I used 捕えるin the previous example, but talking with some Japanese people, they said that my sentence is unnatural (using either verb) anyway.
According to my coworkers, 捉える (とらえる, same pronunciation) is used for more abstract concepts and 捕まえる is used for “moving/elusive objects,” such as a thief/泥棒 (どろぼう). So although the words are similar and the pronunciation is the same, the kanji is different. I imagine if you used it in conversation, you’d be understood based on context. (The example under jisho.org uses both kanji 捉える, and 捕える in the example sentence with the meaning, “to grasp,” which may be a mistake?) Reference here (Japanese only).