Suspicious texts, an empty house: California man now believed to be kidnap victim

Wen Hou suspected that something was not right with his father when he would send Naiping Hou text messages inviting him to spend time with his beloved grandchildren or attend other family events, yet receive replies stating that he was “too tired.”

“He said he would call later and never call,” Hou added.

But then something happened that made Wen Hou almost certain that his 74-year-old father was in trouble. Wen made long noodles, which in Asian culture are believed to provide longevity if eaten on one’s birthday, and shipped them overnight to his father’s Rancho Cucamonga home.

Instead of receiving a loving response with a photo of his father enjoying the noodles, Wen received silence — until a text arrived late that night, on May 3, with a terse “packaged received.”

Wen then asked family friends to check on his father, and they found the home empty. No father, no furniture, just a new, unprofessional interior paint job left behind, along with the unopened package of noodles on the front porch.

Wen reported his father missing the next day.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which alerted the public to Naiping Hou’s disappearance on July 7, now says detectives are investigating the case as a kidnapping. Investigators learned that fraudulent transfers were made from Hou’s bank accounts — Wen Hou said it was more than $1 million — and believe that someone impersonated him in text messages to family members.

No ransom demands have been made, Hou said, although someone already has his father’s money, cleaned out of multiple accounts.

Hou is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for his father’s safe return and the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the abduction.

“I’m just really sad that this has happened,” Nevada resident Wen Hou, 40, said in an interview on Tuesday, July 15. “It’s turned my life upside down.”

May 3 was the last day Hou heard from his father, or who he now believes are kidnappers in possession of his father’s phone. The suspicious text messages, which began in March, piled up. In one, a message was sent to Naiping’s wife of 40 years, Liping Cheng, 70, in what Wen Hou considered unusually formal Mandarin.

“He would not talk to her like that,” Hou said.

Also, Liping Cheng was visiting relatives in China in March when she received a text message, supposedly from her husband, suggesting that she delay her return or wait for him to fly to China and meet her.

Wen Hou last saw his father during a March fishing trip off the coast of San Pedro. Several of Naiping Hou’s friends joined them, and he did not appear distressed.

Naiping Hou would not leave the area without telling anyone, his son said.

“He’s not very independent,” Wen Hou said. “He likes to stay at home and do his woodworking and metal crafting. My mom, on the other hand, likes to travel.”

Nor is he internet-savvy, Wen Hou said. His father would not know how to purchase the $250,000 gold bars that someone ordered shipped to his home.

Someone might have known that his father was well-off, Hou said. He drove a Mercedes-Benz, which is missing, but he does not wear flashy jewelry. He is semi-retired from his work selling backup telecom batteries.

Wen Hou makes his living trading cryptocurrency and other securities. He can’t think of anyone who might have kidnapped his father because of a bad transaction. “I make money for my investors,” Hou said.

His message is simple: “I want my dad back,” Hou said.

Naiping Hou is described as 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds with grey hair that is sometimes dyed brown or black and dark brown eyes. He has a birthmark on his left upper shoulder and a surgery scar on his lower back.

Investigators ask anyone with information on the case to call Detective Vanayes Quezada at 909-890-4848 or send information anonymously to WeTip at 800-782-7463 or on the website wetip.com. The family set up a tipline at 213-564-9336. Tips may be sent via SMS, WhatsApp and Signal.