A Joshua Tree couple was arrested, after a man allegedly threatened and kidnapped his estranged wife, and deputies said the woman lied to them to protect him. Just after 11 a.m. Tuesday, a man called deputies to say he had driven Carol Mixco, 37, to meet her estranged husband, Steve Mixco, 33, so they could talk near Mirada Trail and Sunny Vista Road in Joshua Tree. When they got there, he said Steve Mixco pulled out a gun and forced Carol into the car, and then he drove off with her. The man told deputies that he talked to Steve later during a video chat, and said Steve threatened to have his friends kill the man and Carol, and showed the man a rifle. Deputies located Steve and Carol Mixco at Carol’s home in the 62100 block of Verbena Road in Joshua Tree. Carol answered the door; deputies say that Carol denied that Steve was in the home and she also denied that there were any weapons inside. During a search of the home, deputies found Steve Mixco along with a shotgun and ammunition. Deputies found an airsoft handgun in the backseat of the vehicle. Steve Mixco was arrested for investigation of making criminal threats and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $50,000. Carol Mixco was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory, making criminal threats, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, with her bail set at $50,000.
