Calzada Becerril, identified by Amoles as a trucker, told police that he, Amoles and the victim were all from the same town in Mexico. A court-records search by InForum found that neither Calzada Becerril nor Amoles appeared to have any prior criminal history in North Dakota or Minnesota. Fargo police said they are working with the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office as the case moves forward.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged; presumption of innocence. Arturo Calzada Becerril, 40, of Fargo, and Erendira Amoles, 41, of Moorhead, were arrested November 3, 2026, after a building maintenance technician reported hearing cries for help and officers found a woman chained by her ankle to a bed in unit 306; each is charged with felony kidnapping involving allegations of terrorizing, Calzada Becerril additionally with domestic violence, and both are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Officers used bolt cutters to free the woman from the chains, interviewed her with a translator app, and took her to a hospital, where a Spanish-speaking agent from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation interviewed her, according to court documents. She told agents Calzada Becerril used to let her out of the bedroom but had stopped doing so, brought her food twice a day, and made her relieve herself in a bucket in the room. Investigators documented bruising on her arms, legs and face, and she said Calzada Becerril punched her, leaving a scar on her forehead, and that he and Amoles pinned her down, beat her and sexually assaulted her.

The room itself was detailed in the investigative report: a custom-built headboard with chains secured together with large bolts, washers and nuts, the chain wrapped in a foam pool noodle, Master Lock padlocks at the head and foot of the bed, a webcam facing the bed whose link was on Calzada Becerril’s phone though deactivated, and a separate chain and padlock in the bathroom. Investigators found the pair did not seek medical or mental-health care for the victim and never reported her to medical professionals or social services. Calzada Becerril told investigators he locked the woman up so that “she did not run away,” saying she had been addicted to a variety of drugs in Mexico, which caused mental-health problems “such as talking to people that were not there,” and that he and Amoles wanted to keep her from “start looking for drugs again”; he and Amoles also told police the woman had assaulted them and once came after them with a knife. Amoles told investigators that she was the one who often locked the victim up, and that she chained her that day because she needed to pick up her 8-year-old child from school. Amoles arrived at the apartment with her 8-year-old daughter shortly after police freed the victim, and the two later drove to the Fargo police station, where both were interviewed.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Neighbors at the south Fargo complex told Valley News Live they were stunned that a woman was allegedly held captive for two years in an apartment just doors from their own, saying they never suspected what was happening behind the closed door of the unit. Both defendants were booked into the Cass County Jail following their November 3 arrests, charged on November 5, and arraigned Friday, November 6, in Cass County Court, where bond was set at $500,000 each. Prosecutors said more charges are possible in the case and that both defendants could face deportation; both were still being appointed defense attorneys as of the hearing. The Fargo Police Department said it is working with the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office as the case proceeds.

Current Status

As of November 7, 2026, Calzada Becerril and Amoles remain charged with felony kidnapping involving allegations of terrorizing — he additionally with domestic violence causing bodily injury, she with simple assault — are held on $500,000 bond each, and are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty; more charges are possible, defense attorneys were still being appointed, and the investigation remains ongoing.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Calzada Becerril was not a public official, and no occupation beyond trucking — offered in court documents through Amoles’s account — appears in the coverage; the consequence he faces is legal rather than professional: felony charges carrying a $500,000 bond, possible deportation flagged by prosecutors, and a felony kidnapping-terrorizing count that will move through Cass County District Court in the months ahead. For the victim, a United States citizen found bruised and chained to a bed after two years indoors, the case has meant hospital treatment, an interpreter-mediated investigation by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and a criminal prosecution that Fargo police and county prosecutors say they are pursuing together. The case has also drawn attention to the apartment complex itself, where residents told local reporters they were shaken that the ordeal unfolded, as one put it in coverage of the discovery, right in their building.

Sources

Valley News Live, “Woman held captive for years: south Fargo neighbors say they never knew,” Nov 6, 2026 — source
InForum, “Woman found chained to bed in south Fargo apartment unit says she was captive for 2 years,” Nov 5, 2026 — source
NY Post, “North Dakota woman chained to bed, assaulted and beaten for 2 years: police,” Nov 7, 2026 — source