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Kidnapped | "48 Hours" Full Episodes

March 16, 2024 / 02:06:20

This episode covers the harrowing kidnapping of Shonda Hanley, her rescue by Deputy Chad Martin, and the subsequent investigation into her estranged husband Michael Hanley. Key discussions include the details of the kidnapping, the police pursuit, and the emotional aftermath for Shonda and her daughter Isabella.

Shonda Hanley recounts the terrifying moment when two armed men forced their way into her home in Lafayette, Louisiana, on August 6, 2017. After being abducted, she was held captive in a van while her daughter Isabella witnessed the event and later described her confusion and fear.

Deputy Chad Martin, who was instrumental in Shonda's rescue, shares how he spotted the suspicious van and pursued it until it got stuck in the mud. He found Shonda handcuffed and in distress, and his quick actions saved her life.

The investigation revealed that Shonda's estranged husband, Michael Hanley, was behind the kidnapping, allegedly hiring the men to harm her. The episode explores their tumultuous relationship, including Michael's struggles with addiction and his threats against Shonda.

As the legal proceedings unfold, Shonda reflects on her journey to recovery and the support she received from her community, while Isabella expresses her relief at her mother's safety and the emotional toll the incident took on their family.

TLDR

Shonda Hanley's kidnapping and rescue reveal a dark family drama involving her estranged husband Michael Hanley and the aftermath of their tumultuous relationship.

Episode

2:06:20
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[Music] it's so powerful to see how my mom handled this situation she's amazing you know and
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she's really really strong how often do Residential kidnappings happen here very rare yeah
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not very often at all Shauna Hanley is at her home with her daughter Isabella her friend came over just to
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come and visit with her we talked for about 5 or 10 minutes and the doorbell rang and so I went to
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the door and it's these two men these two individuals essentially present themselves to be delivery men of some
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sort Shauna sees them says look I have a friend over now it's not a good time she
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goes to close the door on them they force themselves in with guns they started to scream to get the F
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on the floor and don't move they handcuffed me in front like this I was just stunned I saw that my mom and her
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friend were handcuffed I said I have valuables I have jewelry I have cash I have precious metals I can get you money
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didn't interest them at all I said come with me and she went and they came back and asked me and I said
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no and they just accepted that and left they put her in the van I'm hooded they hooded me as soon as
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I went into the van it was a van that didn't have the windows in the back and it was just a rubber mat without seats
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back there and laid me on the floor and then they leave these guys are heading out of town
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with SH to handl in the back of that van one of the guys sat on top of me you know so he stayed screaming at me he had
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the gun to my head I was trying to pay attention to where we were I could feel when we picked up speed that we had made
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a turn I was like oh no my heart sunk I was like we're on an interstate or something and the guy stripped me they
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threatened to assault me sexually he put a pill in my mouth and he gave me another I said what are you giving me
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and he said don't worry about that and so I guess I started to maybe drift a little and I started
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praying so this particular day I got out of work as I was traveling there was a wreck on the interstate I got stopped
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behind a white van I could kind of see the the driver of the van was starting to get nervous in the mirror he was
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looking at me he decided to get into the shoulder and speed off it didn't sit right with me so I got
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in behind him I put my emergency lights sirens on [Music] then I hear sirens and I was like
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yeah yeah okay thank you God this is where the vehicle exited it's a dead end to a dirt road which had
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been mud cuz it just rained their van got stuck that's when they exited the vehicle and kept
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running the siren stopped and I just sunk again and I was like what happened did I imagine the sirens what's going on
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and I'm full of anxiety when you approach the van you've got your gun drawn yes sir I opened the
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rear door of the van and in the van what I thought was a mannequin moved scared me startled me so I jumped back and I
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shut the door said oh my God things aren't always what they seem [Music] [Music]
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I didn't know what was going on with my mom there was no one really telling me what was
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happening police say the woman was forcefully removed from her home in Lafayette with her childhood home now a
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crime scene and her mother Shonda Hanley just abducted by armed Intruders Isabella Cumberland found herself
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confused amidst a crowd of investigators and forensic analysts they wanted to go
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over the fingerprints on the doors upstairs my phone and it just kind of felt like I was another piece of
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evidence Isabella then just 14 years old was trying to process the sight of the violent kidnapping she had just
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witnessed at her family's home in Lafayette Louisiana on August 6th 20 2017 as they're driving away with her
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did you think that was the last time you'd ever see her I thought there was a chance Lafayette investigators and
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Isabella had no idea that about an hour after the kidnapping just across the state near Baton Rouge Chad Martin and
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Iberville Paris sheriff's deputy had just pulled over a suspicious white van after a brief Pursuit there were two men
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inside when they pulled into this parking spot they got stuck stuck in the mud so the men jump out and they take
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off running and right behind us is the inter Coastal Waterway they jump in and disappear and when Martin went to clear
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that vehicle he discovered shaa Handley handcuffed and naked in the back she looked at me and I'll never forget this
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she said are you the real police or are you the one that's going to kill me and he was like you're safe you're safe just
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minutes before before Martin was rushing home for Sunday dinner in his squad car
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after clocking out unaware of shonda's kidnapping nearly 60 M away his biggest worry at that time was his wife's wrath
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I heard you were habitually late for dinners I had a tendency uh to be late for everything now he had unwittingly
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made the rescue of a lifetime what's going to your head I mean you were just trying to pull over a couple of guys who
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looked a little susp icious I can't really tell you what was going through my head almost like I went into like
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robot mode and I was just trying to get this woman help Shonda told him a harrowing story that the kidnappers had
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drugged her and threatened to rape her and kill her if not for Chad Martin oh I would be dead I can't even
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imagine but I know it wasn't going to be quick and Swift Martin relayed the news of
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shonda's rescue to dispatch and it soon reached Isabella whenever they told me that she was safe I felt this
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relief law enforcement began to ask questions who were shonda's kidnappers and why did they abduct her
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but for Shonda there was no mystery who was behind it she had said that she believed that her husband is the one
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that had paid them to kill her her estranged husband Michael Handley Shonda says that before before
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the difficult months leading up to the kidnapping Michael would have been the last person she could have imagined
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would harm her they had met in 2005 through friends in Lafayette at a time when both were single parents and
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emerging from failed marriages he was really catering and just sweet and compassionate another thing they had in
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common both were in recovery for addiction at that time I had been sober for about 18 years oh wow Michael was newly
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clean and sober he had about a year the new couple hit it off and a year later they were married in Hawaii
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Isabella took an immediate liking to Michael he well was my dad from when I was 2 years old and so that's how I saw
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him was really as my dad in 2007 Michael and Shonda found success channeling their experience in recovery into a new
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business we're going to provide care and we're going to meet you where you are partnering with a doctor to start a
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chain of addiction treatment centers so we wound up opening at one point I think
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there were 14 centers throughout the South eight years later they made a decision we sold the company how much
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did y'all make on the sale the two of them Michael and his partner we sold the company for $21.5 million
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wow yeah but their life as happy millionaires didn't last long say prosecutors Donald kette and Kenny AAR
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you know money and free time with someone with an addictive personality isn't a great combination Shonda was
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seeing that firsthand with Michael in 2017 less than 2 years after the sale of their company when she found a bottle of
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Aderall with Michael handley's name on it so what we believed at our Treatment Center was that
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use of something like that amphetamine could open the doors to a world of trouble so when I found the bottle it
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terrified me and I can remember telling him this could lead to death this could lead to something devastating and soon
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things got even worse when Shonda discovered that Michael was seeing another woman he was having an affair
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and all I could think was like I don't even know who this man is is Shonda issued an ultimatum Michael had to go
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into treatment but when he refused to get help she made a difficult decision I changed the locks and Michael was locked
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out of the house and he started to lose his mind at that point and so after a couple of weeks he
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said you're going to regret this and then that turned into I'm telling you it's going to get
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bad then hanley's life together was falling apart fast Michael accused Shonda of assaulting him she was charged
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but later acquitted by a judge all while Shonda was begging the authorities to see that she was the one in danger if
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Michael wasn't apprehended he was going to kill me as Shonda Hanley was recovering in the
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hospital investigators were learning the details of her tumultuous past with Michael Handley they knew they had to
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find him and the kidnappers fast they started scouring the last place her abductors had been seen this canal
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there's a fisherman and he reported these two individuals Waiting by him in the water and one of them pointed a gun
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at him and said be cool but as the kidnappers had been swimming towards Freedom the Canal's
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unforgiving current had other plans behind me at the inter Coastal Canal is where two bodies were found yesterday
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they found them floating in inol Canal drowned dead dead they were later identified as Sylvester bracie and
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arcenio Haynes what did you think when you found out they were dead I thought I'm not
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going to have to worry about them hurting me as sad as that is while investigators suspected Michael
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Handley was responsible for the abduction proving it might have been difficult with their main Witnesses the
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kidnappers dead but Handley it seemed had made it kind of easy for them detectives are running the VIN number on
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the white van that VIN number leads them to an Enterprise dealership in Batar Rouge said well a few days ago an
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individual named lawren Michael Hanley came in and rented the van and then a couple days before that he went to
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Barney's police Depot which is a store that carries specifically Police Issue merchandise Handley was seen on store
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surveillance cameras as he pulls up and purchas his handcuffs finding evidence allegedly
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connecting Hanley to the kidnapping wasn't difficult but finding him turned out to be the challenge I'm asking if
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Michael's been apprehended and they they said no and so they said we need to like
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lay low for a little while with a fortune at his fingertips investigators feared he could be anywhere and a danger
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to Shonda once she was released from the hospital so they came up with a plan of
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action we decided on a safe house outside of Lafayette Sid bear a former Louisiana
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Sheriff was part of the security detail watching Shonda 24/7 we had a Lafayette sheriff's deputy
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in a marked unit on premises no visitors no package deliveries nothing until further notice even in hiding Shonda was
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feeling relief that Michael was finally being recognized as a threat after living in constant fear prior to the
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kidnapping the terror that I was in for those three months the kidnapping was nothing in comparison the kidnapping in
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was a blessing what the kidnapping is what allowed me to get to a place where people were willing to support me in the
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beginning how many people believed Shonda not many but Shonda had found a fierce Ally
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in Christine Mir her divorce attorney Christine knew all too well what Shonda had
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experienced the most dangerous case I have ever heard about let alone been a part of what made it so dangerous
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Michael Hanley he was constantly stalking her telling her that he knew where she was
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threatening her threatening her daughter with harm Shonda called the police several
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times but felt she wasn't taken seriously Christine helped Shonda secure a restraining order but says Michael
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found creative ways to make it effectively worthless he disguised his voice he also used an app that picked up
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dummy numbers that he used to contact her so there was no proof that it was him that was actually violating the
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protective order and he seemed to be tracking shonda's every move he was able to spy on her through her own laptop
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computers her alarm system he compromised all of that nothing was out of bounds Michael's Behavior was growing
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increasingly erratic even though he was the one to initially file for divorce in
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the spring of 2017 he soon changed his mind and Shonda says now he was demanding they reconcile or she'd pay a
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humiliating Price He says some of our private videos are going to go out to people in the
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community intimate videos intimate videos Shonda struggled over this but knew she couldn't take him back so
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videos went out to hundreds of people in the community my cousins uncles administration at the school
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political friends neighbors I sat and cried and was sick to my stomach I almost didn't stand up
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just when Shonda thought she couldn't take anymore on June 8th 2017 almost 2 months to the day before the kidnapping
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Michael Hanley slipped into her house through the garage he was enraged he R of alcohol he
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was he was Furious and he had me pinned up against the wall and I screamed Isabella well he put his hand over my
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mouth and he pulled out a gun a 9mm a gun he pulls out a handgun and he said if you scream or anybody comes to
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interfere I will shoot you both I will kill you both do you understand me Shonda says that after hours saying
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anything she could think of to calm him down she finally convinced Michael to leave as soon as he walked out of that
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gate I ran in the house bolted the door and I started screaming and crying when Michael left that day after he had
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attacked me I was 100% positive he was going to kill me police were called once again but they didn't arrest Michael
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Hanley I can see in your eyes that you're getting emotional oh I felt as though I was being told that that I was
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lying and that I was making it up this is why women don't report abuse because they fear they will not be
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believed how many times had Shonda filed a report against Michael I believe that the actual
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reports f were a couple dozen if not more as far as how many times was there an arrest made there wasn't why a lot of
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times he was out of state sometimes the investigators felt like they didn't have
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enough evidence to actually go forward and get a warrant for the arrest after the kidnapping
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investigators were confident that this time they had more than enough evidence to make an arrest but could they find
00:18:53
him in time so somehow Michael is able to track Shonda down to the place that she's seeking
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[Music] Refuge does Michael Hanley know that the cops are on to him yes because at some
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point he tried to Charter a PR private plane and so the pilot essentially said I am not going to be taking you anywhere
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uh because you're a wanted man the pilot reported it to police but Michael was long gone and as he continued to evade
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authorities Shonda got a text message from a strange number claiming that Michael had also been kidnapped saying
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in part pay the ransom for your husband and pay us 500 large or we will send him
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home in pieces a day later friends received a shocking photo of Michael he was nude
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handcuffed and seemingly injured and he's got blood on it right it appeared to be from shonda's kidnappers but
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investigators knew that couldn't be true we know that obviously wasn't from them
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because they're dead at this point so Michael is behind these messages on August 11th 2017 after a
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4-day man hun detectives finally cornered the multi-millionaire once accustomed to
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private jets in five-star hotels he was in this off-ramp motel in Sidell Louisiana we begin with new information
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on the arrest of a Lafayette kidnapping suspect as they took an oddly smiling Michael Handley into custody
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investigators began sifting through the nearly $10,000 in cash pizza boxes and illicit drugs finding this to-do list on
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it were things like burner phone hair dye cash but it's final task was even more ominous says prosecutor Kenny AAR
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since shonda's safe house was just 35 mil away but on the bottom of that list were
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the words finish the job and finish the job would mean in our opinion he was going to kill
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her with Michael Hanley now in jail Shonda and her security team decided it was finally safe for her to come out of
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hiding it was time to go home and that's what she said I just want to go go home
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and rebuild my life but with his track record of evading Justice Isabella was skeptical that the worst was behind them
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I remember thinking that it was almost pointless that he was being arrested it felt like he had all the power and he
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was going to keep all the power Michael Hanley pleaded not guilty to a Litany of charges including
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conspiracy to commit second deegree murder and prosecutors got to work building their case against him
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anytime you're on our side of the table you start thinking what's the defense going to
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be we could not figure out what his defense was going to be there was no question that she was a victim of a
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kidnapping but says Kevin stock still the man who Michael Hanley hired to defend him the physical evidence doesn't
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prove his client played a part in any of it were the van and the handcuffs enough
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to convict him I don't think so that is because stock still says that there is an explanation for everything
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it started when Michael hired Sylvester bracie not to kidnap his wife but instead he claims to move some furniture
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that was the reason Michael rented the van he says and made no effort to hide it Mr Hanley you know goes into the
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Enterprise uh renter car location with his credit card in one hand and dri's license and the other so you thought you
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could explain to the jury Hey listen nobody who's actually going to commit this crime is going to go in with their
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license and ID and buy it themselves correct it was all innocent enough stock still says until the wbe Mover went
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rogue stock still theorizes Sylvester bracie saw Michael's desperation to get his wife back and decided to use it to
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his advantage that's when he enlisted arcenio Haynes to help him kidnap Shonda and hold her for ransom so you're
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thinking the kidnappers could have wanted to extort Michael to get money from him so they
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would have kidnapped his wife potentially and of course he did buy the handcuffs but stock still says he only
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used them to Stage that fake kidnapping photo so as he's bound and gagged he's bound with handcuffs it was just the
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latest example according to stock still of photos and videos that Michael had been sending to Shonda for months
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showing him an emotional distress and in one case apparently beaten up in a misguided attempt to try and win her
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back I love you I love you because Michael had he had a proclivity to try and Stage these things
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to to get you know sympathy from Shonda but as the defense prepared to argue that the kidnappers acted on their
00:24:20
own Shonda Hanley made a damning discovery while cleaning out a remote Mississippi property they owned starts
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getting some of her personal belongings well one of the things that they found was this camera it was a type of camera
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called Arlo Michael Handley used it for security when Arlo detects sound in video Arlo starts recording that's right
00:24:44
that's right well it turns out he accidentally turned the camera on himself all put together what did the
00:24:51
camera record I mean hundreds of hours hundreds of hours one of the First videos is from 2
00:25:03
months before the kidnapping Michael is by himself in a hotel room and is apparently talking to himself you see
00:25:10
him moving around and at some point he picks the camera up and he puts it in a back and
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you hear him say the words I'm going to kill her I'm going to kill her kill her kill
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her prosecutors believe the her he intended to kill was Shonda and that Michael was even
00:25:31
more explicit just days later in a conversation with a friend in the living room of the Mississippi house they're
00:25:39
having beers and they're discussing the issues that he's having with Shonda surrend right yeah she's not going to
00:25:50
and you're not going to the friend later said he didn't recall hearing what Michael said next that's why
00:25:57
she Michael says that's why she's going to have to die so matter of fact in yet another clip from just two
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weeks before the kidnapping Michael Hanley is caught with Sylvester bracie at that property planning how it was the
00:26:13
perfect place prosecutor say to bring Shonda to torture her and possibly worse he specifically says it's almost
00:26:22
impossible for anyone to get in here to which bracie responds and it'll be impossible for her to get out
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I mean did you think you had a rock solid case before that yes well what' you think after it uh I thought I must
00:26:45
have done something right in the world then in a move no one saw coming that's when go give us the truth the
00:26:53
whole truth nothing but the truth St you got I do Michael Hanley agreed to tell his side of
00:26:59
things what is the strongest piece of evidence against Michael Handley chat now on Facebook and
00:27:16
Twitter while awaiting trial for the kidnapping of his estranged wife Shonda Michael Hanley was held in the Lafayette
00:27:23
Parish Correctional Center but Shonda says even though Michael was behind bars he continued to harass her I've received
00:27:32
a lot of mail letters while he's been incarcerated at numerous calls can't they stop him from calling you I guess
00:27:42
not on top of that Shonda lived in fear that Michael just might get out that's because at one point the defense argued
00:27:51
that Michael was suffering from mental illness and was not guilty by reason of insanity
00:28:01
when Michael was sober he was a fantastic individual you know very talented willing to help people when he
00:28:09
was found at the hotel in Sidell I mean there were drugs there you know there's no question that he was using
00:28:16
again I don't know the level of his responsibility but I think it's a combination of um substance abuse and
00:28:25
some mental illness for prosecutor Kenny AAR however it was a desperate attempt to get
00:28:32
Michael released they did it so that they could get some psychological professionals on the stand to say he
00:28:39
needs to be out of jail and he needs to go to these mental health facilities well we're talking about
00:28:45
mental health facilities that don't have nearly the security that a jail has Michael's defense team submitted mental
00:28:52
health records showing that he suffered from bipolar disorder Complicated by drug addiction
00:28:58
which they say rendered him legally insane during the time leading up to the kidnapping two courta appointed doctors
00:29:06
agreed but the judge ruled that Michael was competent to stand trial and must remain Behind
00:29:12
Bars once they initially failed to get him out they withdrew that play and what did they change it to they just changed
00:29:18
it to regular not guilty while Michael hanley's criminal battle was heating up in March
00:29:25
2018 his divorce from Shonda became G finalized Shonda was awarded all of the assets there was only one problem there
00:29:35
is no money there's no money you know millions of dollars vanish Michael was a very Ecentric person he was obsessed
00:29:44
with the collapse of the American dollar so much of their money was in gold bars
00:29:50
Shonda said she had seen gold before and knew that there was gold somewhere on that property I believe people actually
00:29:57
went out with metal detectors to try to figure out if he stashed it somewhere no
00:30:01
gold was ever recovered so there's all of this money that's unaccounted for but we know it's got to be out there
00:30:08
somewhere on top of being left with nothing Shonda says she suddenly found herself responsible for repaying her now
00:30:16
ex-husband's massive debts how much of a hole did he leave you in 750,000 I can't comprehend how I'm now
00:30:26
in a position where I owe this sort of money Shonda felt like it was a slap in the face after enduring so much but it
00:30:36
wasn't all for not during the settlement negotiations shonda's divorce attorney Christine me had subpoenaed Michael for
00:30:43
a deposition and surprisingly he agreed I mean that's wild it is I can imagine that someone with the arrogance that
00:30:53
Michael Hanley had insisted that he was going to be testify and it was going to be fine cuz he is the smartest person in
00:30:59
the room shonda's divorce attorney and the prosecutors had agreed to cooperate with each other and everyone was
00:31:07
interested in hearing what Michael Hanley had to say it was a risk cuz he might go into
00:31:13
that deposition and say stuff that really jeopardizes his criminal case I've never been more nervous in a
00:31:18
deposition than that one do you swear the testimony God gives the truth the whole truth dressed in a
00:31:24
striped prison uniform Michael answered questions for for 10 hours over 3 days I
00:31:30
was hanging on every question I bet you were yeah it was a chaotic and hectic time I was living out of hotels I've
00:31:37
been moving from hotel to hotel for several months Michael was asked about his relationship with Sylvester bracie
00:31:43
and the reason he rented that van I had hired him to move furniture I rented the
00:31:49
van to make a move to move the furniture he stuck with his original story he said that he had hired Movers
00:31:58
in order to move furniture and they went rogue because they thought he had money
00:32:03
I got a phone call as soon as I answered the phone and I said hello they screamed
00:32:09
um they screamed we've got your mother wife and um I just remember cuz it was like I got punched in the it's like one
00:32:18
of those moments when you go into AO but when pressed about the details of how he first met bracie I don't recall
00:32:30
Michael claimed he couldn't remember much about the weeks leading up to the kidnapping I don't remember I don't know
00:32:37
I don't recall that's why I'm hesitating I don't remember I don't recall I don't
00:32:41
recall I don't recall there are big gaps in my memory I don't know I don't know the reason that I don't recall is
00:32:48
because I was high I was living like a rock star I was on and off medications during this period of time and I was
00:32:54
under the influence of substances mental illness is tough you know but he insisted despite the gaps in
00:33:01
memory there was one thing he knew for certain I would not kidnap my wife he would cry and say that he loved her so
00:33:11
much I don't remember that he was so sorry it was that type of manipulation I have a tremendous
00:33:20
regret during the deposition Christine pulled that Arlo camera recording in which prosecutors believe bracie and
00:33:28
Handley were caught talking about the plot to kidnap Shonda the wife Handley claimed he loved so much I queued up
00:33:37
where One of the kidnappers was telling Michael and you know if she gets out of line I won't hesitate to kill
00:33:47
her and I said what kind of movers tell that to you and his fear was palpable and he said oh I don't know Christine
00:33:57
people tell me all sorts of things Michael Hanley withered under questioning poking holes in his own
00:34:05
defense with his own words the civil attorneys provided us with those deposition transcripts shortly after
00:34:12
receiving them and with the trial date fast approaching Michael's defense attorney feared the worst we were of the
00:34:19
opinion that he ran a significant risk of of a conviction with the walls closing in an
00:34:27
hour before the trial was set to start Michael Handley indicated he was open to a deal he would plead you know to second
00:34:35
degree kidnapping um the minimum sentence would be 15 years the maximum sentence would be 35 years prosecutors
00:34:43
Donnie KET and Kenny AAR say there was a lot to take into consideration the problem with a jury trial is you you
00:34:50
almost never know but I also knew that there's Shonda Hanley there's Isabella you've got victims that have to relive
00:34:57
that moment if you go to trial ultimately the decision to take the deal or go to trial was shaas I was so scared
00:35:07
that if we went to trial that it could work out beautifully for him because Michael always lands on
00:35:15
his feet once Michael's out I'm no longer free see more of the evidence photos at
00:35:25
48 hours.com [Music] in July 2021 all Shonda Handley wanted was for her ex-husband Michael Hanley to
00:35:45
stay behind bars so she agreed to accept his plea of guilty to second degree kidnapping I didn't want to take any
00:35:54
risks I would rather the plea deal than to take the chance and go to trial less than a year later on March
00:36:02
24th 2022 Shonda was in the courtroom to find out what Michael's sentence would be Isabella was there too as was
00:36:13
Michael what was it like to come face to face with him in court it was so surreal
00:36:19
you know and I think honestly for both of us it was this really strong powerful emotion that we both felt but mine was
00:36:29
hatred hoping to help convince the judge to give Michael the maximum sentence Isabella chose to give a victim impact
00:36:38
statement what did you say at the hearing I really kind of told a story about how difficult it really made my
00:36:46
life and how difficult it still makes my life because I didn't think he knew that
00:36:51
it affected me as well as it affected her Shonda also had something she wanted to say to Michael
00:36:58
I told him that he wrecked everything and that he destroyed everything and how could you like we had like a
00:37:05
really we had a good life we had a good family and we we adored each other he was the person I
00:37:15
most admired in this world until then do you think Michael understands his actions
00:37:23
have had an effect on his former wife and stepchild I think think that he does you get to sense the guy's sorry I think
00:37:30
so I think he's capable of remorse yet when it was Michael's turn to speak instead of a tearful apology he gave yet
00:37:39
another new story this time he admitted he did in fact hire the two men to kidnap Shonda but he claimed it was all
00:37:47
fake and staged so that he could swoop in save her and be the hero what he really wanted to do was
00:37:57
emerge as the White Knight who came in and rescued her it was a way for him to try to win her back but he never really
00:38:04
intended to hurt her it was all a big game in the end the judge sided with the prosecution and gave Michael Hanley the
00:38:13
maximum penalty a Lafayette man was sentenced today in the 2017 kidnapping case of his estranged wife Lawrence
00:38:22
Michael Handley received 35 years in prison for the crime 35 years minus five for time served puts him out
00:38:32
when he's 79 79 are you okay with that I'd rather he never get out are you still afraid even
00:38:40
with him behind bars oh yeah that concern is something Isabella shares do you fear for your safety from
00:38:51
Michael Handley yeah I do nothing could stop him I just see him as a a villain not a good person and I'm not sad about
00:39:02
it in my mind he's changed to a completely different person so it doesn't feel like I've lost my dad it
00:39:09
feels like I've lost a stranger the now 20-year-old college junior chooses to focus on the valuable
00:39:16
lesson that she learned from her mother it's so powerful to see how my mom handled
00:39:23
this situation she shown me how she can overcome something so horrible and turn it into something great and become an
00:39:32
even better person out of it welcome welcome to our house I'm glad that um you're here Shonda has found renewed
00:39:40
purpose working with others like her I know the ladies she sold property took out a loan and opened two Sober Living
00:39:47
homes dedicated to helping women get back on their feet we want you to feel comfortable I want you to feel like this
00:39:52
is a safe place where you can start a new it's been really really rewarding and you know from my experiences that
00:40:01
I've had um the challenges that I've had I'm able to show them firsthand that we
00:40:07
get up we keep going we put one foot in front of the other and uh we will persevere an important part of moving
00:40:15
forward for Shonda has been recognizing those who stood by her and while she did
00:40:22
speak on the phone with Chad Martin that officer who saved she we never got the chance to thank him in person until now
00:40:31
when we arranged for them to meet so good to meet you good to see you again yeah I'm looking at you to see if I can
00:40:40
remember I remember I'm really glad that uh I was in the right place at the right
00:40:45
time to help you really glad yeah thank you feel like I owe you everything I guess my greatest
00:40:53
gratitude in you saving my life is that my daughter gets to have her mom and have a good life thank you
00:41:01
give you another hug [Music] wow oh wife disappears she just vanished why was her husband contacting
00:41:32
spellcasters he wrote can you hex to have her hurt enough maybe an accident or broken bone do you think Maya left
00:41:39
that house on her own no no 48 hours Saturday on [Music] CBS [Music] [Music] at 6 years old I had never been in
00:42:28
darkness like that before it was just pitch black like the dark was touching me engulfing me like I
00:42:37
was actually inhaling the darkness Chowchilla in 1976 was a cow toown you could could
00:42:57
drive through the heart of town in about 30 [Music] seconds very close niit Community
00:43:07
everybody looked out for each other people didn't lock their doors there was nothing to
00:43:13
fear I didn't know what fear was I still have a hard time grasping the way that my life changed on July
00:43:26
15th just another average summer day very hot going to summer school and that day we
00:43:35
got to go to the town swimming pool got back on the bus ready to go home the bus
00:43:41
driver was Ed Ray he was a strong Quiet Man everybody liked Edward and respected
00:43:48
him the buses had the windows down the Hot Summer Breeze the kids were laughing and singing Happy
00:43:57
and just glad to be going home what I remember was traveling he just left off two kids all of a sudden
00:44:06
he said what the heck is this and then I can remember the bus stopping at a stop
00:44:11
sign Edward went to go around a white van that was parked in the road and then this man came up with a stocking over
00:44:20
his head with a gun and said open the door the first man came on the bus and he had a gun Ed R said what's going on
00:44:33
and he said shut up and move to the back I remember telling him that if he didn't
00:44:38
get me home on time my dad would be on him like stink on skunk you know I wasn't afraid of anything I didn't know
00:44:45
I needed to be and then another man came on the bus and he had a s double barrel
00:44:56
shotgun the shotgun filled me with Terror the mass men had panty hoose pulled over their face it was a very
00:45:07
distorted look where their eyes were it almost looked Hollow it was like looking
00:45:13
at death one of the kidnappers got into the driver's seat and the bus started moving
00:45:24
again I started to think I wonder where they're taking us 26 school children and their bus
00:45:33
driver have vanished anguished parents President Ford hundreds of searching police are asking the question where are
00:45:41
the [Music] children [Music] [Music] just outside Chowchilla on July 15th 1976 the frightening Journey
00:46:44
began we start driving down the road I was wondering how it was going to feel to die I was too scared to
00:46:55
move 26 terrified children some as young as five were staring down the barrel of a
00:47:04
sought off shotgun three masked men had hijacked the Dairyland Elementary School Bus one
00:47:12
had the shotgun one drove the bus and one followed behind in the white van they'd used to block the
00:47:20
road it's a hard thing to explain cuz I'd never been around guns you only seen bad guys in the movies with stockings on
00:47:28
you know so I knew it wasn't good Edward kept telling us kids just to be quiet sit down do what they
00:47:37
say Edward was speaking in a harsh tone and that normally was not the Edward that we knew and
00:47:45
loved eventually the bus went off the road down into a dry riverbed and into this big Grove of
00:47:56
bamboo that were taller actually than the bus and then as I looked out one of the side
00:48:05
windows I saw that there was another van that was parked there they parked the bus and there was a green van down there
00:48:12
waiting for us even at the age of nine little Jennifer Brown seemed to know the horror of that day should be documented
00:48:20
walk over she later made this recording with her mom and there was two guys standing from the bus door to the van
00:48:27
door with guns um with panty H over their head so we wouldn't run out and then see they pulled the van right up to
00:48:35
the um bus door the kidnappers herded the stunned children from the bus into those two Vans we had to jump from the
00:48:44
bus to the van so there um wouldn't see any feet [Music] prints when it was my turn to get on the
00:48:55
van he stopped me he held a shotgun to my stomach I said I was doing what you said and I had to stand there with this
00:49:07
gun in my gut until the one van drove away and they backed the second van up it felt like
00:49:16
forever I thought he was going to shoot me I actually did Jennifer Larry and the rest of the
00:49:24
children followed jod into the second van along with the bus driver ed Ray then the kidnappers closed the
00:49:33
doors it was pitch dark the Vans had been converted into makeshift jail cells by installing wood paneling and even
00:49:42
painting the windows no one could see in or [Music] out the kidnappers sped off with the
00:49:51
children caged in those mobile prisons and I felt like I was an animal going to the slaughter
00:49:59
house around that time Jennifer's mom Joan Brown came home from work the house was empty the children were not there uh
00:50:08
no peanut butter uh on the counter no chairs out there well they just weren't [Music]
00:50:16
there as one hour turned to two worried parents began helping the police retrace
00:50:22
the school bus's route crisscrossing dozens of rural roads where were those children 26 of
00:50:31
them and a bus driver nowhere and then just before Sunset a police pilot spotted the big
00:50:41
bus about 7 mil outside Chowchilla hidden in the dry riverbed you would only see it from the
00:50:50
air Madera County Sheriff Ed Bates rushed to the scene we found a tire impressions in the sand that led
00:50:59
straight to the front door of the bus obviously someone had backed their vehicle up to the doors of the bus
00:51:05
Sheriff Bates was convinced I called the governor I said I need some help down here the children of Chowchilla had
00:51:13
become the victims of a Brazen and bizarre mass kidnapping I had the parents all assembled there in the fire
00:51:24
station well you could just look at their faces and uh the anxiety and the fear was
00:51:32
there I told him I called the FBI all of a sudden I had 30 FBI agents there as Sheriff Bates continued to
00:51:41
widen the investigation the children continued to suffer inside the sweltering pitch black
00:51:49
vans we'd bang on where the driver's panel would be like let us out let us out and they would just say shut up
00:51:58
[Music] and we drove what seemed like for hours upon hours upon hours and I remember that I kept falling
00:52:13
asleep and coming back awake I would dream about being I would dream about being up in
00:52:24
the forest where my family would go camping we all tried to comfort each other and a few of my um little friends
00:52:40
that are five and six that came over and started laying on me and crying and I told him be brave cuz everything's going
00:52:47
to be all right then the van started to slow down the kids could feel it pulling off the
00:52:57
road lurching from side to side on rough terrain before coming to a stop after nearly 12 unbearable
00:53:06
hours they opened up the door and they took EDR out first they shut the doors back and we're like where's Edward now
00:53:13
what what are they doing and I remember they would just grab the first kid that was inside the door they and they just
00:53:19
kept doing that they open the door and they grab somebody else they open up the door they take the next kid out and they
00:53:23
close the doors but when they open the doors you don't see them I thought they were basically killing us each one at a
00:53:31
time I kept scooting to the back of the van and I thought maybe if I just hide in the corner they won't come for
00:53:38
me but they did I didn't know if it was in the desert at at the beach in the side of a mountain I had no
00:54:00
idea where we were I didn't even know if we were in [Music] California after almost 12 hours in
00:54:08
darkness 10-year-old jod Heffington was the last to be taken out of the first fan being the last one you don't know
00:54:18
what's going to happen because you don't see nobody else what happened to them if
00:54:23
you didn't kill them where are they at they had flashlights kind of like shining in their faces and then one
00:54:30
shining on your face and they said what's your name and I actually I have a little bit of a smart ass in me and I
00:54:38
said PUD and Tain ask me again I'll tell you the same I was pissed and I was scared at the same
00:54:44
time they said if you don't tell us your name you're never going to see your mom
00:54:48
and dad again do you understand and they took all my belongings and then they said you're
00:54:54
going to go down in this hole right here the hole led to an old truck trailer buried
00:55:05
underground Ed Ray and the children from the first fan were there there was a table set up in the
00:55:15
back it was surrounded with jugs of drinking water on some of the mattresses they had some cereal a loaf of bread and
00:55:24
some peanut butter in the wheel wells they had cut holes in them for toilets we could hear fans so we knew that there
00:55:32
was some sort of ventilation 14-year-old Michael Marshall was still in the other van with some of
00:55:42
the youngest children the kids got a hold to me and were holding on to me and scared out of
00:55:50
you know we're all just scared of our wits as they did before the kidnappers removed the children one by
00:56:01
one Michael and the youngest 5-year-old Monica artery were the last ones left in
00:56:07
the van it was just me and her not knowing what had happened to the other children or if they were even alive
00:56:15
Michael says he couldn't bear to hand Monica over to the kidnappers so when they open the doors again he went first
00:56:23
I had to take her hands from mine and R and take them apart say be okay and go with them and leave
00:56:32
her that was hard as soon as I got on that ladder and took a step down and I heard the rest of the kids
00:56:44
say smike SMY Michael and and I realized that everybody was alive and to his relief not long after
00:56:58
Monica came climbing down that ladder they were all together again we're okay we're okay we're okay so right now so
00:57:07
far we're all right but the sense of relief was shortlived before I knew it the ladder
00:57:13
was gone they threw a rolled toilet paper down and said we'll be back for you and that was
00:57:20
it the kidnappers then covered the opening with a manhole cover what I remember it just went
00:57:28
dark and you just hear the material getting throwed on us we would been buried alive buried 12T
00:57:41
underground I just remember looking up at that hole I wanted to stay close I wanted to be like right there cuz that
00:57:48
was the way out at Ray and Mike Marshall they looked at every corner every wall for an Escape
00:57:54
Route got underne the manhole cover pushed up on it they couldn't move it so Ed raay determined that it was
00:58:04
time for everyone to get some rest the minutes and hours ticked by it would be silent and then somebody
00:58:18
would bust out crying and oh would just erupt every crying the thing that made me cry
00:58:31
was not being able to say goodbye to my mom and I'm remembering the last time that I saw
00:58:43
her and wishing I could have told her goodbye throughout much of this day parents and other family of the missing
00:58:54
children came to the command of post set up in downtown Chowchilla to try desperately to Fathom some reason out of
00:59:00
this madness Carol Marshall's 14-year-old son Mike was another on the bus any chance at all this could be some
00:59:06
kind of terrible hoax or joke that someone is playing I imagine there's a chance I hope that's all it is it is
00:59:14
believed to be the largest kidnapping in US history so far there's been no word from any
00:59:24
abductors they had been in the ho for almost 12 hours and the conditions were deteriorating we had eaten the
00:59:34
food the fans on the ventilator stopped my little brain started to grasp the concept of we may really not go
00:59:45
home there was this one boy and he kept kicking blocks out from underneath the 4x4 pillars and so the roof of the van
00:59:56
was starting to cave in the seams were breaking dust was flowing through the sides of the van were bowing in children
01:00:05
just screaming and crying we thought if we're going to die we're going to die trying to get out of
01:00:12
here see more photos from the case at 48 hours.com [Music] as a young kid you don't have a lot of
01:00:32
sense of time there was no sunlight so you couldn't tell if it was day or night we were out of food we were out of
01:00:42
water the roof was caving in it just was a desperate situation everybody got the mattresses
01:00:51
and stacked them up as high as we could go right underneath the manhole cover people started standing on each other's
01:00:58
shoulders I was a very tall girl and very strong so they stood on my shoulders when they didn't stand on um
01:01:05
Edwards they took turns pushing up on the manhole cover I'm giving it everything I got and all the kids are
01:01:13
cheering me on you know come on Mike you can do it you can do it then all of a sudden they said it moved it moved but
01:01:21
they were far from being free the kidnappers had put truck batteries and dirt on top of the manhole cover and had
01:01:29
constructed a wooden box around it once the manhole cover was moved that box was
01:01:35
just big enough for Michael to stand [Music] in like Jennifer Michael Marshall made a
01:01:44
recording about his experience box I started hitting and Bing and hitting and Bing he dug until he was exhausted and
01:01:58
then he kept on digging there was no quit in him never knew when we got out there just going to be standing there
01:02:07
with shotguns in our head and stuff so we there pretty [Music] scared then suddenly this Ray of
01:02:24
sunlight this Ray of sunlight came down into the opening it was catching the dust and the dust particles looked like
01:02:39
a bunch of shooting stars there was this airflow that came out of the van and I knew we were
01:02:52
free I need a minute the air and the light there was beaming coming [Music] through Mike Marshall actually Brave
01:03:19
person that he is crawled out of the hole first and I stuck my head out and there was nobody I didn't see anybody
01:03:26
and I can see we were in the Hills he said the coast is clear and so we started taking the little ones and
01:03:35
putting them up there and Mike grabbed them that part was kind of scary too cuz we're out now we don't know who's out
01:03:45
here it was approximately 8:00 p.m. on July 16th they had been in the hole for nearly 16
01:03:52
hours we all just scurried like a bunch of little ice we saw conveyor belts excavators it looked like The
01:04:04
Flintstones and all these men with hard hats came to us and looked at us like who are
01:04:14
you the kidnappers had buried them in a rock quarry in Livermore California 100 Mil away from
01:04:24
Chowchilla when police arrived as evidence they took photos of every [Music] child an alamia County Jail
01:04:38
bus came and it was like yeah they put us back on a bus then they transported them to the closest place that could
01:04:45
hold them the Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center a local jail I remember going in in the bus and
01:04:53
you could see the prison wife and you thought well they're taking us into jail they took us into what looked like
01:05:04
classrooms they brought us apples and soda they had these everall and all us little kids got into them and we had to
01:05:13
roll the pants up about 10 feet and then we rolled the arms up and we were all sitting there some of them didn't roll
01:05:20
our arms up we sitting there flapping our arms we said hey we can fly over the next few hours Ed Ray and the
01:05:28
children were examined by doctors they were also questioned by police each one of us was interrogated by ourselves to
01:05:36
tell our story how do you describe somebody that has panty hose over their face after 4 hours of questioning they
01:05:44
were finally allowed to go home they put us on a Greyhound escorted us back to chap
01:05:54
Chilla it was time for Mom and Dad I just wanted my Mom and Dad it was 4:00 a.m.
01:06:01
when the bus arrived at last it had been almost 36 hours since their traumatic ordeal
01:06:10
began the scene was like a mob scene news cameras and TV lights everybody started um saying are
01:06:19
you all right Jennifer and all this stuff I said yeah I'm fine then whenever we got into this room I found my mom and
01:06:27
my dad we pulled up to CH chill and I was asleep so when I got off the bus I started taking pictures of me and I'm
01:06:38
like how you doing what was [Applause] like they just let us off the bus with all these people and you didn't know
01:06:50
where your parents were this man carried me off the bus and he put me in my mom's
01:06:59
arms and I said hi Mom and fell asleep on her shoulder I felt I felt like I was finally
01:07:10
safe nothing was ever the same nothing was ever the same after that we had no idea what our kids have been
01:07:28
through none whatsoever how does it feel to be a big movie star I don't know i' never been a movie star before for
01:07:35
9-year-old Jennifer Brown the experience has allowed her to still see the world with compassion why do you suppose that
01:07:42
they would do something like that I don't know they didn't have enough love she had horrible
01:07:50
nightmares she would run screaming into our bedroom room and she wasn't even awake and she would tell us later that
01:08:02
she dreamt that they were lined up and shot one night I was dreaming that I was falling down this hole and I was trying
01:08:16
to get out I started screaming for my mom mom came in and all I could do was cry and all she could do was hold
01:08:40
[Music] me today in this rock quarry they Unearthed the truck that was prison and
01:08:50
very nearly a tomb for 26 children and their school bus driver unearthing the h who and why of all this is much
01:08:59
harder in the days following the kids's Escape investigators searched the rock quarry and the van that had been their
01:09:07
underground tomb hoping they would find clues that would lead them to the kidnappers they looked to see who would
01:09:14
have keys to the quy in order to have access to bury this moving container undetected you would have to have access
01:09:22
assistant district attorney Jill kingy Fred Woods had keys to that quarry 24-year-old Frederick New Hall Woods the
01:09:30
son of the owner of the Quarry immediately became a person of interest they looked at The Ledger surveillance
01:09:36
tapes and started to put put it all together at that point security guards told investigators
01:09:43
they had seen three young men digging a large hole in the Quarry months before the
01:09:49
kidnapping one of them they said was Fred Woods and Woods had a record 2 years earlier he had been
01:09:58
charged with Grand Theft Auto arrested with him were two of his friends James shenfeld Fred's partner in
01:10:06
a used car business and James's younger brother Richard all three were from wealthy
01:10:13
families who lived in San Francisco's nicest suburbs they escaped with a fine and probation they're young they're
01:10:22
wealthy I think it added a component of Fascination to the story because it was so unlikely that three
01:10:28
men such as these would commit such a atrocious crime investigators executed a warrant to search Fred Woods's father's
01:10:37
estate for the last two days the woods estate has looked like an armed Camp dozens of officers looking for anything
01:10:43
what they found there was a treasure Trove of evidence we were able to recover one of the guns that was used
01:10:49
during this kidnapping this crime was planned out for a year and a half in intricate
01:10:56
detail you actually have a document labeled plan and it sets out the way they were going to commit the kidnapping
01:11:04
and then they on the right hand side put how they would compensate or deal with what could go wrong they also recovered
01:11:11
the draft of a ransom note the draft of the ransom note says $2.5 million but in
01:11:16
actuality they were going to ask for $5 million from the state of California but the kidnappers were never
01:11:23
able to deliver their demand when they tried to call the Chowchilla Police Department because of the number of
01:11:29
calls that were coming in worldwide the phone lines were jammed they couldn't get through so they took a nap and by
01:11:36
the time they woke up they saw in the news that the kids had been found so they were never able to request their
01:11:42
anom and so the search is on Nationwide for these three men in their arrest warrants were issued Richard shenfeld
01:11:50
turned himself in Fred woods and James shenfeld fled California but not for long James shenfeld was
01:11:59
captured at dawn today police say he ran hard all over the western United States
01:12:03
but he did not run well Frederick Woods was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police this
01:12:09
afternoon just across the Washington state border in Vancouver I remember being physically
01:12:15
ill when I actually saw him after that you kind of did have a sense of you can breathe they're behind bars
01:12:26
so what drove these young men seemingly well off to kidnap young children for money James shenfeld eventually said
01:12:34
despite their parents' wealth he and Fred Woods were in serious debt he would later tell the parole board we needed
01:12:41
multiple victims to get multiple millions and we picked children because children are precious the state would be
01:12:49
willing to pay ransom for them and they don't fight back I think that the two shelts did it just on pure persuasion by
01:12:57
Fred Woods Fred Woods in my own personal opinion and I have a master's degree I think he was a sociopath some might call
01:13:04
him a psychopath with the overwhelming evidence against them woods and the show andells pleaded guilty to 27 counts of
01:13:14
kidnapping for ransom and robbery but they refused to plead guilty to8 counts of bodily harm those charges would send
01:13:22
them to prison for life without the possibility of parole so 16 months after their
01:13:30
abduction Jennifer Michael jod and some of the other children face the kidnappers in court you're in this
01:13:37
little box and they're there looking at you just glaring at you and staring you down they testified that in addition to
01:13:46
the emotional trauma they had suffered physical wounds like cuts and bruises and I looked over at them and I just
01:13:54
broke down that was the first time I cried so they allowed my father to come sit by me and that made
01:14:04
me feel a lot safer the kidnappers were sitting to my left at a table I remember giving my dad
01:14:13
my gum because I told him I was going to spit my gum at him you say they would give you this funny look what did that
01:14:20
make you feel scared I did my testimony I answered my question questions and I left that courtroom with my head held
01:14:28
high and there was no way that I was going to let them see me cry a California judge today impose mandatory
01:14:35
life prison sentences without parole on those three young men who kidnapped 26 chachilla I remember thinking they're
01:14:43
going to go to jail they're not going to do this to anybody else that's all that
01:14:47
I need to know with the kidnapper sentenced to prison for the rest of their lives the
01:14:53
survivors thought their nightmare was finally over bye but it was just beginning bye Jennifer
01:15:01
bye see more photos from the case at 48 hours.com just 5 weeks after being buried alive the gutsy children of
01:15:23
Chowchilla and their bus driver ed Ray were hailed as Heroes there was even a trip to
01:15:30
Disneyland everyone thought that was great because the good memories of Disneyland would overshadow the bad
01:15:36
memories of the kidnapping but it wasn't that simple in a way you try to be normal but when you've gone through
01:15:52
something that's so traumatic is it's hard to go back and be a normal kid again sometimes it's like life is an act
01:16:04
you try to be good for everybody else so they don't worry but they worry anyway so I advise everybody else not to
01:16:11
do it that way the Survivor struggled to move forward but just four years after the
01:16:20
kidnappings a critical Turning Point the kidnappers lawyers appealed the finding
01:16:26
of bodily harm prosecutor Jill clingy and the appell at court overturned it and while acknowledging the heric nature
01:16:33
of the crime stated that the injury suffered did not rise to the level of bodily harm under the
01:16:39
law so Fred woods and the shanfeld brothers were resentenced to life with the possibility of parole they would get
01:16:47
a parole hearing every one or two years I felt like I had been betrayed by the just
01:16:55
system just 6 years after the kidnappings the parade of parole hearings began every time one of the
01:17:03
kidnappers came up for parole it triggered all their fears and Trauma the hearings took place inside the prison
01:17:11
they sit in the same room and it's not a large room with the kidnapper the first
01:17:17
time I was terrified for all three kidnappers there had been more than 60 parole hearings to date jod heing and
01:17:25
went to nearly all of them it just seems like every 3 years I go and I go three times every time it's excruciating and
01:17:34
the aftermath is um never good Jody and the other survivors watched helplessly as Richard shenfeld was the first to be
01:17:42
granted Parole in June 2012 36 years after the kidnappings 3 years later James shenfeld was paroled too as far as
01:17:52
I know they have not been in any kind of trouble the same could not be said for Fred
01:17:58
Woods he repeatedly broke prison rules he was caught with pornography and cell phones hello my name is jod madano I was
01:18:12
Jody Heffington in 2018 48 Hours was at Fred Woods's 15th parole hearing and recorded audio of Jody's testimony to
01:18:22
listen to him talk about his poor childhood um I don't know if I want to laugh cry cuss him or what because um
01:18:33
where did my childhood go like I told him Mr Woods you're not a kidnapper you're a thief you're a thief
01:18:43
of lives not just the the kids that were in the bus but they stole our family's lives and
01:18:56
what we all had before that after that hearing Woods was again denied parole it was 28 hours of Terror that
01:19:11
will always be with Michael Jennifer jod and Larry all who have managed to find ways to get on with living healing
01:19:20
continues if you allow it Larry Park who spent his 20s and 30s abusing drugs now owns a handyman
01:19:31
business and volunteers as a pastor at a local church his nightmares have finally
01:19:36
stopped and he is sober I have 9 years sober his sobriety was motivated by an epiphany about the kidnappers my
01:19:47
resentment for them was killing me one night I was laying ined de and I said God help me to forgive
01:20:03
them Larry met the men shook their hands and did forgive them here he is with Richard shenfeld it changed my
01:20:13
life something washed over me and there was peace like I had never known and I knew that day that I would
01:20:26
be okay Jennifer Brown Hyde a wife mother and executive assistant says it took her
01:20:33
decades before she could even sleep without a nightlight and I've had family and
01:20:40
church family and co-workers that have piece by piece helped put me back together and I want people to know that
01:20:48
that little girl that was kidnapped and buried alive has managed to live a Wonderful Life
01:20:56
Michael Marshall had lost his way after the kidnapping I went to bed at 18 drunk
01:21:03
and hung over and blacked out and woke up about 48 you know with a hangover blurry he is sober and has found
01:21:13
happiness as a father and a long-distance trucker he tries not to think about those
01:21:19
kidnappers what they put my mom and dad through through is something I cannot [Music]
01:21:38
forgive Jody Heffington never left the Chowchilla area she opened her own hair salon and raised a
01:21:46
son but she struggled to find peace of mind how that day of affected me has affected
01:21:58
me every day in some way or another I think it made me not a good daughter not a good
01:22:09
sister not a good Aunt especially not a good mother and probably not a a good friend I try to be those things but it
01:22:24
seems like it um it just took something from me that I can't ever get back and I can't tear it
01:22:41
down no matter how hard I try and no matter what I [Music] do a young mother found dead in her car
01:23:10
where's the gun sir it's right here in her hand it appears she took her own life but could she have shot herself
01:23:17
twice it just seems like something out of a movie instead of real life 48 hours Saturday on CBS and stream on Paramount
01:23:27
[Music] Plus on behalf of the state of Wisconsin I am so proud to present our hometown
01:23:45
hero award to miss Jamie Claus it's amazing it's amazing and and she is an extraordinary child and I
01:23:56
cannot wait to see what she becomes she's I hope she has a chance to be a kid [Music]
01:24:11
again for 88 days I have stood before you and said we would work tires s to bring Jamie Claus
01:24:17
home today I can report we have done just that 13-year-old Jamie Claus who disappeared the day her parents were
01:24:24
murdered in October has been found and she is alive and she is [Music] safe I was crying and talking and he's
01:24:36
like what is wrong I go Jam's phone it's unbelievable it is miraculous Jamie is the hero in this
01:24:43
case there's no question about it she's the one that helped us break the case it's amazing the will of that
01:24:50
13-year-old girl to survive and Escape I was finishing my walk right at the end of my driveway and Jamie was coming
01:24:59
towards me she just said I'm lost I don't know where I am I knew she needed help so I knew I need to get her out of
01:25:05
the cold I knew I need to get her to a safe place hi I have um a young lady at my house right now and she says her name
01:25:13
is Jamie cloth okay have you seen her photo ma'am yes it is her I 100% think it as her okay I've got multiple
01:25:21
deputies headed out there just hearing the story My Heart's beating a little faster just because I
01:25:28
can't imagine what it was like for this young girl who's gone through who knows what to finally see somebody that can
01:25:34
help her whatever it took I was not going to let anything happen to her the sheriff showed up and they gave us that
01:25:40
news and we cried in happy tears and cried this is truly a community a country coming together for one purpose
01:25:50
solving this is the will of a 13-year-old girl solving this case and coming home and saying enough is
01:25:58
enough think of the positive impact this child has already made on our world the
01:26:03
talk of Hope the talk of love the talk of Faith the talk of family Jamie has already made such an impression on this
01:26:09
world this is the suspect he targeted Jamie Jake Patterson is a 21-year-old male with no criminal history this guy
01:26:20
tried to do his best to beat us and he just didn't Mr Patterson will never terrorize her
01:26:28
again he's not sorry for kidnapping Jamie and murdering her parents he's sorry that he got caught exhibit 7 your
01:26:37
honor shows where the defendant confined jimie for 88 days this was her prison there grown people I think that would
01:26:46
have been paralyzed in fear in fear yes yes we don't know what she went through but to beat him in his own game and to
01:26:53
survive and get out of there I mean [Music] wow two innocent people were murdered
01:27:18
and a young girl taken after 88 days in captivity that young lady found her way to Freedom
01:27:27
ladies and gentlemen that young lady Jamie Claus is with us here today last month Jamie Claus appeared in
01:27:35
public for the first time since her kidnapping Wisconsin state representative ROM Quinn on behalf of
01:27:43
the state of Wisconsin I am so proud to present our hometown hero award to miss Jamie
01:27:53
Claus Jamie looked out over the chamber her family by her side her Aunt Jennifer
01:27:59
Smith speaking for her entire family I have to say that Jamie is totally deserving of the Hero part of this award
01:28:09
her courage her bravery and her spirit are things that Inspire us and make us stronger and better just like you we
01:28:18
want Jamie to know how much we love her thank you Jamie Claus went missing in the early
01:28:29
hours of October 15 2018 when a man the family did not know pulled into their driveway Jaime's Father Jim was murdered
01:28:39
shot at Point Blank Range at the front door her mother Denise barricaded herself with jimie in the bathroom and
01:28:49
called 911 Baron County Sheriff Chris fitzer described the call which was recently
01:28:56
released the 911 call is very inaudible 911 where you can't hear words you hear yelling or maybe a
01:29:11
scream and it ends by getting hung up by the time police arrived Denise Claus had also been shot to death in
01:29:23
front of her daughter the killer drove away with 13-year-old Jamie in the trunk of his car the time from the 911 call
01:29:31
until our deputies arrive is less than four minutes the timing is just it has to be perfect on his part so we think
01:29:39
this was well planned out we are asking for about 2,000 volunteers to walk specific areas there was a massive
01:29:49
surch but no one had seen any trace of jam Claus until January 10th 2019 it was a little after 4:00 in the
01:29:58
afternoon I was at the end of my driveway and then I saw a young woman who appeared to be in distress all I
01:30:05
knew is whoever this child is she's in trouble what did you see that made you think she was in trouble well because it
01:30:11
was 19 or 20° outside and I she only had a sweatshirt on and maybe some black leggings did you recognize her right
01:30:20
away right away because her pictures are everywhere yeah and she just sort of fell into me and said I'm Jamie and I
01:30:26
said I know Jeanie Nutter was out walking her dog that afternoon on a remote Road in the Tiny Town of Gordon
01:30:34
Wisconsin that's about an hour north of Jaime's home this girl whatever it took for her to get out of that house I was
01:30:42
not going to let anything happen to her as fate would have it jeie is a retired trauma counselor she focused on getting
01:30:50
Jamie to safety and keeping her calm I just kept saying don't worry Jamie everything's going to be all right
01:30:56
you're going to be fine you know just hang on to me because we were walking on like three Ines of glare
01:31:03
eyes jimie immediately told jeie who had been holding her captive the man who killed her parents
01:31:11
his name was Jake Patterson so she named him right then yeah she named him right
01:31:17
away jeie was afraid to take Jaimie back to her cabin knowing Patterson's property with these two two cabins
01:31:24
touches the back of her land Jamie even asked me do you live around here and I said no I'm just walking my dog because
01:31:32
I didn't want her to know that I didn't think our cabin was safe you stay calm I
01:31:37
was not calm inside so I did not want her to know that in fact she was terrified Patterson might find them out
01:31:44
on that road did you start to get concerned that maybe Mr Patterson is following her that was my head you know
01:31:52
I just wanted us to be moving moving in a direction to safety cuz literally that word was going through my
01:31:58
head safety safety safety luckily Genie found Neighbors at home one of the few families who live here year
01:32:06
round Kristen and Peter kazinski she just opened the door and said this is Jamie call 911 right now
01:32:16
Douglas County 911 I have um a young lady at my house right now and she says her name is Jamie
01:32:22
clth I mean we've been seeing her for so long Billboards commercials all this stuff and it was like I was seeing a
01:32:29
ghost in front of me Peter loaded a gun and went to the front door I was pleading with the person on the line
01:32:38
saying this is not fake this is real Kristen is the neighbor that walked her up is she still there Kristen passed
01:32:46
the phone to jeie ma'am so how did she come up upon your cabin I was walking my dog and she was walking towards me
01:32:54
crying saying you got to help me you got to help me and she said I am Jamie class
01:33:00
yes she said he killed my parents I want to go home help me as the minutes tick by Genie told
01:33:09
police all she could about Jaime's capture his name is D Patterson do we know what type of vehicle or if he works
01:33:18
anywhere does he work he doesn't work and I asked her what kind of car it was the red he used
01:33:25
to be in the military and did she say he's gone right now yes and she doesn't know where he when or what he does he
01:33:33
might come yep so if the cops could get here soon would I have I have many deputies had it that way I'm going to
01:33:40
keep you on the line okay Peter and Kristen's two young children were also home they were telling us to get away
01:33:46
from the windows and get the kids downstairs so that the kids were pretty freaked
01:33:52
out 20 minutes into that phone call their fears were mounting are they close we're nervous
01:34:01
they're close hang on a second and then finally 29 minutes into the call they're in the house the cops
01:34:10
are in the house police arrived oh they're in there with you yes came in at long last Jamie Claus was safe after the
01:34:19
brutal murder of her parents after 88 days in Captain ity and after her incredible
01:34:27
Escape there was at least for the moment relief I didn't believe she was alive I
01:34:35
can't imagine the par I mean the parents aren't gone but they still have family but I don't know it just it just gets to
01:34:43
me when I talk about [Music] it sheriff's deputy secured jimie and went looking for Patterson
01:34:54
and they found him just 11 minutes later driving around looking for Jamie it was less than an hour since
01:35:04
Jamie found Jeanie on that road honestly I feel privileged that I had this little piece of you know the
01:35:12
puzzle of finding Jamie and I just happened to be a social worker I happened to be there at that time sounds
01:35:18
like it was meant to be Genie Nutter if Jamie hadn't escaped when she did if she had not met jeie things could
01:35:27
have ended very differently I think it was God it was it was none no doing of any
01:35:34
man that did this it I mean our neighbor was late doing things walking her dog late I happen to be home
01:35:43
everything happened I mean you nobody could have planned this it happened for a reason whatever happened that day it
01:35:51
started with Jamie what 13-year-old has it in them to endure what she has and then find the courage and just to get
01:36:02
out for her Aunt Jennifer back at home those last hours waiting for Jamie were perhaps the longest it's driving me
01:36:11
crazy I just got to see her I just got to give her that hug [Music] I was crying and talking and he's like
01:36:42
what is wrong I go Jamie's found dad she's found she's safe and he just started crying and crying and he's just
01:36:49
like oh my gosh I can't believe it this was a new they had all been waiting for those three long months we
01:36:56
spoke to some of Jamie Claus's family just days after her Escape it was the most
01:37:03
amazing fabulous thing in the world Len Claus is Jaime's Aunt we've all been wearing Jamie bracelets um you know
01:37:11
bring Jamie home and we all took them off and threw them in the kitchen it was like we you know we've got or we don't
01:37:18
have to wear our bracelets and you just feel lighter you just feel so unbelievable so you get the news that
01:37:27
everybody has been praying for hoping for longing for for the past 88 days tell us how you each heard that you the
01:37:33
news that she was okay dad had to call my neighbor and she comes screaming in my door Jam's Aunt Sue Allard I'll never
01:37:42
ever forget her screaming Sue Sue they found Jamie and her cousin Lindsay Smith then my brother called me and he's just
01:37:51
screaming on the phone we have Jamie we're getting Jamie home and I burst into tears I'm so excited it's like
01:37:58
you're covered in Goosebumps you're so excited you can't breathe you can't think you can't it's just
01:38:05
incredible Jennifer Smith is not just Jaime's Aunt I was her daycare provider that's why this has been so hard on me I
01:38:13
watched her every day for 12 years Jennifer was living as they all were with the unbearable mix of pain and
01:38:22
hope ever since that terrible October night my heart was shattered left a hole in our heart and we just wanted to find
01:38:31
her and we I just had hope that she was alive out there somewhere and we get her
01:38:36
home you know we went to day 88 and normally when these type of stories come they do not have this
01:38:43
ending yeah please help us understand how you all all of you say we never gave up hope never we had this little girl
01:38:51
that we couldn't find we kind of said okay as horrible as that is we got to put it here and we got to find
01:38:58
her Jamie spent the first night after her Escape in the hospital the next day Jennifer and her
01:39:06
husband Bob could finally bring Jamie home I get to reunite with her today it's driving me crazy I need to see
01:39:16
her first inside the door waiting was Jim's grandfather Grandpa Rod first Grandpa R was in there at the end of the
01:39:24
hallway crying before she even come in the door but he got to be the first one to hug her so her grandfather it was
01:39:30
just so good just to really see her you know and just to give her a hug she had you know I said a couple things to her
01:39:38
quietly and she had a little giggle and I mean it's like you want to record it and take it with you but even as their
01:39:46
eyes filled with happy tears there hung the shadow of their loss of Jaime's parents Jim and Denise have you had time
01:39:54
to grieve really no no no all we've done is search for Jamie My Hope for Jamie is
01:39:59
that um she will recover and we will get through this together we will grieve together cuz we have not grieved as a
01:40:06
family for my sister and brother-in-law and we will grieve together for her mom and
01:40:11
dad Jamie is Jim and Denise Claus's only child they were people of Faith who worked side by side for 27 years at the
01:40:21
jny O Turkey plant here in Baron and they doted on Jamie known for her love of volleyball ice skating and her dog
01:40:30
Molly Jamie was Jim and denisa's life oh man they everything they did that they worked for Jamie y for
01:40:39
Jamie Jamie will now be living with her Uncle Bob and Aunt Jennifer I will never
01:40:44
take her mom's place her mom will always be her mom and I'll let her know that I
01:40:49
will be her aunt but yet I'll be like a mom to her the thing I wanted wanted to express to her immediately and we all do
01:40:55
is the pride we have in her for doing this for getting out for making it for the power that she has you know I mean
01:41:04
that she took the power away from this man that she did this are you all surprised by the strength because we
01:41:11
keep hearing her described as shy and quiet I am I'm you are I am I I think there was the power of God behind it all
01:41:19
these people in this whole nation um the prayers that were said she's a Survivor
01:41:26
yes she's our little Survivor now the long road of healing lies in front of this family and a set
01:41:34
of hard truths they will have to face together so there are many questions and I know you want answers everybody wants
01:41:42
answers how will you go about getting the answers to all of the questions that so many people have and yourself
01:41:47
included in due time we can't we have to take Little Steps J when she's ready to
01:41:54
talk she will we ask her can we hug you we ask her you know we're just not going
01:42:00
to take her and you know be gentle with her one question her family could not help asking themselves since the day
01:42:10
jimie was taken was why why this crime this family this child nothing made sense it still doesn't yeah it still
01:42:20
doesn't there's a lot of still lot of questions why with Jaime's cap doe in court they
01:42:31
were about to get some [Music] answers hear more from close family friends on how they're helping jamy heel
01:42:39
on Facebook at 48 [Music] Hours tonight's 48 hours will continue [Music] when Jake Patterson was pulled over by
01:43:13
police on January 10th looking for Jaimie in that red car he told deputies he knew why they were stopping him
01:43:22
saying quote I did it we're still in the active uh stages of the investigation we're
01:43:30
still serving the search War all right 4 days later on Monday January 14th Patterson appeared in court by video
01:43:38
phone to be charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping uh Mr Wright the
01:43:48
state's recommendation regarding bail state is asking the court to set cash bail in the amount of $5
01:43:55
million by this time Patterson had given a detailed confession that he was going
01:44:01
to shoot anyone inside that home including children because he could not leave behind any eyewitnesses details that
01:44:09
didn't help his defense I will set bail at $5 million back in Patterson's hometown of
01:44:18
Gordon Wisconsin the community was in shock you can't believe it your own neighbor you know doing something like
01:44:26
that and here she's been in this house all this time and we had no idea whatsoever Daphne ronning lived next
01:44:33
door to Jake Patterson who is the youngest of three siblings we see him all the time working in the yard working
01:44:39
on cars they were typical teenagers typical kids when Patterson's parents divorced
01:44:46
in 2008 he and his brother continued to live with their father in the family cabin
01:44:53
eventually he would live there alone over the past few years Daphne saw less and less of Jake I haven't seen him in
01:45:03
quite a while Kristen cazinska who made the 911 call after Jim's Escape had been
01:45:10
Patterson's Middle School teacher this wasn't a kid that I ever would have thought would be involved in something
01:45:16
like this he graduated high school in 2015 voted the most quiet person in his class in this photo he sits removed from
01:45:27
his classmates in a corner by himself it is up to you yes sir After High School Patterson enlisted in the Marine Corps
01:45:38
but he was dismissed after 5 weeks of basic training he returned home to Wisconsin and had two very short live
01:45:48
jobs there were no other Clues as to why he decided to commit these violent crimes why why did Mr Patterson pick
01:45:59
Jamie why did he feel he had to kill her parents uh those are really key questions that we want to address uh
01:46:08
during this investigation after two months in the baron County Jail Patterson pleaded
01:46:16
guilty to all charges how do you plead guilty Mr Patterson do you understand that by
01:46:25
pleading guilty you give up your right to a trial yes two weeks ago on May 24th jimie
01:46:39
Claus's friends and family packed the courtroom on the day of Jake Patterson's sentencing waiting for answers and
01:46:50
Justice investigators learn had plans to kidnap multiple girls and kill multiple families Baron County
01:46:59
district attorney Brian Wright explained how Patterson targeted Jamie he had been
01:47:05
thinking about kidnapping a girl for several months and was just waiting for the right opportunity in early October
01:47:13
2018 the defendant got a job working at Saputo cheese as he was driving to work on the morning of his first day he saw
01:47:22
jimie getting on the school bus that stopped in front of the CLA home his thoughts immediately turned to how he
01:47:29
could kidnap her Patterson made elaborate plans to take her and avoid detection he prepared himself
01:47:39
to try to beat the forensics of of law enforcement things like he cut his hair all off um so that he wouldn't leave
01:47:47
trace evidence of his hair that night he wore steel toe boots a black ski mask two pairs of gloves he
01:47:56
brought with him a knife black gorilla tape a flashlight and his father's 12 gauge Mossberg shotgun that was later
01:48:05
recovered from the defendants residence in Gordon attorney Wright told the court
01:48:12
what Jaimie endured for almost three months of captivity jimie went into survival mode he kept her in constant
01:48:20
fear by yelling at her and threatening her he physically hit her with a curtain rod exhibit seven your honor shows where
01:48:29
the defendant confine Jamie for 88 days this was her prison no bathroom breaks no movement no sound out of her
01:48:40
for up to 12 hours at a time those were the defendants rules rules she better follow or something really bad would
01:48:51
happen to her patter also addressed the court I would do like absolutely anything to take back what I
01:49:01
did you know I'm just so sorry that's the prosecutor wasn't buying it he's not sorry for kidnapping
01:49:12
Jamie and murdering her parents he's sorry that he got caught but the most powerful statement came from Jamie
01:49:21
herself read by her courta apppp appointed lawyer Chris gramstrup judge this is the statement of Jamie Claus
01:49:30
okay last October Jake Patterson took a lot of things that I love away from me but there are some things that Jake
01:49:38
Patterson can never take from me he can't take my freedom he thought that he could own me
01:49:44
but he was wrong I was smarter I watched his routine and I took back my freedom he thought that he could
01:49:52
make me like him but he was wrong Jake Patterson will never have any power over me I feel like I have some power over
01:50:00
him because I get to tell the judge what I think should happen to him for 88 days
01:50:06
he tried to steal me and he didn't care who he hurt or who he killed to do that he should stay locked up
01:50:15
forever thank you the judge had the last word not only were you danger to the Claus family you
01:50:25
are in extreme danger to the public in general he sentenced Patterson to two consecutive life sentences for the two
01:50:34
murders and 40 more years for kidnapping district attorney Brian Wright I hope the result in this case
01:50:47
will give Jamie some measure of comfort in knowing that Mr patter will never terrorize her again on behalf of Jamie I
01:50:57
would like to thank everyone involved in helping us through this very difficult time today was a very important step in
01:51:03
the process of helping Jamie to move forward Jamie will very likely have more to say in the future but we are grateful
01:51:12
for you allowing her to do that on her own terms thank you to that 13-year-old girl
01:51:18
Jamie who led us with her strength and the will to not give up your smile is now contagious across the
01:51:31
world see the evidence photos presented in court at 48 [Music] hours.com tonight's 48 hours will
01:51:51
continue [Music] when we were confirmed it was her uh you know my leg started to shake man it was
01:52:05
it was awesome when the news first spread that Jamie Claus was alive and safe 88 days of holding on to the faith
01:52:14
that our authorities would never give up and they certainly did not thoughts turned to another celebrated
01:52:21
case and when we hear that you know a Jamie has been found how wonderful what another miracle Ed smart knows the
01:52:30
anguish of waiting for a child to come home you know night after night you just want to wake up and this is a bad dream
01:52:39
and it's going away it was 2002 when Ed's 14-year-old daughter Elizabeth Smart was snatched from her Utah bedroom
01:52:49
it was one of the most publicized and memorable child of uction we have not given up on you Elizabeth we're going to
01:52:56
find you it took 9 months of searching and sorrow before the smart family could celebrate Elizabeth's safe return they
01:53:05
took me to this room and when they opened the door and she was there I just I couldn't believe it I I just couldn't
01:53:14
believe it Elizabeth had been abducted by this man Brian David Mitchell Whom The Smarts briefly hired to do work in
01:53:21
their home Mitchell and his wife held Elizabeth captive hiding and disguised Mitchell is now serving a life
01:53:30
sentence his wife was released after 15 years today Elizabeth Smart is 31 she has three children is a network news
01:53:40
commentator and has authored two books these stories are indelible and while rare still too frequent for those
01:53:51
involved there was the case of John Paul Getty III the grandson of oil tycoon J Paul
01:53:59
Getty who was kidnapped in 1973 at the age of 16 the story was told in the movie all the money in the world I start
01:54:08
paying ransoms I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren held by the mafia in Italy his ear was chopped off eventually a
01:54:17
ransom was paid and he was released 5 months later Mom Dad I'm okay I just hope that you'll do what
01:54:27
they say Dad and just do it quickly in 1974 19-year-old newspaper Heir Patty Hurst was kidnapped by the California
01:54:37
radical terrorist group The symbionese Liberation Army I have chosen to stay and
01:54:43
fight a year and a half later after being involved in a bank robbery she was found during an FBI raid her first
01:54:52
served a 2-year prison sentence as questions swirled about whether she had willingly committed violent acts I'm a
01:55:00
soldier in the People's Army or was brainwashed I think about you know what it was that I had to do in order to
01:55:08
survive it's amazing what people can do to you today she's a philanthropist mother and
01:55:17
grandmother another missing child made news in 1991 11-year-old old JC Dugard was
01:55:24
abducted on her way to school in California she was hidden for nearly 2 decades by a couple Philip and Nancy
01:55:33
guito Philip gito was a registered sex offender JC lived behind a series of fences and Tents even giving birth to
01:55:43
two children fathered by her abductor in this ramshackle backyard compound Dugard was found when she was
01:55:51
29 when a campus police officer noticed gito acting strangely she now heads a foundation for families in trauma when
01:56:00
Jamie Claus escaped ji sent her a message writing the road ahead will have many ups and downs allow yourself to
01:56:09
grieve and move forward October 6 202 was a Sunday it was about 1:00 in the afternoon Shawn
01:56:21
was bored and and uh asked if he could go out to play he wanted to ride his bike to his friend's house something
01:56:28
that we had let him do you know hundreds maybe thousands of times before to me he was just my sweet little
01:56:35
boy the parents of Shawn Hornbeck also know the pain of waiting after a child goes missing Shawn was 11 when he
01:56:43
vanished in Missouri in 2002 it would take 4 and 1/2 years before Shawn's parents learned what happened I didn't
01:56:52
didn't really know it was behind me next thing you know I was in the ditch that's when he picked me up tied
01:57:02
my hands behind my back and put me in the truck he had the gun he had the power a random stranger a child predator
01:57:13
named Mike delin abducted Shawn the thing that sticks out the most is he said you were just in the wrong place at
01:57:20
the wrong time Sean's nightmare came to an end when delin kidnapped another boy this time
01:57:27
from a school bus stop a witness helped law enforcement track down the vehicle delin drove which led them to find both
01:57:35
boys at Devin's apartment and then the parents who didn't know if they'd ever see their son
01:57:42
again laid eyes on Shawn and that was just the most wonderful feeling that you could have and then it was like the
01:57:50
Waterworks were just on there there was no off button on it it's like a water man
01:57:56
broke since then Shawn has mostly stayed out of the spotlight he was last reported to be working in a factory with
01:58:04
hopes of obtaining a college degree in criminal law of course it's too soon to know how
01:58:11
Jamie Claus will now move on unlike these other cases her parents weren't there to welcome her home I think it's
01:58:19
going to be hard not having her parents there but but making the connection she can and
01:58:24
finding the love and support from the community and the town of Baron has been giving Jamie exactly
01:58:35
[Music] that [Music] is small and tight-knit they never gave up on Jamie Claus and now that she's
01:59:04
safely home they're still coming together to show their support this community just if it wasn't close before
01:59:11
it is now my heart is just in a new place last month the town held a fundraiser for Jamie and her family in
01:59:21
the high school gym we at a beautiful benefit for the CL Family School Superintendent Diane tremble just a lot
01:59:31
of beauty and love wrapped around this event people's True Colors show in these times a lot of love in this town a lot
01:59:38
of love in this town the town of Baron showed the world the true meaning of community starting the day Jamie
01:59:48
disappeared day one the town was left reeling in shock and horror I've been doing this for over 20 years and it's a
01:59:59
crime scene like we rarely see it's going to take a toll on our people law enforcement launched a
02:00:05
massive search we all have the same goal in mind and that is to bring Jamie home the
02:00:14
entire Community joined in prayer fear and hope we will overcome the world began to learn a
02:00:22
little bit about the eighth grader who disappeared Without a Trace jimie wrote on one of her assignments in response to
02:00:29
the question what would you do if you were given a million dollars she said feed the hungry and give the rest of the
02:00:37
poor time was of the essence every second counts in this case more than 100 officers combed
02:00:45
through neighborhoods and searched for Clues over 200 tips came flooding in J's Amber Alert web page got 30,000 hits and
02:00:56
friends like Melissa salmonson organized a prayer vigil everyone's feeling very helpless right now and being able to
02:01:04
pray together and just feel like maybe those prayers are helping in some [Music]
02:01:13
way 4 days in the sheriff asked for 100 volunteers to search the area 300 people showed
02:01:26
up if you find something of Interest let your team leader know the sheriff called
02:01:31
upon more citizens to join in the investigation we are asking for about 2,000 volunteers to walk specific areas
02:01:39
in or around the crime scene to help with our investigation they came in droves they swarmed the area in line
02:01:49
formation through the woods across the streams and into the corn fields I believe she's still alive I
02:01:57
believe she's still out there and the hope is what we're riding on and that's what we're going to go
02:02:03
[Music] with but in the middle of all this Hope Came a solemn reminder of what was
02:02:12
lost two people who were deeply loved Jim and Denise Jim's parents why why they're normal people They go to work
02:02:25
they go home they're they're about their families As Time passed the leads dried
02:02:30
up and the cold reality set [Music] in investigators who had set up shop in the command center started leaving town
02:02:43
you know we were averaging sometimes between 100 to 250 a day now we're down to that 25ish range so we need to scale
02:02:50
back the operation itself life for the most part went back to normal but the people of Baron never
02:03:03
forgot Jamie Claus on day 77 people of all ages and walks of life called upon the spirit of
02:03:15
Christmas to bring Jamie home the Sport's been overwhelming Jam's uncle my Closs addressed the crowd our
02:03:25
families like you just we just want Jamie home that wish came [Music] true that was a pretty great hug uh when
02:03:40
you got to tell the aunt she's coming home my phone does not stop ringing if it's not somebody calling me it's
02:03:51
somebody sending send me a message all good things but everybody's just so happy and excited that she's been found
02:03:57
cuz she's got a whole huge family out there besides [Music] us she's loved by [Music]
02:04:08
everybody what's your message the best thing that we can all do to help Jamie to help this family at this time keep
02:04:15
her in your prayers because she's got a long road you know she's got a lot of stuff to deal with patience love and mhm
02:04:23
keeping her making sure she's feeling safe yeah and kindness just be kind don't be nosy just be
02:04:31
kind Jaime's powerful statement read by her lawyer at the sentencing shows she is taking back her life Jake Patterson
02:04:41
can never take away my courage I was Brave and he was not he can never take away my
02:04:50
spirit he can't can't stop me from being happy and moving forward with my life I will go on to do great things in
02:04:59
my life and he will not friends say jimie is doing very well since coming home she is seeing family
02:05:13
and friends and has started therapy Can't Get Enough NCIS walk the streets with real agents
02:05:36
joh pek was a stellar Marine on the cases they can't forget this is one of the worst cases I've ever seen Newly
02:05:43
Weds murdered the Killer's identities almost as shocking as the crime this is my son piece of him is finally home
02:05:50
Wednesday this is terrifying this is a senseless murder this is not a minor point this is really a who done it this
02:05:58
is a heavy gun this is hate this is real this is crazy this is the Moment of Truth this is terrifying this is exactly
02:06:07
what I tried to stop CVS news original [Music] reporting

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 85
    Most dramatic
  • 85
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • The Moment of Discovery
    A police officer discovers Shonda Hanley handcuffed in the back of a van.
    “Things aren't always what they seem.”
    @ 03m 50s
    March 16, 2024
  • A Blessing in Disguise
    Shonda Hanley sees her kidnapping as a turning point that led to much-needed support.
    “The kidnapping was a blessing.”
    @ 14m 33s
    March 16, 2024
  • Chilling Confession
    Michael's recorded words reveal his intentions towards Shonda, raising alarms for prosecutors.
    “I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her.”
    @ 25m 18s
    March 16, 2024
  • Emotional Courtroom Encounter
    In court, Shonda confronts Michael about the destruction he caused in their lives.
    “He wrecked everything and destroyed everything.”
    @ 36m 58s
    March 16, 2024
  • The Darkness of Kidnapping
    After nearly 12 hours in darkness, the children feared for their lives as they were taken one by one.
    “I thought they were basically killing us each one at a time.”
    @ 53m 27s
    March 16, 2024
  • The Moment of Escape
    A ray of sunlight signaled hope as the children worked together to escape their underground prison.
    “I felt like I was finally safe.”
    @ 01h 03m 04s
    March 16, 2024
  • The Aftermath of Trauma
    Years later, the survivors faced their kidnappers in court, reliving their trauma.
    “I felt like I had been betrayed by the justice system.”
    @ 01h 16m 54s
    March 16, 2024
  • The Power of Forgiveness
    Larry Park shares how forgiving his kidnappers changed his life for the better.
    “It changed my life; something washed over me and there was peace.”
    @ 01h 20m 09s
    March 16, 2024
  • A Community's Relief
    The moment Jamie Claus was found safe after 88 days in captivity brought tears of joy.
    “I can't believe it; this was a new they had all been waiting for.”
    @ 01h 36m 46s
    March 16, 2024
  • Patterson's Guilty Plea
    Jake Patterson pleaded guilty to all charges, expressing regret for his actions.
    “I would do like absolutely anything to take back what I did.”
    @ 01h 48m 58s
    March 16, 2024
  • Jamie's Resilience
    Jamie Claus's powerful statement in court emphasizes her strength and determination to reclaim her life.
    “He thought that he could own me but he was wrong.”
    @ 01h 49m 40s
    March 16, 2024
  • Community Support
    The town of Baron rallied together to support Jamie Claus after her return home.
    “This community just if it wasn't close before it is now.”
    @ 01h 59m 11s
    March 16, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • The kidnapping was a blessing.
    Kidnapped | "48 Hours" Full Episodes
  • I didn't want to take any risks.
    Kidnapped | "48 Hours" Full Episodes
  • I thought they were basically killing us each one at a time.
    Kidnapped | "48 Hours" Full Episodes
  • I felt like I had been betrayed by the justice system.
    Kidnapped | "48 Hours" Full Episodes
  • I can't believe it; this was a new they had all been waiting for.
    Kidnapped | "48 Hours" Full Episodes
  • This community just if it wasn't close before it is now.
    Kidnapped | "48 Hours" Full Episodes

Key Moments

  • Emotional Confrontation36:58
  • Mother's Resilience39:20
  • Fear and Darkness51:46
  • Desperate Escape1:00:51
  • Betrayal of Justice1:16:54
  • Thief of Lives1:18:40
  • Never Gave Up1:38:51
  • Community Rallies1:59:11

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown