(CNN) -- Police and the mother of a 4-year-old California boy clung to hope Thursday for the child's safety, days after a man allegedly snatched the pre-schooler from his grandmother's arms then took off. An Amber Alert was issued for Juliani Cardenas, who authorities say was abducted by Jose Esteban Rodriguez in the northern California town of Patterson. "He (Rodriguez) wanted to be with my son," Tabitha Cardenas told reporters Thursday, adding that she had broken up with Rodriguez four or five months ago. "He wanted to be with my son so bad that he took it to the extreme."
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An Amber Alert has been issued for Juliani Cardenas, 4, of Patterson, California
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Police say he was abducted by Jose Rodriguez, the ex-boyfriend of the boy's mother
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The boy's grandmother says the man took the boy from her arms then fled
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Police are searching a canal after a tip that the kidnapper drove his car into it
The suspect had come to @placeholder' house early Tuesday morning, according to the boy's mother, leaving after she told him to leave because Juliani was asleep and had a cold.
The boy, @placeholder, is 3 feet, 6 inches tall, weighs 40 pounds and has brown eyes and black hair, according to the Amber Alert.