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[Music] Arden Hills is an upscale suburban city located near San Paul in Ramsey County
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Minnesota bearing a population of less than 10,000 people residents have a strong inclination towards Luther ISM or
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Catholicism one of the main attractions within the city is Bethel University covering 110 acres the campus includes
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picturesque views of surrounding hills ponds and woods as well as of classrooms libraries and administrative buildings
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within it also has its own seminary campus operated by the Baptist General Conference the Baptist General
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Conference also takes care of housing its missionaries in apartments at the same campus one of these missionaries
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was Mary Stauffer [Music] Mary was born in Duluth Minnesota 150 miles north of Arden Hills on June 20th
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1943 at age 16 she was volunteering in her hometown for the Baptist Church when she met Irving Stouffer who was 19
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Irving was from Duluth as well and after graduating high school he went to Bethel
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University where he obtained degrees in math and physics Mary and Irving began dating and in 1961 Mary finished high
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school she moved per arden hills and also attended Bethel University graduating in 1965 with a degree in math
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and a minor in music after Mary and Irving got married Irving attended seminary school until the spring of 1967
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while Mary taught math and algebra at Alexander Ramsey High School in Roseville three miles away from Bethel
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University in 1968 Irving and Ameri traveled to Cebu in the Philippines for a student mission project we're earning
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toward at the Baptist Theological College they stayed there for a few months and in June they returned to
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Bethel University where oving continued at the seminary graduating in 1970 with a Master of divine degree in September
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that year they moved to pulk a small village in Nebraska and Irving became the pastor of the First Baptist Church
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they remained there for several years and in 1972 Mary gave birth to their first daughter Elizabeth or Beth in May
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1975 Irving was added to the board of the World Missions about this General Conference and that summer they traveled
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back to the Philippines staying until May 1979 during their time in Cebu City Mary gave birth to their son Steven when
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they returned to Bethel University Mary Irving into their two children settled in one of the apartments on the campus
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this day was meant to last for a year as they had a scheduled departure back to the Philippines on Wednesday May 21st
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1980 a week prior to their departure they had boxes ready with everything that needed
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to be moved as one of several last-minute errands meri arranged an appointment at a local salon for Beth to
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have her hair cut Beth was 8 years old at the time at 3:45 p.m. on Friday May 16th 1980 Mary and Beth got into the
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family car and drove to Carmen's beauty salon in Roseville only five minutes away from their apartment they left the
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car in the attached parking lot and entered the salon at 4:30 p.m. they walked out of the salon
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and were chatting about Beth's new haircut as they approached their car as Beth was reaching for the passengers
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thought she was grabbed suddenly and forcefully by men who pointed a gun directly at her head the man looked at
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Mary and said I need a ride Mary protective of the daughter moved to the passenger side of the car and opened up
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the door for Beth Beth got in and Mary tried not to make any sudden movements as she started moving back to the
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driver's side the man told her to get in through the passenger side Mary did as she was told and climbed over Beth to
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get to the driver's seat the man got in pointed the gun at Beth and told Mary to
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drive through the interstate 35w which went from Roseville past Darden Hills and continued on north as she drove Mary
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didn't quite understand the situation but what the men wanted she asked him if he was in any trouble and he ordered her
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to shut up and just drive Mary tried again saying we're Christians if you have a problem we will try to help you
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the man didn't reply Mary said that her sister was coming over for dinner and her husband would start wondering where
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she was again no reply Mary kept talking please put the gun away this isn't necessary
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we'll help you but the men ended up shouting just drive Beth was terrified Mary padded her arm
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and said Beth God is with us everything will be all right suddenly they were approaching a police
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car this got the man's attention if you stop the car I'll shoot you both in the head Mary continued past the police car
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the man ordered married to drive through back country roads Mary followed his directions until they reached a deserted
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area of pine trees the man told Mary to shut the car off he removed a duct tape and rope from inside his jacket he tied
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Mary and Beth's hands behind their backs then put them in the trunk of the car Mary begged the man not to put them in
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the trunk he responded by waving the gun in her face when they got into the trunk
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the men beyond did their feet then locked them in inside the darkness of the small confined space Mary felt the
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car engine turning on enter the car moving again she thought of Beth who still hadn't made a sound of the entire
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time Mary told her they should pray they prayed strongly and confidently until they felt the car stopped abruptly and
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the lid of the trunk open the man told them he could hear them praying and he didn't like it he taped their mouths
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shut in Beth's case he didn't just tape her mouth he taped all around her head he
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then locked them in the trunk again Mary Stauffer quote we drove around for a long time sometimes on paved roads
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sometimes on dusty unpaved roads the car would often hit bottom and I knew we had
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a full tank of gas and was afraid that the tank might rupture into the car might explode in flames the dust would
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fly into the trunk and it was hard for us to breathe he kept stopping the car to check on us and then he would slam
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the trunk closed again and drive some more I was trying to figure out how long we've been driving around by noticing
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whether it was still afternoon or dusk or night Beth was able to loosen the ropes on her hands and we were both
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sweating so much that the adhesive on the tape covering our mouths loosened and we could move our lower jaws and
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talked I told Beth to try untie the ropes on my hands finally he stopped the car and Bethan I could hear
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voices mostly the voices of children we learned later that he'd stopped the car in hazelnut park in arden hills when he
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opened to the trunk that time he became furious when he saw that Beth had untied
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her ropes and had been working to untie one he shouted look what you've done then he placed the spare tire on top of
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us so we couldn't make further attempts to get free just been a little child walked up to a car and saw us tied in
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the trunk he looked at our doctor and said hi wha before he could finish what he was saying the little boy was thrown
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in the trunk with us and the trunk was slammed shut he then jumped back into the driver's seat and sped away from
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there squealing tires and kicking dust and pebbles against the bottom of the car we raced away from there and he
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drove again for a long time with another child now in the trunk Mary knew she had
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to try and reassure him as well as Beth Mary started by introducing herself and Beth the boy responded saying his name
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was Jason and that he was six years old he mentioned he was going to visit his grandmother the following day and the
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Beth said she would be seeing her grandma soon too then Jason started getting upset Mary told him she didn't
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know why any of it was happening to them but that God knew where they were and he
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would protect them Jason seemed to come a little with those words and both Mary and Beth asked if he could try and
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remove the spare tire that was still firmly placed on top of them Mary could hear them going over a paved road which
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she thought must be a highway then she felt as the movement changed and dust flew into the trunk indicating Noah now
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driving along a dirt road suddenly the car stopped Mary heard nothing for several minutes there was no sound at
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all then the trunk suddenly opened the me and grab the Jason before slimming the
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trunk closed it happened in a matter of seconds Mary and Beth started praying for themselves for Jason and for the men
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who had taken them several minutes later the car sped off again but there was no
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sign of Jason at 5:15 p.m. that day Jason and his mother Sandra Walkman had gone to visit Sandra's friend Isabel and
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her son Timothy while Sandra and Isabel stayed in the kitchen chatting Jason and
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Timothy yelled at them that they were going to the park the park they were talking about was hazelnut Park which
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was right behind Timothy's house at 6:30 p.m. a car stopped on Powerline road which went
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through the park the boys found to be strange since no cars tended to stop there it wasn't an easy access Jason and
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Timothy approached the vehicle from different sides Jason went to the back in the Timothy stayed at the front when
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Jason went to the back he saw the man who had been driving the car walked to the trunk and open it he saw Mary and
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Beth tied up inside and that's when he was grabbed Timothy witnessed the entire abduction
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as the man placed Jason in the trunk of the car Timothy ran as fast as his legs could
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take him back to his house on his way he screamed and cried after help as loud as
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he could when he got to his house he entered the kitchen and threw himself and his mother hugging in a tightly but
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Sandra and Isabel were trying to figure out what was happening a moment later Timothy let go and said a
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man took Jason and drove off he threw Jason in his car he stole Jason Isabel and Sandra ran out of the house
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to hazelnut Park while screaming out Jason's name the neighbors heard the strikes and realized something serious
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was happening they started approaching the park as well and soon found out what had happened at 6:37 p.m. Timothy's
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mother Isabel ran back to her house and called the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office three
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minutes later the first police car arrived not knowing if the offender was still there the officers surrounded the
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park to cut off all exits they also evacuated the Trinity Lutheran Church which was on
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the south side of the park after clearing the park they started questioning everyone who was in or near
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the park when Jason was taken most of the witnesses were children an 11 year old boy described to the car in which
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the man cooked Jason as an older green Ford with a darker green vinyl top and the standard spot on the driver's door
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the same boy stated he hadn't been able to take a good look at the driver but thought he had dark skin black hair and
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wore big sunglasses Jason's friend Timothy gave a similar description adding that the man was wearing a brown
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jacket several children reported seeing the car speed away in hitting the side of a tree
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on its way out when forensic investigators arrived they followed the pointing fingers of the children and
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found scrapings of green paint from the car on a poplar tree the children list stood at hazelnut park were being held
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protectively by their parents who still couldn't believe what was happening children always played in the park on
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their own and there was never a hint of any trouble Jason's mother Sandra milkman searched the park with everyone
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else and alternated between screaming her son's name and stopping to drop to her knees to pray to God the bringing
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back promising she would do anything if he did police looked into Jason's family
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to see if there was any starting points for the investigation but they found nothing there were no issues between
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Sandra and Jason's father David they were a close-knit decent family who were very religious throughout the entire
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night Sandra kept repeating make it not be true please God make it not be true please God make it not be true
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not far from the Workmen's home was Mary's husband and Beth's father Irving Stauffer he had been waiting anxiously
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for Mary and Beth they'd left home before 4:00 p.m. and he didn't think they'd return any later than six but
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there was no sign of them when it ticked over to 6 o'clock Mary's sister was there with her son for dinner they
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didn't make any sense that Mary wouldn't call the say she was late it seemed a very unlike her they started to worry
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they prepared dinner for the children but neither Irving nor Mary's sister ate they started calling family and friends
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to see if anyone had seen Mary and Beth but no one had at 7:30 Irving called the Ramsey County
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Sheriff's Office he reported that his wife Mary and his daughter Beth had gone to a hair appointment and that they
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hadn't returned home the dispatcher told her vieng that he should continue waiting they would probably be home soon
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Irving said he had already called everyone they knew family friends and neighbors he even drove the same route
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Mary would have taken to go to the salon and back and there was absolutely no sign of them the dispatcher answered
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that while she understood is concerned the situation did not meet the criteria for police action not yet anyway Irving
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protested some more but didn't get anywhere the dispatcher wasn't sending police
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the dispatcher Irving spoke to was the same one that had taken the call about Jason
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she knew the entire force was out trying to find of the six-year-old boy the fact
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that an adult woman hadn't returned home from the hair salon wasn't a priority in
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comparison but Irving wouldn't stop until he was heard at 9:30 he called again talking to the same dispatcher he
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told her his wife and daughter still weren't home he also brought up a new fact he said that in the last 10 days
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they had two attempted break-ins the first one was on May 5th during the night someone had tried to enter their
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apartment by using a butane torch to burn a lock of the living-room patio door the heat destroyed the metal casing
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and the wood molding around the door however no one entered the second attempt was on May 14th just
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two days earlier and it happened between four and quarter past 4:00 in the morning Mary woke up from bed after she
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heard a noise coming from the living room she went to check and saw that the living room window was broken she
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noticed there was a man standing outside next to the window Mary ran in a panic to wake up Irving when they got back to
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the living room the man was gone as Irving mentioned to these incidents he shared a concern what if the attempted
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break-ins were related to Mary into Beth's disappearance the dispatchers answer was once again there was no basis
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to file a missing persons report since Mary had last been seen five hours earlier and as she was an adult she
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tried suggesting that Mary could have gone somewhere else with Beth and that would probably be home soon at 10:45
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Irving called the dispatcher a third time and told her he wanted an officer sent to his home right away to file a
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missing-persons report when the dispatcher hung up the phone she shared the information with another dispatcher
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and mentioned the two attempted break-ins at the Bethel University apartment and that Irving felt they
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could be connected to his wife and daughter missing the other dispatcher listened intently and asked isn't Bethel
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pretty close to that Park where the little boy was kidnapped today the two dispatchers immediately called the
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officers taking care of Jason's case to let them know about earnings calls the investigators seriously considered that
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the two cases might be connected since the beauty salon where Mary and Beth when wasn't far from hazelnut park
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they decided to send two officers to Irving's apartment to find out everything they could about Mary in to
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Beth and most importantly see if there was any possible connection between the store for family ended the willkommen
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family as soon as the officers arrived Irving gave them a description of Mary's car it was a 1973 two-tone green Ford
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LTD with a Minnesota license plate brh 387 he also mentioned that it had a vinyl roof in decended spot on the
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driver's side door the officers shed on one of them excused himself he quickly left the apartment and caught the
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information in after asking Irving questions about Mary and Beth they asked if he had any recent pictures of them
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both Irving handed them a church directory photograph of Mary and a school photograph of Beth
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the officers promised the keep Irving updated about any new developments as they were leaving they inquired if he or
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anyone else from his family knew David or Susan Willman or their six-year-old son Jason Irving considered the names
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for a moment and said no he didn't the officers left and said that would return in the morning
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Irving wondered why they had asked him about the Wilkins he sat on the couch and turned on the TV he was falling
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asleep but he heard the word abducted and suddenly he was wide awake he saw a news story on Jason Willman he now
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understood the officers question that night in Ramsey County Sheriff's Office the sheriff Chuck Zacharias ordered all
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officers to cancel any weekend plans they might have next he dialed the private direct phone number that
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connected him to the FBI he informed them that Ramsey County had a kidnapping which appeared to involve a mother a
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daughter and a six-year-old boy unrelated to them elsewhere at 9:45 p.m. that night the abductor stopped the car
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again Mary had been trying to calm Beth for hours ever since the men had taken Jason out
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of the trunk Beth hadn't stopped asking if the little boy would return with them and as time
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passed she was becoming increasingly upset Mary told her that were all in God's hands and she herself tried to
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stay hopeful but hope is dissipating as time kept ticking until there was no sign of their abductor Mary started to
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believe they'd been left in the trunk to die she told Beth to take shallow breaths and to pray but all of a sudden
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the trunk had opened as it was dark they could see mostly just a shadow of their
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abductor he born farted them and to led them to another vehicle this time it was a van
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the abductor covered Mary and Beth with large cardboard boxes and told them not to make a sound
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Mary pleaded with the man to let them go to the bathroom Beth had been saying she
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needed to go for hours the man didn't reply and slammed the door shut they began driving but soon came to a
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stop the abductor opened the van door and told them he would be leading them to a bathroom but if they made a sound
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they were dead he first took Mary and the left Beth inside the van Mary used the toilet washed up as best as she
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could and when she was done the man handed her some paper towels to dry herself as she took them she realized
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that was the first time she actually saw him clearly he had oriental features large sunglasses and a heavy jacket Mary
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didn't recognize him she asked him who he was where they were and what he wanted he didn't reply as
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they walked back to the van Mary repeated what she told him earlier that they were Christians and they were
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trying to help him in whatever way they could she begged the man to let her call
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her husband again he remained silent he opened to the van door and the motion for Mary to get in Beth had wet us off
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she was hysterical and the Mary tried to comfort her by telling her it was okay she hadn't done
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anything wrong the men allowed to Mary to walk with Beth to the bathroom when they got back to the van he covered Mary
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and Beth with boxes again replacing the wet box and started driving they drove for around ten minutes and Mary realized
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that were going through city traffic because she could hear other cars under the van stopped and started several
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times at 11:55 p.m. they stopped for good the man took Beth out of the van first he guided her by grabbing her
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shoulders and walking behind her when they came to a halt the man removed Beth's blindfold she saw she was in
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front of my bedroom closet the man pushed her inside and closed the door Beth started screaming for her mother
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men tried to calm her down and told her he would be back with her mother soon he
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went back to the van and got Mary he guided her like he had guided Beth by the shoulders walking behind her when
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they got to the closet he removed Mary's blindfold and told her to get in Mary saw a pillow a blanket
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and a bucket had been put inside the closet Beth was screaming in all of the commotion Mary thought she heard the man
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call out mrs. Stouffer but quickly dismissed that thinking she was hearing things Mary kept pleading with a man to
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let them go and the Beth kept screaming the man then said just get in the closet
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Mary this time there was no mistake the man had caught her by a name she turned around and faced him who are you
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you know me how do you know me who are you and what do you want she got no reply the man shot the Mary into the
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closet and slammed the door shut Mary pounded on the door screaming who are you why are we here while Mary tried
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to adjust to the new space she realized this wasn't an abduction by a random stranger
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this man knew her maybe she knew him had she met him before she had 29 year-old Ming sanchu who was born in Taiwan in
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1952 Chinese parents his father was a forestry researcher the author of dozens of biology and conservation research
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articles and he conceptualized and designed the continuous forest inventory system which is a method to monitor
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forest resources still used to this day his mother may was a mathematician both means parents wanted to advance in their
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careers before having any further children they made a plan that they would only have more children if they
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ever got to move to the United States their plan became a reality in 1957 when the University of Minnesota recruited
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Ming's father to head the forestry department as soon as they arrived to the United States they purchased their
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home in Roseville Minnesota the city next to Arden Hills the house was in a quiet and family-friendly suburban
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neighborhood once they settled in the United States May gave birth to two more boys she gave them Western names Charles
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and Ron Ming was always jealous about this particular detail he never liked his name when Ming was 9 his father was
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diagnosed with cancer he died two years later before his death he told me that according to Chinese tradition the
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oldest male was the head of the household so now he would have to take care of things
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meaning took this to mean that he was now in complete control of his brothers when he got home from school he made
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Charles and Ron greet him at the front door carry his books to his bedroom take off his socks and choose him make him
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something to eat and serve it to him with a large glass of milk in front of the television which
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had to be turned on to whatever channel he asked for if they didn't comply Ming would beat them
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the abusive treatment continued for a few years until they got a bit older and refused to do what Ming told them when
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Ming was 14 he worked on Sundays delivering papers one day he went back to one of the buildings where he
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delivered papers and started a fire in one of the apartments the police arrested him and when he was questioned
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he said he couldn't control himself that he had pressures in his head that made him do things he appeared at the
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juvenile court and the judge sentenced him to probation as long as he agreed to have psychiatric exams
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as well as counseling during the psychiatric examinations Mei revealed that six months earlier meaning snuck
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into a bedroom in the middle of the north he cut a hole in the crotch area of her
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pyjamas and was staring at her with a flashlight the doctors determined that Ming needed
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psychiatric help he was immediately admitted to the adolescent mental health unit for
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observation and treatment although he was meant to stay long term he was only there for a few weeks
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the probation officer had an altercation with the social worker at the hospital and he submitted a report to the court
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that means treatment wasn't urgent as a result at a court hearing in September 1964 Ming was discharged from probation
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and from his treatment at the hospital soon after his release Ming got back to school at Alexander Ramsey High School
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and at 15 he met an algebra teacher that would mark him for life her name was Mary Stauffer although they hardly
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exchanged words in class Ming became infatuated with Mary but he kept his distance
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one year later Ming started getting straight A's and by the time he finished school he was number one in a class of
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503 students and was voted most likely to succeed by his classmates he enrolled for classes at the University of
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Minnesota he was accepted but after failing his first calculus test he dropped out of the class by the end of
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the year he had dropped out of university altogether min started concentrating on two things the first
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one was electronics Ming had an ability to understand them his mother recognized this and she
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helped him open a retail electronics repair business called sound equipment services that was located in Minneapolis
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near st. Paul just a few miles from his house in Roseville in 1972 his mother remarried and moved to Alexandria
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Virginia leaving the house in Roseville in the care of Ming Ming hired other electronics experts to help him as sound
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equipment services and it quickly became successful the other workers hardly knew
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Ming to them he was the boss and he only talked to them about business he was friendly to the customers and stood by
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every repair and sale he made making sure every customer left satisfied but other than that they didn't know
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anything about him it seemed to them he had no personal life when there were special holidays they had to remind him
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about them the workers struggled to develop a relationship with him and they never
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included him in any weekend plans they made the other thing Ming concentrated on was his infatuation with Mary
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Stauffer the same year he dropped out of university Ming started writing stories
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about sexual fantasies he had they all followed a similar formula the main character would be him along with an
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older woman who would be in a position of authority any stories the women tended to be married but couldn't be
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sexually satisfied by their husbands so that would turn to Ming and ask him to sexually awakened and dominate them Ming
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would and in the end they'd always ask to bear his children Mary appeared prominently in the stories but that
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wasn't enough for me he needed more he started watching Mary he knew exactly how her apartment looked and what she
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did during the day he also started following her when she left the apartment to go to the supermarket and
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other places he stalking continued until March 1980 Ming was at church listening
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to Mary's husband Irving Ming heard Irving say they were leaving to go to the Philippines for four years
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Ming believed the announcement was a covert message from Mary telling him the time had come for him
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take her he started making plans for the abduction and then on May 16th 1980 he followed Mary and Beth to the beauty
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salon he stated quote nothing could have stopped me from taking her or could not
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control my actions the morning after the abduction min opened the closet door and
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handed Mary and Beth buttered toast and juice they hadn't eaten at all and were starving Ming watched as they ate and as
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soon as Mary took a few bites from her toast she begged the Ming to let her call her husband Ming didn't respond she
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pleaded for him to at least let Beth go home Ming said he would consider it when
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they finished breakfast Ming blindfolded Mary again and took her out of the closet Beth started crying but Ming
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ignored her min took married to the living room of the house where he pushed her roughly to the floor and tied both
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her hands above her head to the leg of the sofa he left her lying there while he set up a video camera that pointed
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directly at Mary once he was happy with the position of the camera he started what would become a three-hour
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discussion with Mary Ming began by telling her a story about the constant burnings in his head they had started
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after school when he was given a scholarship but because of a bad grade he lost his scholarship and instead he
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was sent to Vietnam to fight since then his life had been terrible and to the bad grade that started at all and been
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given by Mary the story was a complete fabrication but Mary didn't know that she apologized for the grade Ming then
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wanted to know if Mary remembered him he asked her if there was a student in one
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of her classes that was special that seemed brighter and stood out from the rest Mary was only able to recall the
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troublemakers stating that she remembered them because they given her a hard time to control the class Ming got
00:32:18
offended and asked her if that was what it took to be remembered to give her a hard time
00:32:24
Mary didn't know how to respond Ming tried one more time by asking her if she remembered crossing parts in the hallway
00:32:31
of the University of Minnesota in 1970 he explained he walked by her side and said hello to her and she waved back
00:32:39
Conley but didn't stop to chat with him and to that it hurt him because he couldn't believe his former
00:32:43
teacher wouldn't stop to have a few words with him Mary didn't even remember being at the University of Minnesota in
00:32:50
1970 but she's still apologized she explained she probably just had a lot on her mind to that day she told him she
00:32:57
was sorry if he felt hurt that it wasn't her intention as they talked screams coming from Beth could be heard and Mary
00:33:06
asked me to let her be with the daughter in a sudden change of attitude me apologized to Mary he untied her from
00:33:13
the sofa leg and took over Beth Beth told Mary that she needed to go to the bathroom
00:33:18
meaning chained them up together and let them go when they finished he locked them back in the closet and left them
00:33:24
there for several hours when he returned to the closet he took Mary back to the living room he tied her to the sofa leg
00:33:32
once more and proceeded to have a new discussion he let her know he was the one who tried to break into her
00:33:37
apartment those two times Mary asked me how he located her he said he did his research what he didn't tell her is that
00:33:47
when Mary and Irving returned from that previous Phillipines trip the Roseville weekly newspaper ran an article
00:33:52
mentioning the return and that Irving would be giving a presentation at Bethel University Ming attended the
00:33:59
presentation then followed Mary and Irving home afterwards being explained to Mary that he wanted a family he
00:34:06
wanted someone like Mary however he knew she was leaving for the Philippines in a
00:34:10
few days and he couldn't have a family with her so he said he would release her so she could go on her trip to the
00:34:16
Philippines but in order to release her he would first have to take revenge on her for leaving by revenge Ming meant
00:34:24
rape he told Mary he could be nice or he could be forceful and it would be entirely her choice Mary stated that
00:34:33
she'd prefer him to hit her rather than to rape her but Ming refused he said he didn't want her to be marked and that as
00:34:40
long as she cooperated things would be easier Mary begged him not to but he did afterwards Mary said what do you want
00:34:50
with me you've already raped me and humiliated me what more do you want Ming responded are you kidding I haven't
00:35:00
even gotten started we're far from over yet do you think that ten minutes is going
00:35:04
to solve a couple years you think that was going to be that I've waited all these 15 years min continued and for
00:35:13
following morning he told her there was still a bit of film left in the video camera so they would have one more
00:35:17
taping session to use it up when Mary asked him why he was taping it he gave her two reasons first one was to
00:35:25
remember he had gotten his revenge already so if he ever felt mad at her again he would watch the tape instead of
00:35:31
looking for her and two the second one was the caper from telling anyone he believed that with the tapes Mary
00:35:38
wouldn't talk in fear of the Christian community finding out in that same day the st. Paul Pioneer Press posted a
00:35:46
front-page article about the abduction of Jason Willman and to the connection that may have to Mary and Beth Stauffer
00:35:52
the article mentioned that Ramsey County and the FBI were handling the case being
00:35:59
read the newspaper and instantly panicked in order to throw the police and the FBI off the trail he decided to
00:36:05
make Mary write a letter to Irving he gave her paper to write a first draft which had to be shown to him to approve
00:36:11
of the wording and to make sure no secret message was written afterwards the second draft was written in a
00:36:17
notebook that was in Mary's purse wearing rubber gloves Ming checked again to make sure no secret message had been
00:36:23
written the letter was received by Irving on Tuesday May 20th Irving recognized his wife's handwriting the
00:36:32
letter said that she needed time to think because everything was moving too fast but that she'd do her best to be
00:36:37
back with Beth on Wednesday they could get on their flight to the Philippines when Irving checked the
00:36:44
envelope he saw it had been postmarked the previous day and that it had been mailed from a Minneapolis post-office
00:36:49
box however there was no further information he handed the letter to the FBI and they insisted it should remain
00:36:57
confidential if it went public they feared the abduct open panic and kill Mary and Beth
00:37:02
Irving agreed but said he needed to inform Mary's parents the FBI allowed it but made special emphasis of the fact
00:37:10
that they couldn't tell anyone else about it the information was handled carefully amongst the FBI as well
00:37:17
only a select group of agents knew about the letter they made the decision not to
00:37:22
tell Jason Wilkins parents because they didn't know with certainty if Jason was with Mary and Beth five days after the
00:37:30
abduction Wednesday May 21st 1980 was the day Ming promised to release Mary so they could make their flight to the
00:37:37
Philippines he told Mary he would take her and Beth home at 10:00 a.m. Mary heard his Ming woke up and got out of
00:37:44
bed she could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer to the closet Mary thought this was it Ming was taking them
00:37:52
home she was about to wake Beth up but the footsteps continued to past the closet she heard the back door of the
00:38:01
house opening and closing a minute later she heard a car engine start and de listened as the sound of the car slowly
00:38:07
faded as it drove away from the house Mary knew then that Ming wouldn't be keeping his promise and they wouldn't be
00:38:14
leaving anytime soon she wanted the scream and to break something but she heard Beth waking up
00:38:20
and she decided instead to control herself for both s aches they chose to say their morning prayers
00:38:29
from that moment on Mary and Beth started accepting their situation and a routine of sorts started developing in
00:38:36
their captivity it all began when Ming brought microwaved canned food to them Mary told him that Beth was a growing
00:38:43
child and she needed a better diet so he should buy meat vegetables and fruit Ming bought what he was asked and Mary
00:38:50
offered to cook Ming chained Mary and Beth together and moved them to the kitchen
00:38:55
Mary cooked and the three of them sat and ate together Ming made sure the curtains were always closed and he
00:39:02
didn't take his eyes off Mary or Beth just to remind them who was in charge he kept a loaded gun close by the attitude
00:39:11
adopted by Mary and Beth was one of survival Mary reasoned that in order to stay
00:39:15
alive and safe they had to comply and act as easygoing as possible if they didn't bring trouble Ming wouldn't hurt
00:39:22
them or at least he wouldn't hurt Beth during the night Beth would get anxious and pulling out strands of hair one day
00:39:31
Beth heard children playing outside and she started crying uncontrollably but little by little as time went on and
00:39:38
with Mary's help Beth found it easier to adapt to the situation despite adapting
00:39:45
this attitude Mary never forgot the ultimate goal escape when they had the meals in the kitchen Mary realized
00:39:53
someone else was using the kitchen as well she thought about leaving a note for this person using Beth's coloring
00:39:59
books that Ming had bought for her but in the end she never did she was sure that Ming would kill them both on the
00:40:05
spot if he discovered a note Mary also heard noises coming from the basement right under the closet confirming
00:40:12
someone else was there she tried tapping on the floor to make noise and alert this person but now I
00:40:18
never came to their rescue she found out in time that the person staying in the basement was Ron Ming's
00:40:24
younger brother Ron knew there was someone else in the house at times and a knew that she was a woman he was living
00:40:32
in the basement while studying at university and although they shared a house he never talked to me much at the
00:40:39
beginning of May meaning told Ron that he'd be closing up all the other rooms in the house so he
00:40:43
wouldn't have access to them Ron didn't use any of the other rooms so he didn't mind he did use the kitchen though and
00:40:50
often saw that it was extremely clean they surprised him because it was a very unlike mean that's why he started
00:40:58
believing that his brother had a girlfriend who stayed at the house he was shocked asking one of his friends
00:41:04
who would ever date my brother but it was the only explanation he could think of for the sudden cleanliness and of the
00:41:12
extreme privacy Ming was now showing Mary started taking closer notice of the closet that were being kept in it was a
00:41:20
three foot by five foot closet which had wall-to-wall beige carpeting there were
00:41:25
outlines of boxes on the carpet telling her the closet had been cleared out recently they had a single small pillow
00:41:31
a thin blanket and a bucket there was an extra blanket inside a plastic dry-cleaning bag when Mary was going
00:41:39
through the dry-cleaning bag she found a piece of paper with a home address of the house they were in she memorized the
00:41:45
address and then destroyed the paper in case Ming found it she helped Beth memorize the address as well Ming had
00:41:53
promised the Beth he'd release her on countless occasions Ming asked Beth if I let you go do you promise not to tell
00:42:00
anyone my name then he reminded her that if she did promise him she wouldn't but
00:42:05
afterwards she did tell someone that would be a sin Beth promised me she would never tell his name but while she
00:42:12
was in the closet with Mary she asked her mother if it would really be a terrible sin if she ever told me name
00:42:18
and the Mary told her it wouldn't she also told her she could save her by telling her father the address of where
00:42:25
they were being held and that the man who took them was a former student of hers yet any hopes Mary and Beth had of
00:42:31
Beth being released was shattered when Ming ended up saying one day that he would never ever let her go
00:42:39
Ming continued raping Mary daily he tried to get married to fall in love with him he wanted her to want to leave
00:42:47
her husband and stay with him he had written it that way in his stories many times and he wanted it to become a
00:42:53
reality but Mary's response to him was you say you are loving me I say you are raping me one evening Ming brought Mary
00:43:04
out of the closet and placed there on top of his bed directly next to the closet he started touching her Mary
00:43:11
didn't respond and laid still Ming looked at her and said have you ever watched anybody die of suffocation you
00:43:19
were going to see your daughter die by suffocation if you will not cooperate Mary answered that she believed in the
00:43:26
teachings of the Bible and being faithful to her husband and it didn't feel right to do what he wanted
00:43:31
Ming got angry at the answer and stormed out of the room Mary ran to the door and
00:43:37
tried to push it closed but Ming was faster than her and had no trouble pushing the door open he had a large
00:43:43
plastic bag in his hand and walked directly to the closet he opened it and looking down at Beth he said do you like
00:43:51
to play with plastic bags Beth said she had never played with a plastic bag before and Ming said he I'm going to put
00:44:00
this over your head he then turned and looked at Mary and said you know it takes about four or five minutes you
00:44:10
will watch and you will see that the bag will just contract and the air will be used up Beth didn't understand what was
00:44:16
happening and said mama what's going on what's the matter what does he want with
00:44:24
time running out Mary got closer to me and she kissed him on the cheek trying to show affection being told her that
00:44:30
was simply not good enough Mary reluctantly kissed him on the lips Ming took it as a step in the right
00:44:37
direction and released Beth being returned to Beth to the closet and told her that she'd have to spend the night
00:44:44
alone because Mary would have to be punished for trying to locking out of the room earlier Mary was blindfolded
00:44:51
and taken to the living room meanwhile at Beth's school the school board together with a district
00:44:57
psychologist met to decide whether to tell the other students what had happened they decided that it would be
00:45:03
better not to discuss the situation and for the teacher to continue the classes in a normal fashion as if nothing had
00:45:09
happened the teacher refused to do so believing it was important to acknowledge the
00:45:14
situation she believed the children should let out what they were feeling about it since everyone in hardened
00:45:19
Hills was already aware of the abduction Beth's teacher insisted to the school board that Beth's desk shouldn't be
00:45:26
removed from class because they all had to keep the hope that she could come back any day on the last day of school
00:45:33
when the rest of the children had already gone home the teacher walked to Beth's desk and found that along with
00:45:38
the pending school were the other children had kept for Beth they'd also written notes for her they read dear
00:45:45
Beth I miss you have a fun summer see you next year dear Beth I'm glad you're with your mum
00:45:53
dear Beth come back soon the teacher couldn't continue reading she broke down and cried
00:46:01
back at Ming's house Ming couldn't understand why the letter he made Mary Riter Irving hadn't been reported in the media
00:46:08
at all he also didn't like the fact that the situation was still reported as a kidnapping and not as a family dispute
00:46:15
but he tried to make it sound in the letter on June 3rd he decided it was time for Mary to write a second letter
00:46:22
you know he made Mary write his exact thoughts which read contrary to what the authorities in media may have implied
00:46:30
this is not a kidnapping situation so there is no ransom money involved all we want to do is come home quietly without
00:46:37
publicity or further investigation in addition Mary asked the urban decay palais de to himself and not to hand it
00:46:45
over to the authorities she signed it love Mary and Beth before sending out the letter Ming followed the same steps
00:46:53
he had with the first letter he made Mary write a first draft then he put on gloves and grabbed Mary's notepad from
00:46:59
her purse he made her write a second draft on the notepad he checked her there were no hidden messages then made
00:47:06
Mary put the letter in the envelope and stamp it when oving received the second letter he handed it straight to the FBI
00:47:13
the FBI didn't release this letter either and two like they had done with the first one only revealed its
00:47:19
existence to a select few agents at 9 p.m. on June 8th Ming took Mary and Beth out of the closet he led them to the
00:47:28
kitchen and heated up some food for them he served it and while he washed the meat he told them he'd been invited to a
00:47:34
work conference in Chicago the next week and he wanted to take them he'd been making inquiries to rent an RV Ming had
00:47:43
been trying to win Beth over by playing card games with her buying her coloring books and other presents he asked her
00:47:49
she thought a little vacation would be fun Beth said yes when he asked Mary the same question she said no I'll have a
00:47:58
better idea why don't you drop Beth and Mae off at Bethel campus on your way out of town
00:48:03
Ming ignored Mary's comment and went on to tell them that the conference was actually a job fair where there would be
00:48:09
interviews between companies and specialists and he was interested in going because he wanted to get a job at
00:48:14
a bigger city he believed that once he released them if they went to the police and the police came looking for him he'd
00:48:20
have a better chance of not being found if he lived in a big city he also told them that it's been a large part of the
00:48:27
day in Roseville's library doing research about abductions he found that by taking them up to Chicago he'd be
00:48:33
crossing state lines and that would add a federal charge but he wasn't too worried because he'd done research about
00:48:39
other cases and he knew he wouldn't be making the same mistakes that others did Ming asked Beth to help him make a list
00:48:47
of everything they would need for their trip among the items Beth included ketchup mustard and peanut butter on
00:48:55
June 9th Ming rented a fully equipped RV that afternoon he took Mary and Beth day
00:49:01
out of the closet and practice how he would keep them chained inside the RV he chained Mary and Beth together
00:49:08
hurry under the waist around midnight meaning blindfolded Mary and Beth and put a jacket over their heads
00:49:14
before taking them out of the house and into the RV the RVs name was the brave and it had a bathroom a sink a stove
00:49:22
with an oven a refrigerator a table and bench that could be turned into a bed and another seat that worked as a bed as
00:49:29
well there was only one door to get in and out and it was placed just behind the driver's seat Ming made Mary and
00:49:36
Beth sit at the front with him and he covered them with two large boxes after a wall he allowed them to move to the
00:49:42
back of the RV but warned them not to look out the window Ming drove the entire night and stopped
00:49:49
the next morning at a gas station he handed Mary her glasses and when she put them on she looked outside through the
00:49:55
front window of the van and saw i-94 interstate signs the i-94 highway crosses several states and at that point
00:50:03
in time that were in Wisconsin Ming bought them fast food then he told them he was going to sleep for a while
00:50:11
since he driven all night after locking the door and securing the cables and chains around to Mary and Beth he laid
00:50:18
down to rest Ming had his eyes shut for three hours but he still seemed alert like it wasn't really sleeping Mary
00:50:26
didn't dare try to do anything when Ming woke up he told them they were going to
00:50:31
get new clothes as Mary and Beth hadn't changed since the afternoon of the abduction but Ming wasn't worried about
00:50:37
their hygiene he believed there would be less recognizable if he bought them new
00:50:41
clothes Ming drove to a shopping mall and parked at the very end of the parking lot he grabbed Mary's purse and
00:50:48
took out traveler's checks that belonged to her he said they used those to buy the clothes he left the Beth chained up
00:50:55
inside the RV and took Mary with him to seize Mary wanted to call the attention of the clerk that served them but she
00:51:01
wasn't sure how to do it exactly firstly she didn't know if the news of the abduction had gotten up to Madison
00:51:07
Wisconsin which was located 270 miles away from Arden Hills and even if it had Mary was afraid if she told the clerk
00:51:15
who she was Ming might run off and take Beth with him she finally decided not to raise the
00:51:21
alarm and to just buy the clothes as soon as they returned to the RV Ming made them change then they went to a
00:51:30
Kmart which had a grocery section the three of them got out at this time but once again Mary didn't try anything
00:51:36
Ming made it very clear that if she did try anything he would take out as many people as possible with his gun
00:51:42
including the three of them after buying food it came up they hit the road again
00:51:47
at 8:00 p.m. they got to the Midway Motor Lodge in Elk Grove a village adjacent to Chicago's O'Hare
00:51:54
Airport meaning parked in an isolated area he checked into a room but they didn't stain it they stayed in the RV
00:52:03
meaning taped the curtains tightly against the windows of the RV and removed to the inside door handles he
00:52:10
chained to Mary and Beth to the gas line and to warned them if they tried to break free the gas line would break and
00:52:16
they would all be dead Ming slept in the same bed as Beth and Mary they stayed in Chicago for a total
00:52:23
of five days during the day Ming would go to his work conference and to Mary and Beth would stay in the RV going
00:52:30
through passages of the Bible since the very first day of captivity Mary told Beth stories from the Bible to keep her
00:52:36
distracted and more than anything hopeful and faithful on one of the nights Ming took Mary and Beth into the
00:52:43
hotel room so they could hand wash their clothes they ended up sleeping inside the room that not Ming as always had his
00:52:50
gun with him and Mary was too scared to try and escape on the last day Ming drove Mary Ann back into Chicago and
00:52:58
allowed Mary who used the public phone since she wanted to find out if Irving had been moved out of their apartment
00:53:04
since they were now supposed to be living in the Philippines she called the Illinois office of the Baptist General
00:53:10
Conference and as she died and waited beside the phone Ming stood by her side she got through
00:53:16
the port pierce and one of the executives that she knew and asked him about Irving when Paul asked her who she
00:53:22
was she was about to give a different name but suddenly people from a car started shouting for them to move the RV
00:53:28
out of the way because it was blocking an alley Ming got distracted by the screaming and in those few seconds Mary
00:53:34
whispered Paul that's me Mary Ming returned his attention to Mary into the conversation on the phone unfortunately
00:53:42
Paul didn't hear Mary's whisper Paul gave her a new phone number to reach Irving and Ming write down the number
00:53:48
and a page of the phone book inside the phone box he tore off the page and took it with him
00:53:53
Mary could see Ming was getting more and more agitated and she hung up the phone
00:53:58
they got back in the RV but a car had parked in front of them blocking them Ming got out of the RV and started
00:54:05
screaming at the man who was driving the car telling him he would blow his head off if he didn't move the man quickly
00:54:10
drove away that drove back to Minnesota in complete silence and when they arrived back at Ming's house he covered
00:54:18
Mary and Beth's heads with jackets once again before rushing them inside by now Irving's phone had been tapped by the
00:54:25
FBI in case Mary or Beth called home at some point [Music] thank you so much sweetie
00:55:19
Ming had taken Beth to a public phone so she could call and wish her a Happy Father's Day on June 20th at Beth's
00:55:27
insistence Ming Mary and Beth celebrated Mary's birthday with a cake and candles
00:55:32
bought by men when July arrived things changed radically on July 2nd Ming told Mary and Beth that his brother Ron who
00:55:42
had been living in the basement of the house had left to study in another country for that reason he decided not
00:55:48
to lock them in the closet any longer he said he would chain them somewhere else
00:55:52
in the house so they could have more freedom that night he changed them to a bedroom door in a different room one
00:55:59
July 3rd while Ming was out working Mary and Beth started manipulating the chain
00:56:04
and found that they could not only move more freely in the room but when they managed to fling the chain over the door
00:56:09
they were able to leave the room and get into the hallway and even into the nearby bathroom on the evening of July
00:56:15
4th Independence Day Ming announced that he'd be taking them to watch the fireworks he ordered the both of them to
00:56:22
cover their heads with sweaters and he hid a gun inside his jacket he quickly took them out to his van which was
00:56:28
parked by the back entrance of the house after securing them inside he drove to Como Lake a spot that was populated
00:56:35
watch the fireworks located one mile from Ming's house before exiting the ven Ming warned from
00:56:42
like had done many times before that if they tried anything he would kill them and anyone else who was near bought a
00:56:49
police car then pulled up and parked close to them Mary saw it and didn't dare do anything out of the ordinary
00:56:56
however she did memorize the police phone number printed in large numbers on the back of the car when they returned
00:57:03
to the house at night she made Beth memorize it - just in case on July 7th Ming revealed the new plan that he had
00:57:11
for Marion - Beth while the three of them were having breakfast the phone rang Ming answered it and Mary was only
00:57:17
able to hear his side of the conversation when he hung up Mary asked him who it was since the information
00:57:23
exchanged puzzled her he said it was the RV dealer the one who had rented the RV
00:57:29
from when they went to Chicago Ming explained that the owner of the house was returning in August so he was
00:57:35
looking for a new place to keep Mary and Beth he'd thought about their trip and how the RV had all they needed so he
00:57:42
asked the RV dealer how much it would cost to rent the RV on a long-term basis and - now the dealer had called and told
00:57:49
him that he could rent it for up to a year being thought it was a fantastic option and he was happy about the news
00:57:56
Mary on the other hand was filled with despair quote that day I knew he was never going to release us it had
00:58:04
occurred to me before that but it wasn't until that day that I despaired to the point that I said to Beth he's never
00:58:10
going to let us go that afternoon Ming had to go to work and he chained Mary and Beth to the
00:58:17
bedroom door Mary mentioned how much better this was as they could now walk into the hallway and into the bathroom
00:58:23
Ming stared at her and said they should have never left the room he asked what would happen if someone came to the
00:58:29
house and while knocking on the door they saw she was out in the hall Mary answered him honestly and said well if
00:58:36
that happened we'd scream for help and ask them to rescue us Ming didn't like the answer and to lock
00:58:42
them back in a closet this time he chose a different closet in this closet he changed them together tightly to the
00:58:48
clothing rod which didn't allow them to move further than a few feet then he left for work at 3 p.m. Beth was
00:58:56
watching Popeye on the small television Ming and placed inside the closet for her and Mary was staring at the door
00:59:01
hinges Mary said God kept focusing her attention on those hinges until she started to work them out she was able to
00:59:09
remove one and with some effort she managed to remove the other one without the door that chain didn't have the
00:59:16
support of the clothing rod so Mary and Beth were able to get out of the chain and were just left with the cable tight
00:59:21
around them but the cable didn't stop them from moving so Mary started staggering and dragging Beth along with
00:59:27
her towards the telephone in the kitchen however Mary was stopped by Beth who pulled back suddenly no mommy no we have
00:59:35
to go back in the closet we're going to make you mad please mummy we have to get
00:59:39
back in the closet to appease Beth and make her stop screaming Mary said ok ok Beth it's all right
00:59:46
Mary walked back to the closet and when they got there Mary grabbed the door and
00:59:50
pretended to fasten it again with the chains she saw that Beth was visibly Kharma
00:59:55
Mary looked at her daughter and said Beth this is our chance we have to go now Beth became agitated again and
01:00:04
started screaming until Mary stopped her by slapping her across the face she immediately realized what she had done
01:00:11
and knelt down and hugged Beth before saying I'm sorry Beth this has been so terrible for you please trust me Beth
01:00:21
God gave us this chance to get away he wants us to get back to daddy and Steve once we get away he will be safe and the
01:00:29
min can't hurt us anymore Beth seemed to understand and they made their way back to the kitchen Mary
01:00:37
grabbed the phone and dialed the number on the back of the police car she memorized three days prior a moment
01:00:43
later a dispatcher from Ramsey County sheriff's office answered Mary said this is Mary Stauffer I think you're looking
01:00:50
for me and my daughter Beth please hurry we're being held in a house he has loaded guns here he'll kill us and
01:00:56
anyone who tries to come in here he has a lot of guns don't try to come in if he's here
01:01:02
Mary gave the address and told the dispatcher that his name was Ming sin-shoo and he wasn't there but he
01:01:08
could return at any moment so to be careful if they saw a black van parked outside that meant he was home and they
01:01:15
should not come in the dispatcher told her to stay inside the house and away from the windows Mary ended the call and
01:01:23
as soon as she did Beth came up with an idea she said they should wait outside for
01:01:27
the police and hide behind bushes although Mary had been warned by the dispatcher to stay inside she listened
01:01:34
to her daughter and they went outside through the back door of the house they saw a car covered with a blue tarp and
01:01:40
decided to hide behind it they crouched down and stayed out of sight while they waited anxiously for the police to
01:01:46
arrive what they didn't know was that by the time they got out the back police were already there
01:01:54
since the dispatcher had instructed Mary and Beth to stay inside the house they assumed that was exactly where they were
01:02:01
now before attempting to get inside and get both of them out officers secured the area diverted traffic out of the
01:02:08
street and warned two neighbors to stay inside their homes when they were sure all the surroundings were covered they
01:02:14
moved in on the house it was at this moment they saw Mary and Beth crouching behind the car two officers ran to them
01:02:21
and protectively guided them towards a police car they sped off to safety while other officers remained waiting for men
01:02:28
to appear inside the police car Mary and Beth didn't believe the horror was over
01:02:33
they thought men could still be behind them so they saw outs down in the back seat and remained hidden one of the
01:02:40
officers explained that they were taking them to the police station and afterwards they'd be taken to hospital
01:02:45
for a complete medical examination the other officer took the opportunity to ask what was in the minds of everyone
01:02:53
was Jason Willman with you in the house Mary was confused by the question firstly because she had to take a moment
01:03:01
to remember Jason they had been with Ming for 52 days and she hadn't seen Jason since the day that were abducted
01:03:08
when she did remember she became confused because she always assumed he'd been found she said Jason didn't you
01:03:16
find him Ming said he let him go at a place where it would be found we haven't seen Jason since the first night Ming
01:03:23
took us the entire car fell into silence Beth ended up breaking it by asking mummy what happened to Jason did Ming
01:03:32
take him home no one answered one of the officers started reading Mary her Miranda rights
01:03:41
Mary was confused and asked why are you reading me my rights the officer said they had no way of
01:03:48
knowing if she had a part in her own disappearance and Jason's disappearance Mary said she understood into the
01:03:54
reading of the rights continued afterwards Mary asked about Irving and Steve the officer informed her that
01:04:02
they'd been notified and were being taken to a secure location because Ming hadn't been arrested yet
01:04:07
the police were taking no risks with the Stauffer family the officer asked Mary if Ming had ever taken them out of
01:04:15
Minnesota when she said he had taken them to Chicago the FBI were notified and today took the lead in the
01:04:22
investigation when they arrived at the police station investigators took photographs of Mary and abets face and
01:04:29
wrists they had red marks on their face and marks and scars on their wrists they
01:04:35
were then cut out of the cable they were still tied together with once they were
01:04:40
released Mary knocked down and held Beth fiercely only believing then that the worst was finally over with Mary and
01:04:49
Beth safe several things were happening simultaneously Mary's parents Mabel and Leroy had that same day received a
01:04:57
letter from Mary it said that they were fine and that she hoped they could meet again years later it also asked for them
01:05:04
to support earthing and Steve through this hard time right after reading the letter Mary's parents called the FBI and
01:05:10
several agents came to their house while they are analyzing the contents of the letter the phone rang and Mabel picked
01:05:17
it up she screamed out praising the Lord that they'd been found at the same time
01:05:24
Sandra and David Willman was standing on the front steps of their house they'd been notified a few minutes earlier that
01:05:30
police wanted to meet with them Sandra was at home and David was at work he rushed back to the house in the hope
01:05:37
that what the police had was good news about his son however when the couple saw that three cars were arriving with
01:05:43
officers from Ramsey County FBI agents and a chaplain any hope they had dissipated they simply didn't believe it
01:05:51
would take so many people to deliver good news one sergeant from Ramsey County told them that Mary and Beth had
01:05:58
been held captive since the night of the abductions and they've managed to escape
01:06:02
that afternoon both sander and David said what about Jason was he with him what did they say
01:06:08
about Jason where's our little boy the officers bowed their heads and explained that Jason hadn't been with Mary and
01:06:16
Beth they hadn't seen him since the night of the abduction and they couldn't tell them where Jason was or had been
01:06:22
the past seven weeks sander and David took a moment for the information to sink him and once it did they fell to
01:06:30
the ground and started crying uncontrollably one of the officers told them that the investigation would now
01:06:37
focus on finding Jason and two that the man responsible was being arrested as they spoke at 5:15 p.m. a Minneapolis
01:06:45
police sergeant met with a deputy of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office at Judy's
01:06:50
restaurant in Minneapolis the restaurant was very close to Minnie's business the
01:06:55
idea was to arrest him there and since the business was on the border of Minneapolis the investigators from
01:07:00
Ramsey County wanted to have all bases covered and to not have jurisdiction problems when the case went to trial for
01:07:07
that reason they asked for the help of the Minneapolis Police Department FBI agents were also present after a
01:07:14
briefing at the restaurant police sent to the FBI entered ming's business they confronted an employee who was talking
01:07:20
to a customer the customer was ushered out of the store and the employee led them down to the basement where Ming was
01:07:27
working Ming allowed himself to be handcuffed without resisting but he kept asking what's this all about what's
01:07:35
going on the FBI agents took me to the federal courthouse in st. Paul and on the way they asked him about Jason Ming
01:07:44
kept repeating that he didn't know who Jason was one of the agents said is the little boy you kidnapped the same night
01:07:50
you grabbed at the store Furze Ming didn't reply and sat staring out of the window
01:07:57
other police were searching Ming's house for any sign of Jason but they found nothing at 6:00 p.m. there was a news
01:08:05
conference scheduled led by the Ramsey County Sheriff Charles Zacharias the news conference would first be shown
01:08:10
locally and delayed our national news networks picked it up the Ramsey County attorney advised
01:08:17
Zacharias not to hold the press conference since firstly he was concerned as Zacharias might share
01:08:22
information that would harm the prosecution's case when it went to trial secondly he didn't know if all the
01:08:28
members in the store fur and the willkommen families knew everything that had happened to that afternoon Zacharias
01:08:34
still held the news conference the Ranger County attorney refused to take part he told his colleagues there's a
01:08:41
hell of a lot we don't know at this point most importantly where Jason wilt meant is a short time later at the
01:08:49
federal court building FBI agents were ushering Mary and Beth out after their initial questioning they crossed paths
01:08:55
with the agents that were bringing Ming into the building taking him into custody Mary looked away trying to avoid
01:09:02
contact that Ming kept his eyes on her when he passed her he screamed why did you leave me Mary didn't reply that 8:45
01:09:14
p.m. Ming was booked into the Ramsey County Jail by 9:00 p.m. his mother may had been notified and planned an
01:09:22
emergency trip from her house in Alexandria Virginia she also hired Ronald Master sha to represent me one of
01:09:29
Minnesota's best defense attorneys the following day Master Fisher met mean for the first
01:09:35
time when the meeting was over mash Fisher told me that the prosecution case was overwhelming he also told her that
01:09:42
the investigators wanted to question Ron Ming's brother who was yet to be notified he said Ron wasn't implicated
01:09:49
at all in dominga even said that Ron never knew Mary or Beth were in the house but he still had to be questioned
01:09:54
because he was there when May was able to talk to me the first thing she asked him was why did you do it Ming replied
01:10:03
mummy she reminded me of you because of her spirit she is bright and warm and a good person
01:10:10
there were several similarities between Mary and May they had the same first initials in their names Mary Stauffer
01:10:16
and made sure they were both short in stature and didn't wear much makeup they dressed in a rather conservative way and
01:10:24
- they'd both been math teachers of some point in their lives on July 9th a preliminary hearing took
01:10:31
place to see if there was enough evidence to go to trial an FBI agent testified about the evidence they had
01:10:36
after interviewing Mary and Beth and - the evidence they found in Ming's house then in the place of work included in
01:10:43
the evidence were a map of Bethel college campus that had the store for apartment circled and the apartment
01:10:49
number written beside it rental papers for the RV gas station receipts from Minnesota Wisconsin and
01:10:55
Illinois from June 9th to 13th and a receipt from clothes for a woman and child bought at Sears in Illinois this
01:11:02
all corroborated Mary's story about being driven and held captive across state lines
01:11:07
the judge ruled the evidence provided probable cause for a crime involving the interstate transportation of a kidnap
01:11:14
victim he set bail at 1 million dollars mesh betcha argued for a reduction on the bail he said that Ming was a bright
01:11:22
man had good relationships in his life and that before this altercation he had never had a previous conviction for
01:11:28
those reasons he asked for bail to be reduced to $50,000 the judge replied quote well counsel I feel that this case
01:11:38
is unusual there are very bizarre happenings making it impossible to figure out what the defendant would have
01:11:44
in mind if he were allowed out on bail I could not possibly anticipate what he might do nothing in this case makes
01:11:51
sense I feel he has a lot to run away from and he has a little to keep him here he added that if Jason Bookman were
01:11:59
found the story would be different but as it stood he was keeping the bail of 1 million dollars to be sure min would
01:12:05
have absolutely no possibility of escaping so'ming tried to escape by other means
01:12:12
his first attempt was the very next day he tried to make it deal with another prisoner he offered him $50,000 to help
01:12:18
him escape when the officers took him to st. Paul Ramsey hospital for court-ordered psychiatric examinations
01:12:24
the other prisoner was getting released and he agreed to the plan however he told me that he didn't own a car
01:12:30
Ming wrote him a check for $1,000 and in the other prisoner immediately cashed it
01:12:35
and bought the car he intended on forgetting the rest of the deal and about mingled together but Ming called
01:12:42
him continuously until the other prisoner grew tired and ended up contacting the FBI the FBI started
01:12:48
recording the calls between the two men and found out that it was true in his own defense the other prisoner said
01:12:54
listen only one of the thousand bucks I was only in jail on a misdemeanor and that's over now no way door when I get
01:13:01
involved with someone who's done murder and kidnapping I'd be crazy to help him out I don't want nothing to do with him
01:13:07
Ming's second escape attempt came shortly after and it was noticed by a deputy who took the canteen cart around
01:13:14
for the prisoners he realized that Ming would always buy KitKat chocolate bars which had aluminum foil was in the
01:13:20
wrapping however when Ming threw the wrapping in the trash the aluminium foils were never there one day
01:13:27
Ming entered the cafeteria and after eating his lunch quickly he walked over to a window there he started acting
01:13:34
suspiciously and the deputy noticed it he approached Ming and asked to see what was in his hands
01:13:39
Ming shouting he had screws that he'd removed from the bottom of the cafeteria chairs as well as the aluminium foil
01:13:46
wrappings means plan was to use the screws to tamp in the jail window and then to disable the electronic alarm
01:13:54
system of the prison with the aluminium foils after this second escape attempt the authorities decided to give him
01:14:01
maximum security status and placed him in segregation where he was forced to spend all of his time inside his cell on
01:14:08
August 19th 1980 the defense changed tactics and they notified the court and of the prosecution that they would be
01:14:15
running an insanity defense at 9:30 a.m. on September 9th 1980 the trial started
01:14:23
that took place in st. Pauls federal courthouse Jason milkman wasn't included in the trial in fact there were pretrial
01:14:30
discussions between the prosecution and defense with the judge and it was decided there would be no mention of
01:14:36
Jason at all in this trial this trial would be treated as a federal trial for the kidnapping of Mary and Beth and
01:14:42
Jason and his possible murder would be treated separately when and if his whereabouts were ever revealed for that
01:14:49
reason all witnesses that took the stand were told to eliminate any references or
01:14:53
details that included Jason so as not to create prejudice against me with the jury in his opening statement mesh
01:15:01
pressure painted a very different portraits of men than the one he had in the preliminary hearing here he
01:15:07
described Ming's life making special emphasis on how he set fire to one of the houses where he delivered papers how
01:15:13
he snuck into his mother's bedroom and cut her pants while she slept how he was assessed psychiatrically and had to stay
01:15:19
in a mental health hospital and how he started writing stories about a fantasy life with older women including Mary
01:15:26
mesh Pecha added that after Ming dropped out of college he started to hallucinate
01:15:30
he heard things in his head heard words when no one was around and sought pictures on the wall when he kidnapped
01:15:38
Mary it was because he was unable to help himself and with her he lived a whole different life one where he
01:15:44
thought Mary was happy with him and was faint voluntarily with him master's plan
01:15:50
wasn't to deny that the kidnapping happened or that Ming was responsible for it he entered a plea of not guilty
01:15:56
for reason of insanity arguing that Ming shouldn't be seen as legally responsible
01:16:00
for his actions because he didn't know what he was doing the prosecution was simple and a direct in their own opening
01:16:08
statement they said that would show Ming was in no way insane they would let the
01:16:13
evidence speak for itself and in order to do so the first thing the prosecution wanted to show were the tapes that Ming
01:16:19
had recorded of him and Mary when asked by the judge why he wanted to show them the US attorney said that during the
01:16:26
rape scenes in the second tape Ming could be seen fixing the tripod to set different camera angles as well as
01:16:32
wiping off sweat from his forehead and according to the psychiatrist who viewed the tapes
01:16:37
this showed intention and a mind that was in touch with reality and what he was doing
01:16:42
mesh betcha on the other hand argued that by showing the tapes they would be eliminating the chance for me to get a
01:16:48
fair trial since after viewing them the jury would automatically see me as guilty the judge considered both of you
01:16:56
points and asked for some time to come to a decision in the meantime the trial continued the first witness called by
01:17:03
the prosecution was sergeant fella who took Mary's call at the police station the day of the escape the next witness
01:17:09
was Mary as she was walking to the witness stand and past the defense table Ming stood up and said why did you leave
01:17:16
me why did you go that day the trial came to an abrupt stop the priority was to keep Mary safe so the judge called
01:17:24
for a 10-minute recess in which the jury was sent away once they were gone the judge asked me especially to keep his
01:17:31
client under control Ming was infuriated he became agitated and was removed from the courtroom
01:17:37
Nash Pasha asked for additional time to talk to his client and the judge allowed
01:17:42
it the jurors were taken for an early lunch and if the trial didn't start again until three hours later
01:17:48
Mary walked to the witness stand once again and this time got there without incident and was able to give her
01:17:54
evidence after Mary testified the judge had come to a decision about the tapes he ruled that they could be shown in the
01:18:02
courtroom on the condition that only their discussions were shown and are not the rape scenes he deemed to those too
01:18:08
disturbing for viewing transcripts of the tapes were given to the reporters present at the courtroom and in total 8
01:18:14
hours of discussions between me and Mary was shown once they were over under the
01:18:20
equipment was turned off the entire courtroom remained in stunned silence at that moment the plastic bag with which
01:18:28
Ming had covered Beth when he threatened it to asphyxiate her fell from a hanger
01:18:32
and everyone gasped at the sound the following day Beth testified she was asked to identify
01:18:40
her abductor and she pointed her finger at me many others testified as well a hospital report was shown and apart from
01:18:48
stating Mary had been sexually assaulted multiple times had also stated she'd lost 17 pounds during the captivity FBI
01:18:57
agent George Parkes jr. testified about the evidence they'd found in Ming's home
01:19:01
the day after the escape among the evidence 482 videotaped cassettes furthermore there was a length of white
01:19:09
cord that was knotted in several places and tied to Ming sofa in the living room
01:19:13
with a piece of adhesive tape that had hair stuck to it on the cord there were also two more pieces of adhesive tape on
01:19:20
the sofa which had hair attached to it samples were taken of the hair and a lab analysis proved that the hair belonged
01:19:26
to Mary they also found a Mary's purse which had a driver's license her car keys and her credit cards
01:19:33
they also found her watch and her engagement ring in addition they found a Mary's notepad which was used to write
01:19:39
the letters Ming forced to marry descent last but not least Mary had warned the police about Ming's possession of guns
01:19:47
she stated he had them all over the house in the search this proved to be true the officers found eight Smith and
01:19:55
Wesson revolvers of different calibers and a four semi-automatic rifles along with 4,000 rounds of ammunition giving
01:20:03
further evidence was William J Thompson the deputy sheriff of Ramsey County he testified about Mary's car which they'd
01:20:10
found on May 17th the day after the abduction it was in a secluded swampy area of Hudson Road in arden hills
01:20:19
thompson also spoke about what several witnesses had seen at hazelnut park several children mentioned the singing
01:20:26
speed away with his car and hit the side of a tree when forensic investigators examined the car they found several
01:20:32
leaves those leaves were compared to the ones in the poplar tree the children had
01:20:37
pointed out they matched they also took a smudge of residue from the tree and when they compared it in the lab and
01:20:44
matched a smudge of residue that was found on the car the prosecution then asked him to detail the information they
01:20:51
had about the break-ins that occurred at Mary's apartment days before the abduction Thompson spoke about the two
01:20:58
known attempted break-ins but then his testimony came to a halt in order to show a tape to the courtroom on the tape
01:21:05
being revealed to Mary a third break-in no one had ever noticed he told her that
01:21:10
he went into the basement utility room of the building which was right underneath Mary and Irving's bedroom he
01:21:16
drilled a hole in their floor right underneath their bed once Ming was arrested the FBI went to the apartment
01:21:23
to check if the story was true it was under Mary and Irving's bed there was a hole that was large enough for me to
01:21:30
listen in on Irving and Mary after Thompson the prosecution rested its case and the mesh Fisher called his witnesses
01:21:38
the first one was May means mother she testified about Ming's childhood and his father's death she said she was aware
01:21:46
that there was a history of mental illness on Ming's father's side but it was something she didn't know about in
01:21:50
depth because those matters weren't discussed May was asked what sort of sexual education being received and she
01:21:58
answered that after the night she caught him looking at her she went to the library and borrowed health science
01:22:02
books which he gave to Ming to read the next witnesses mesh measure called were Ron and Charles Ming's brothers they
01:22:10
testified about never having a close relationship with their brother and that after their father had died Ming treated
01:22:16
them as servants and even went to the point of asking Ron to enter his mother's bedroom and touch her breasts
01:22:22
Ron refused to do it but he always remembered at the odd request in general the Charming's brothers
01:22:29
described him as someone who had always been odd in total five doctors examined me the defense hired two psychiatrists
01:22:37
and one psychologist under the prosecution hired one psychiatrist and one psychologist every doctor performed
01:22:46
different tests on me but all of them had access to the following a neurological exam of me an extensive
01:22:53
family history access to the psychiatric files from the adolescent mental health
01:22:58
unit at the University of Minnesota from when he was 14 years old access to written statements from his
01:23:03
business associates high school friends teachers neighbors and family an evaluation that analyzed psychology
01:23:10
personality depression and IQ a review of the videotapes a review of the 1200 pages Ming wrote for his fantasy stories
01:23:19
and one-on-one interviews with him the first of the doctors to be called was the defense's psychologist he testified
01:23:27
that when it came to IQ Ming was in the bright to normal range he was in the upper 15% of the general population
01:23:33
where he did measure exceptionally high was in a technical and to the memory area he scored 135 which placed him at
01:23:41
the top 1% of the general population another test indicated that he had no organic impairment or dysfunction no
01:23:49
neurological malfunction what he did find though was that Ming possessed a great deal of anger and anxiety there
01:23:57
was one particular drawing Ming made where there was a woman dead on the floor while the men who killed her
01:24:02
covered his face in shame the doctor explained that the reason why the man killed the woman was
01:24:07
because she'd rejected him in addition he found that Ming's view of women was one where the woman needed the man for
01:24:13
support and was constantly jealous for his affection lastly the doctor believed there was
01:24:19
evidence that showed there was potential for Ming to commit suicide he concluded
01:24:24
Ming was mildly depressed socially withdrawn inhibited in his general relationships and suffered from paranoid
01:24:31
schizophrenia he did not have the capacity to realize the wrongfulness of the crime of kidnapping and he did not
01:24:37
have the capacity to behave according to law the next dr. chord was one of the defense's psychiatrists
01:24:44
he stated Ming had hallucinations in the form of visions of Mary and Kim on his bedroom wall sometime before the
01:24:50
kidnapping he also stated that Ming had spoken of pressures in his head that transformed into words
01:24:56
these were auditory hallucinations in addition the belief Ming had of Mary Beth and him being a happy family while
01:25:04
in captivity was a clear sign of delusion and the symptom found in schizophrenic in order to further make a
01:25:10
point he described a situation that happened while he was showing the tapes to mean he said that while watching them
01:25:16
Ming he said I can't believe that was me I would never do a thing like that I would never humiliate her I have
01:25:23
experienced humiliation it's terrible I wouldn't do that to anyone Ming had headphones on while watching
01:25:30
the tapes and once they were over he threw the headphones to the floor and he buried his face in his hands later on he
01:25:37
said he didn't know the tapes even existed the doctor explained this wasn't a faked response but a very real
01:25:43
emotional one that showed that Ming at times especially during the kidnapping wasn't in touch with reality and didn't
01:25:49
know what he was doing the defense called its second psychiatrist and like his colleagues before him he came to the
01:25:56
conclusion that meaning suffered from paranoid schizophrenia he used the word bonkers at one point to describe him the
01:26:04
prosecution then called it psychiatrist they testified that what Ming had was selective amnesia basically he was
01:26:11
forgetting events that would incriminate him further but he could perfectly remember other events like for instance
01:26:16
the day of the abduction which he described in detail the doctor explained that those who
01:26:22
suffer from actual psychotic game measure can't recall big events and they can't select what they remember and what
01:26:27
they forget he believed that if minging suffered from psychotic amnesia like one
01:26:32
of the defense doctors had employed then he wouldn't be able to recall with such
01:26:37
detail a big event like the day of the abduction the doctor testified that from what he'd seen
01:26:43
me knew perfectly well what he was doing and what he had done the prosecution then called it
01:26:49
psychologist he testified that Ming's actions seemed to be more from a sociopath than from a psychotic person
01:26:55
especially when it came to his actions towards Beth he showed disregard towards her feelings and that during the
01:27:01
captivity he used her as leverage against Mary he concluded that although he believed de Ming was mentally ill he
01:27:09
was in full control of his actions he had the capacity to realize his actions were unlawful on cross-examination mesh
01:27:17
Basha tried to refute the psychologist 3 by arguing that when it came to Beth not
01:27:22
all the Ming's actions showed manipulation he stated that Ming allowed her to call her father on Father's Day
01:27:28
he bought a cake for Mary at Beth's request and he bought her toys and installed a television so she could
01:27:33
watch her cartoons then he went over Ming's past and asked if that past that didn't sound incompatible with the
01:27:40
sociopath the psychologist agreed mash specialist said he didn't have any further questions and on a redirect
01:27:47
examination the psychologist finished with the following quote there is no doubt in my mind that he could still
01:27:54
appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and conform that conduct to the law on Tuesday September 16th 1980 the
01:28:03
prosecution and the defense presented their closing arguments in his closing argument the prosecution attorney stated
01:28:10
that the trial had been mostly about whether or not Ming was legally insane or not he stated that although the
01:28:16
doctors views were important they were also very different and each were based on opinions so they shouldn't be taken
01:28:22
as gospel he asked the jury to base their decision on the facts he concluded with the
01:28:27
following quote he will hear the defense tell you that the defendant suffers from
01:28:32
a mental illness schizophrenia that he has a delusion and that delusion is that Ming loves Mary and Mary loves Ming
01:28:39
there was no love shown to Mary you didn't see any indication of loving on those videotapes did you if Ming thought
01:28:47
Mary loved him so much why did he kidnap her at gunpoint tie her and Beth up and put them in the
01:28:53
trunk of the car with a spare tire on top of them Ming thought that Mary loved him so much that in order to make love
01:29:00
to her he tied her arms above her head blindfolded her and raped her he loved her so much that when she resisted his
01:29:07
orders he tried to suffocate her daughter in a plastic bag while Mary watched how is that love ladies and
01:29:14
gentlemen the defendants delusion at a time of the crime is disproven beyond a reasonable doubt by the evidence and -
01:29:20
the evidence shows that he was in touch with reality during this crime and - there was no such delusion the evidence
01:29:27
shows beyond a reasonable doubt that Ming senshu is guilty as charged in this indictment mesh Basha rebutted the
01:29:35
prosecution's closing argument by stating quote members of the jury mr. Andersen said there was no love in this
01:29:43
case he's wrong there is love in this case there is the love of a woman for her god that brought her through the
01:29:51
most trying times there is the love of the woman for human understanding and compassion
01:29:56
and we merely asked you to exercise that same love and understanding in trying to
01:30:01
help others figure out why this terrible deed was done he went on to say that Ming was a sick man but one of God's
01:30:09
creatures and he deserved compassion and understanding like any other human being
01:30:15
the jury was dismissed and in less than eight hours they returned with their verdict guilty the judge thank the jury
01:30:25
and dismissed them Ming was sentenced on October 29th the judge learned that Ming's business had a net worth of 15
01:30:34
million dollars so the first thing he did was Bill him for the cost of the prosecution then he sentenced him to
01:30:40
life with no chance of parole for 30 years matters got complicated the day prior to the sentencing on October 28th
01:30:50
1989 wilt man's body was found up until that moment Ming hadn't said a word about Jason the authorities had
01:30:59
pressured him for his cooperation but he refused stating he had nothing to say however they knew that he was well aware
01:31:06
of Jason's whereabouts and they were determined to get the information from him and to make him pay for the crime
01:31:12
Ramsey County's attorney Tom Foley wanted Ming to be charged with first-degree murder for the killing of
01:31:18
Jason wilt minh and he gave his assistant Paul linton the responsibility of working with the task force to find a
01:31:24
Jason Lindholm tried negotiating with mesh special mesh specialist said that Ming wouldn't cooperate unless he was
01:31:31
given some consideration what he wanted in particular was to be charged with second-degree murder and not first
01:31:38
initially this request was refused but eventually a deal was made between mesh better handling tal they agreed that
01:31:45
Ming would be given a second-degree murder charge if he disclosed Jason's location Ming agreed and told
01:31:53
police where he'd left Jason in Carlos Avery Game Preserve 19 miles away from hazelnut Park he repeated to them what
01:32:02
he'd previously said to Mary that he left him alone and unharmed Carlos Avery Game Preserve has a total
01:32:09
size of 23 thousand acres that has forests open fields swamps and bushes Ming went to
01:32:16
the preserve with the police and pointed out more specific locations after three
01:32:21
days of searching one of the officers blew his whistle all of the searchers followed the noise and gathered where
01:32:28
that officer was they saw Jason and the very little that was left of him Ming wasn't allowed to near the body and
01:32:36
was led away in handcuffs on October 29th Wang Ming was being sentenced for the crimes committed against Mary and
01:32:43
Beth Sandra and David Reutimann met with the Anoka county's medical examiners to
01:32:48
identify Jason's clothing Sandra still remembered the day of the abduction vividly quote the words of man stole
01:32:58
Jason smashing to you like a rogue ocean wave the impact crippling you you pray the sobbing boy in front of you is wrong
01:33:06
but the terror in his eyes and the anguish on his tear-streaked face tell you is not this little boy saw the
01:33:12
boogeyman and of the boogeyman drove away with your son you scream from the depth of your soul a scream that sends
01:33:19
your body into action you fly into the dusk of the fading afternoon running towards the park where your baby should
01:33:25
have been playing carefree and innocent you shriek his name over and over in a voice that doesn't seen your own you
01:33:33
fall down get back up and continue your frenzied run racing to the spot where Jason was supposed to be plain you
01:33:41
searched anxiously in every direction you plunge through groups of children and play frantically checking a chase
01:33:47
for that of your own little boy you grasp other children demanding to know if they've seen Jason then you realize
01:33:54
that you're frightening them and that will not make Jason appear but what's worse daylight is waning
01:34:01
soon it will be impossible to search and you want desperately to hold back the day you want the world to stop you want
01:34:08
to rewind the day you want it not to be so you want Jason you want him in your arms you want him there right now and
01:34:17
you'll kill anyone who comes between you and your boy but there is no one to kill there is no
01:34:24
one and that there is no Jason someone is talking to you someone is asking you what Jason looks like it is a police
01:34:34
officer and he's asking you to describe your little boy oh my god do you think what does Jason look like it's difficult
01:34:42
to answer because Jason looks like Jason small darling and so very vulnerable the
01:34:48
officer asked what Jason was wearing you don't know the t-shirt and shorts just like he wears everyday to play it takes
01:34:56
all your willpower to focus your frantic thoughts to force yourself to recall what color shirt or color shorts then
01:35:03
you wonder if you actually heard the question because nothing seems real you suddenly realized that if you're going
01:35:11
to get your son back you have to focus you have to help your next visit to reality finds you in the back of a squad
01:35:17
car you are alone as alone at that moment as you will ever be in your life thoughts
01:35:24
of Jason being driven away by a stranger into the rapidly approaching night see like the pain of a hot iron against your
01:35:30
skin it's unbearable you feel guilty for being as frightened as you are because you know your little boy must be
01:35:37
terrified he plead with God he's just a little boy I can take this pain but oh god please he's just a little boy please
01:35:46
God he's just a little boy someone has brought your husband David to the park David is standing outside the police car
01:35:54
and they are asking him what this Jason look like you think for the love of God stop asking that question Jason looks
01:36:01
like any other six-year-old boy playing in a park on a warm spring day that's what Jason looks like he looks like my
01:36:07
little boy and if there's another little boys he's wearing shorts and a t-shirt and tennis shoes like every other little
01:36:13
boy in this park the only difference is he isn't in this park he's being taken away like Kimmy said a
01:36:23
man stole Jason you force yourself to focus your swelling thoughts and to tell them what
01:36:29
your little boy looks like you think Jason Jason is his name and he has blondish brown hair and blue eyes
01:36:37
he has a dimple under his left eye when he smiles his eyes are bright and he asks a thousand questions a day his wiry
01:36:45
but strong and normally runs rather than walks he loves dinosaurs McDonald's and
01:36:51
playing in the tub at the end of the day and when he smells sweet from his bath we snuggle close in his bed to say
01:36:57
prayers and read books he's Jason you and David stare next to each other holding each other tightly but there is
01:37:06
a great emptiness between you there is no Jason for you to protect and your pain is so awful you can hardly breathe
01:37:19
on November 3rd 1980 Ming was transported to Anoka County Jail on November 5th he was charged in Anoka
01:37:28
County District Court with one count of murder in the second degree and the one count of kidnapping Jason January 14
01:37:36
1991 was the date set for the trial on December 11th 1980 Ming had a breakdown in the cell he shared with seven other
01:37:45
prisoners he had already been convicted to 30 years of imprisonment without parole and he faced a probable new
01:37:51
conviction for the murder of Jason so he suddenly screamed out I've got nothing to lose
01:37:56
I'll kill all of you down the prison has asked for Ming to be removed and he was
01:38:02
placed in segregation until the following day On January 14th 1981 the initial proceedings for the trial of the
01:38:10
state of Minnesota first meaning sin-shoo started in Anoka County district court since Jason's body was
01:38:16
found within that county's jurisdiction jury selection proved to be a problem as
01:38:22
Ming's previous trial had received extensive television and a newspaper coverage on top of that the authorities
01:38:28
had come to the decision that they wanted to sequester the jury they wanted to keep them in a hotel for the duration
01:38:34
of the trial without any sort of communication with the outside so the authorities in this case had to find a
01:38:40
jury that hadn't heard about Ming and who could put their lives on hold for what would probably be a matter of weeks
01:38:46
they interviewed a total of 338 potential jurors and finished with a panel of nine women and three men
01:38:55
representing Ming in the trial was Ronald Mishka sure once again he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of
01:39:01
insanity like he'd done previously but he gave a new twist he demanded a bifurcated trial this was a trial that
01:39:09
would be divided in two different phases the first phase would be for the jury to
01:39:13
decide if Ming had killed Jason or not and that the second phase would be for the jury to decide if Ming was guilty of
01:39:20
second-degree murder or if he was not guilty by reason of insanity on February 7th 1981 the first phase of the trial
01:39:29
began the prosecution called its first witness William Thompson from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department he led the
01:39:37
investigation on Jason Mary and Beth's abductions in the previous trial any reference to Jason hadn't been allowed
01:39:45
to be mentioned but in Mary's car the forensic investigators had found traces of blood in the trunk belonging
01:39:51
to Jason his lip had been bleeding from when Ming forcefully covered his mouth Thompson gave an account of the many
01:39:58
witnesses that had been spoken to including the prime witness Jason's friend Timothy most of the witnesses
01:40:05
were children the next witness was Timothy's mother Isabelle followed by Mary Stauffer Mary
01:40:12
was asked if she could point at the men who'd abducted her and she did pointing directly at me she was asked if he was
01:40:19
the same man that had grabbed Jason and she said he was she was asked if she heard any sounds after Jason was removed
01:40:26
from the trunk and she said she heard nothing no traffic sounds no talking absolutely
01:40:32
nothing Mary testified that afterwards she asked me what he did with Jason and he told
01:40:39
her he'd taken him out into the woods and threatened him never to tell anybody who he was because he would come back
01:40:44
for him and hurt him Ming also told Mary that in order to scare Jason he fired a
01:40:49
shot over his head and then he left him alone unharmed yet Mary never heard a shot mesh asure
01:40:58
cross-examined Mary and asked her if perhaps she'd recited certain quotations of the Bible to mean that could have
01:41:04
been misunderstood by him if maybe she told him that she loved him indirectly Mary denied ever saying that she loved
01:41:12
me and the mesh pressure pressured her with another question did you tell him that people should have love for one
01:41:19
another and because he was a person that you loved him Mary answered I don't recall ever saying does early-out scream
01:41:31
in the courtroom in less than two seconds being jumped from his chair at the defense table ran to the witness
01:41:35
stand and threw himself on top of Mary with a knife in his hand he put the knife to Mary's neck and shouted I just
01:41:41
want a baby with her one more time he threatened to kill Mary if anyone came near him somehow the FBI agents and
01:41:49
other officers present managed to knock me down but while I was being forced away from Mary he slashed her face
01:41:55
Ming's body went completely rigid and when talked to he didn't respond appearing to be in a catatonic state
01:42:02
that took five men to carry him out of the courtroom Mary was rushed to hospital she had a
01:42:10
massive facial wound which took 62 stitches to close up people in the courtroom were hysterical
01:42:17
one person who was present described it as follows we couldn't believe what we'd
01:42:23
seen and heard we just couldn't grasp it that unearthly scream you've laid out before dashing it just sent a shock
01:42:30
through all of us everyone was so horrified that we could hardly breathe the jurors all scrambled together into
01:42:37
the corner of the jury box as far away from the witness stand as they could you could tell they feared for their lives
01:42:43
the judge immediately adjourned to the court later that afternoon Ming was examined
01:42:49
by psychiatrists following his outburst and they all said the same thing that he
01:42:54
suffered a psychotic break and the fact that it happened was predictable the next time Ming was brought into the
01:43:02
courtroom he was handcuffed to a waist chain and he was also secured with leg irons Mary didn't return to the
01:43:08
courtroom again Beth Irving and Timothy were all called to the stand Beth mentioned the detail
01:43:15
that Mary hadn't she said that when Ming took Jason out of the car he also took a
01:43:20
tire iron with him in court she was asked to identify the base of the tire jack and she did she said that it was in
01:43:27
the car and Amin threw it in the woods somewhere the police had found it two days after
01:43:33
the abduction off Pella Line Road which runs by the northern side of hazelnut park
01:43:38
Irving then identified the base of the tire jack as well and added that there was a tire iron that came with it but
01:43:44
that he's understanding it was never found Timothy was asked if the men that had abducted Jason was in the courtroom
01:43:51
and he said yes pointing directly at me the last two witnesses of the first phase of the trial were the medical
01:43:59
examiners who performed the autopsy on Jason they believed the cause of death was from a severe cerebral trauma
01:44:06
produced by a blunt instrument they'd identified two definite blows to the head and that they believed they
01:44:13
could have been more dr. Koh was then shown a tire iron and asked if it was consistent with producing the type of
01:44:19
damage he described to Jason's head Co stated that yes he believed that the fractures of the skull could have been
01:44:26
caused by such an instrument at 10:30 a.m. on Friday February 13th 1991 the judge issued his instructions to the
01:44:36
jury for the first phase part of those instructions were asking them to not take the attack on Mary in the courtroom
01:44:42
into consideration the jury returned two hours later with their verdict guilty the judge thank the jury and immediately
01:44:52
after the second phase of the trial began mass Fisher called most of the witnesses he called during the first
01:44:59
trial including two of the three doctors they again testified that Ming suffered
01:45:04
from schizophrenia and too lacked the capacity to realize what he did was wrong or to conform his behavior to the
01:45:10
law the prosecution called two new doctors the first one was a forensic psychiatrist in Baltimore and of the
01:45:18
president of the American Board of forensic psychiatry he went through all of the studies and evidence the previous
01:45:24
doctors had gone through and testified that he didn't believe means suffered from any sort of bizarre delusion he
01:45:30
believed Ming was a sick person but not schizophrenic he didn't believe Ming suffered from hallucinations because the
01:45:37
words that ran through his head about Mary were really thoughts that he had he never described the words that appeared
01:45:43
in his head is coming from another source he described them as part of his imagination furthermore he testified
01:45:50
Ming didn't believe that Mary loved him but believed that if she spent enough time with him she could come to accept
01:45:56
and love him the doctor concluded that Ming suffered from a compulsive personality disorder that had traces of
01:46:03
an atypical paranoid disorder in sexual sadism but he was in no way psychotic because his cognitive abilities were
01:46:10
intact Ming recognized Jason as an impediment to his plans of taking Mary and he was able to exercise the free
01:46:19
choice on what to do with him he had control and he was able to make a decision he made the decision of getting
01:46:25
Jason Lee out of the way the last witness was a psychologist who agreed in many ways with the views of the previous
01:46:32
doctor he stated Ming had a clear idea of right and wrong and was aware of the nature and
01:46:38
consequences of his acts he was capable of choice and of controlling his behavior he could have chosen any other
01:46:44
option but he chose to murder Jason in his closing argument the prosecution attorney stated I submit to you that all
01:46:53
of the evidence shows that the defendant did know the nature of his acts and the
01:46:57
consequences and he did know that were legally and morally wrong when he kidnapped and murdered Jason on May 16th
01:47:04
I ask you to return a verdict of guilty to both these crimes in his closing argument master Peche has stated members
01:47:13
of the jury this is a sick man with a sick mind and he must be treated that way as Mary told Ming on the tapes
01:47:20
revenge is not for mortals revenge is for God alone members of the jury if there is any one principle you must take
01:47:28
to the jury room in deciding this case with fairness it's that principle that ours is not the revenge and the mortal
01:47:35
judgment ours is to apply the law of mental illness in the same way we would enforce any other law it's a tough task
01:47:42
I'm glad I'm not you the judge then gave his instructions to the jury he told them that they should take all evidence
01:47:51
into consideration and at this time they should take your means attack on Mary in
01:47:55
the courtroom into consideration he explained the term legally insane quote the statutes provide that a person is
01:48:05
not criminally responsible for an act when at the time of committing the act he did not know the nature of his act or
01:48:11
did not know that it was wrong because of a defect of Reason caused by mental illness or deficiency the jury retired
01:48:19
on Wednesday February 18th on Thursday afternoon they sent a note to the judge telling him they were a hung jury the
01:48:27
judge answered with a note telling them to continue deliberating a few hours later the jury sent another note to the
01:48:33
judge telling him there was still a hung jury because one of the members was close minded to the other views and was
01:48:39
becoming distraught but they continued deliberating and were able to reach a verdict after three days 11:30 a.m.
01:48:46
Saturday February 24 guilty two weeks later on March 2nd 1981 the judge sentenced me to 40 years of
01:48:58
imprisonment to be served concurrently with the 30 years given for the kidnapping of Mary and Beth meaning they
01:49:04
would be served at the same time and after the first 30 years for Mary and Beth's kidnapping Ming would still
01:49:10
remain in jail for another ten years but this went against Sentencing Guidelines and of the request for the
01:49:17
concurrent sentence of 40 years was overruled meaning Ming would only serve 30 years
01:49:22
in total before having a chance for parole in 2010 on March 17th 1981 Ming was transported to the Bureau of Prisons
01:49:31
medical center for federal prisoners in Springfield Missouri for a psychiatric evaluation on May 1st he was cleared but
01:49:40
shortly after Ming started behaving differently and that the staff decided to make him stay Ming had started making
01:49:47
life threatening actions and had attempted to escape from custody he was deemed a threat to others in the
01:49:52
institution and was kept in segregation in September he was transferred to a maximum-security unit at the Federal
01:50:00
Correctional Facility in Marion Illinois he started off in prisons with the general population but after two months
01:50:07
he had to be segregated because other inmates had learned about his crimes and plotted to kill him Ming was seriously
01:50:14
attacked numerous times in prison including one that knocked out his teeth he was transferred between various
01:50:20
different facilities and spent time in and out of segregation both three zone safety and because he made numerous
01:50:26
plans to try and escape over the years in July 1999 he was added as a sex offender in the public safety records in
01:50:35
March 2008 a psychologist was hired by Anoka County to evaluate whether Ming met the criteria for civil commitment in
01:50:44
1939 Minnesota enacted a psychopathic personality law which allows those determined to be dangerous sex offenders
01:50:51
to be committed to the Department of Human Services for treatment indefinitely the psychologist went to see Ming who is
01:50:59
now located at the federal institution in Fort Worth Texas what he found was that Ming was highly
01:51:05
likely to engage in acts of harmful sexual conduct because it never been treated for his erotic delusions in fact
01:51:12
the psychologist labelled him as an untreated sex offender on top of that the psychologist saw that the only
01:51:20
person who supported me in any way or form was his mother Mei who after being interviewed didn't seem to have any
01:51:26
empathy for Ming's victims and who stated his sentence is longer than anyone else's and that this is racial
01:51:34
the psychologists believed that if Ming was ever released his mother would never
01:51:38
inform them of any violation he might commit the psychologist concluded that Judah Ming strong attachment needs his
01:51:45
lack of treatment and he's stalking behaviour he was extremely dangerous on October 16 2009 a petition was filed for
01:51:54
the commitment of Ming has a sexually dangerous person on April 19th 2010 a civil commitment trial was held in Anoka
01:52:03
County with Mary and Beth present to give their testimonies to try and make sure that Ming would never be released
01:52:08
it was also attended by Ming's mother Mei it had taken Mary and May 30 years to meet each other and on this day they
01:52:17
spent 20 minutes talking alone before they and other family members joined hands and prayed Mary said quote I had
01:52:25
wanted to do that 30 years ago as a mother I felt such empathy she is not responsible for the actions of her son
01:52:33
in September 2010 the judge ruled that Ming was a sexual psychopath and a sexually dangerous person parole was
01:52:42
denied and the judge declared that Ming met the criteria for a civil commitment so if it was ever paroled in the future
01:52:48
he would be transferred to the sex offenders facility in Moose Lake Minnesota and he stay there would be
01:52:54
indefinite he still sits in a federal correctional facility most likely never to be released after Jason's death the
01:53:04
wolfman's founded the Jason Wilton memory program and every year the North Heights Lutheran Church in arden hills
01:53:10
holds an event on Jason's birthday in January in a newsletter they released in January 2006 Jason's father David
01:53:19
remembered the morning of May 16th when Jason was abducted he said we pause for prayer just before Jason's bus appeared
01:53:28
that day I prayed for God's protection for all of us as we headed in different directions over the weekend and I asked
01:53:35
the Lord to grant us all a good time and bring us back together after the activities were over my wife sandy had a
01:53:41
prayer also she asked God to be with Jason in school and asked for his protection over us Jason prayed for
01:53:49
God's presence with him at school and for a good weekend then he said goodbye and - to our sight
01:53:54
away from the bus after cautioning Jason to stay back from the street until the bus came suddenly he was on the bus and
01:54:01
waving goodbye again it had been a pleasant to be good day for us we had no idea that it would be our last family
01:54:08
time together looking back I'm so glad that it ended with prayer Beth grew up and had a family of her own
01:54:18
Mary left for the Philippines shortly after the trials were over and she continued the work she'd been doing with
01:54:24
her husband Irving it wasn't until 1986 that Mary and Irving agreed to be interviewed about
01:54:31
the kidnapping it was for the radio program focused on the family and that the tape was made available for Bible
01:54:38
study groups throughout the United States because Mary didn't just speak about the dark details but she also
01:54:43
explained how her faith helped her pull through in the same year the st. Paul Pioneer Press posted a feature on her
01:54:51
titled Mary Stauffer chooses faith over fear in 2010 at the civil commitment trial forming Mary and Beth said that
01:55:00
the 30 years up to that moment had been good ones they both managed to move on Beth closed with the following words the
01:55:09
wonderful thing is that her life isn't defined by it and neither is mine [Music]
01:55:21
[Music] you