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I heard my daughter say are you gonna kill my mommy and are you gonna kill me and they said no not if your mommy does
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everything that we tell her to do it was November 21st 2000 when the lives of Michelle Renee and her daughter Bria
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changed forever it had been such a long day and I was just excited to be home with Bria we were on the couch it was
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just the two of us I was sitting here she was right beside me and we were playing Game Boy
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and we just heard this huge the sound just the biggest noise from behind us and we I turned to look and just saw
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three people they're all lined up one right after the other just rushing in running in the door that like SWAT style
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and they had their guns and they were all in black the men forced Michelle and Bria who was only seven years old at the
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time to the ground and told them that if they didn't cooperate they would be killed a group of individuals put
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Michelle into surveillance knowing she was a bank manager and they devised a plan
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they said you're gonna rob the bank for us or we will kill you and your daughter
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will be first the masked men held Michelle and her daughter at gunpoint throughout the
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night the ringleader gave Michelle specific instructions on how to rob her own bank the next morning he said get up
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it's time to get ready for work I got dressed and started doing my hair when he came in and stopped me
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and said we need to put Michelle Bria and their roommate were strapped with dynamite the ringleader
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showed Michelle what looked like a doorbell this is a detonation device one false
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move I push this button you will disintegrate your daughter will go first and they sat me right here and said now
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we're going to take your daughter the gunman put Bria in the bedroom closet Michelle then drove to work with
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dynamite strapped to her back the ringleader crouched in the back of the car as she drove after she arrived at
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the bank she headed to the Vault with a briefcase stuffed with a duffel bag and then you just opened up the duffel bag
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and started shoveling in money I did my heart was racing my am I fast enough Michelle exited the bank with 360
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thousand dollars and got back in the car with the ringleader the gunman told Michelle to get out of the car and then
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told her where she'd be able to find it Michelle then raced home to find Bria still in the closet the other two gunmen
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were gone and so was the dynamite strapped to bria's back and their roommates but the ringleader had
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forgotten to remove it from Michelle after removing the dynamite from Michelle's back they ran to a neighbor
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I called 9-1-1 right away [Music] some neighbors of ours were held hostage I need somebody out here right away
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investigators in the bomb squad arrived and discovered the dynamite was fake investigators questioned Michelle for
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several hours during the 14-hour hostage ordeal Michelle had held on to details that might help identify the suspects
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when I turned the light on to go to the bathroom and I saw his eyes in there I said those eyes were at my desk I those
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eyes were at my desk today oh my God Michelle says she recognized the ringleader's eyes he had come to the
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bank earlier that day and posed as a customer and he sat at my desk for a really long time asking sort of the same
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questions over and over and then a woman walked in and said Chris we need to get
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going and they got up and left the man handed Michelle a business card with the name Christopher Butler on it it didn't
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take long for investigators to arrest Butler and his accomplices they found physical evidence tying them to the
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crime including the ingredients to make the fake Dynamite they were broom handles which were cut up into small
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dowels which actually were used in making the fake Dynamite they also recovered the the actual
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spray cans it was crazy I've never seen that much physical evidence left at a crime scene they thought they'd gotten
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away with it yeah by June of 2002 Butler went on trial during his testimony he claimed that he had an affair with
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Michelle and that she masterminded the bank robbery plot I was shocked it's almost laughable what was his story
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about how the two of you met from what I understand we met in a grocery store and that I recruited him
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Butler claimed he'd gone to Michelle's house that night with two accomplices he said that in the early morning hours
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while smoking pot Michelle brought up the bank robbery idea again and decided they should do it that morning evidence
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of this his proof of this zero the jury ultimately found Butler guilty of the bank robbery and also found him guilty
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of Bria and their roommates kidnapping but they hung 9-3 on the charges of kidnapping Michelle
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nearly 20 years later Christopher Butler was up for parole he's the one who lied about me
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prosecutor Tom Manning made sure he was at the parole hearing Manning saw a chance to set the record straight by
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asking Butler about the story he told when he was on the stand that Michelle was The Mastermind shell if I felt it
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was right I was going to go for it what'd you think about that go for it ask away even though that's
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risky it's a little risky this guy could go to the Grave with these lies the risk
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paid off Butler recanted his whole story admitting he and Michelle never had a relationship how did that feel to hear
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that hmm about time I wanted everybody who ever doubted me to read this parole transcript I want to
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blast it all over the Internet that there was never ever a chance that I would ever ever have been involved in
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anything like this ever finally 20 years after the crime Butler apologized to his victims in the
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kidnapping do you accept Christopher Butler's apology I do yeah a thousand percent
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I appreciate him finally being honest after all this time I hope he keeps digging deeper
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yeah I forgave him a long time ago and I accept his apology in a very weird way I could breathe I could exhale finally
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after all this time [Music]