Day 5 & 6 - Two very different plans

Note: This is a transcription directly from the podcast software so please forgive any typos etc.

Okay, so I think we're going to try this a little bit differently for this episode.Normally, we start with a script and then record the episodes after the fact. I think for this one, we're going to go the other direction, wherein we'll record the audio and then just post a transcript.

We'll see how that goes.

So date, we're going to combine likely day five and day six on this episode.

And day five is Sunday.

And I just want to make a quick comment about Sunday because I am an LDS bishop.

So for those of you who are not familiar with what that is, it's kind of like a volunteer pastor.

So for usually about a five-year period, one of the members will volunteer as the head guy of a particular congregation.

And then they're invited to do that.

And I was invited to do that back in 2020.

So I've been doing it for almost four years now.

But while I was in captivity, I was the bishop.

And so Sunday, rolling around, I was wondering what was happening back in Florida with my congregation, right?

And I was asking myself questions like, I wondered what they knew or what anyone knew.

I didn't know that my family at that point was keeping it top secret.

I didn't know if the media knew or any of that.

So Sunday, I was having a lot of those thoughts and wondering what was going on back home.

One other thing that I think is interesting that happened that Sunday, it was pretty quiet from a kidnapper standpoint.

They weren't really coming in.

We could hear church sounds around the area outside our window.

We started to get more brave over time in trying to look out the window.

So you may recall the north facing window is louvered glass.

And so you crank the handle around to open the louvers, right, if you want to.

And we had been slowly over several days inching the louvered glass open more and more.

So it started out where you could, if you were brave, you could stand up and look down through the louvered glass and just see a few feet outside the window.

There's like a sidewalk that went around the house we were staying in.

You could see outside, you could also see the generator.

But then if you crank it a little bit more, you could see five, ten feet out.

And then by this day, day five, Sunday, we cranked it pretty far to where we could see a good couple hundred meters out the window.

And then on the other side, the west side window, it was covered in a thick red curtain.

And we had been slowly sliding that to the side and seeing more and more out that window.

Remember, it has louvered glass, then bars on the outside, and then outside of those bars is a white sheet that was tied over it for further concealment of the outside.

But if the wind blew, you could see to the side of that curtain, and that would allow you to see directly south a little bit.

So we started getting more and more brave moving those curtains just to let the air in, but that also gave us kind of a peek outside that window.

And then, like I mentioned, the north window as well.

Well, that Sunday morning, I mentioned hearing the sounds of churches.

And so a lot of those preachers will speak over loudspeakers.

And so you can hear some of that.

And I remember hearing the sound of children outside the window.

And what a relief that was, right?

There's like some sort of strange connection with humanity, right?

I've been stuck in this terrible place amongst high tension and angry, dark people for enough days to where that was getting to me.

But hearing those children's voices outside the window got me excited.

So, I popped up off the mattress, went to the north window to peek through the louvered glass just to get a peek at those kids.

And was excited to see maybe 13 or 14 little children walking down the hill, kind of bouncing as kids do.

And they all had matching shirts on, which I thought was adorable.

And then they had three adult women walking with them.

And I went from my heart leaping with kind of feelings of love and lightness to a very dark feeling when I realized those women were carrying, all three of them carrying assault rifles.

It was a shocking thing to observe.

And I just couldn't figure out why, and it took me a while to think about it.

And I realized that those children were the children of the gang members.

That's why they were inside our kind of fort, right?

Inside the 15-foot brick wall where the seminary campus that had become this gang's fort of sorts.

And they were walking the children to church, but they needed protection from the general population.

So that represents the tension between the gangs that are holding the community captive, so much so that those mothers feel like they have to protect their children from the general population just to go to church.

So back to my story a little bit.

The only other thing of interest that happened on Sunday, day five, was later in the evening, Chef Jeff came in and handed me my phone.

I wasn't able to make any calls, but I did see a text message from my brother-in-law Aaron.

And I'll read it to you.

It says, Hey brother, the whole family is here and praying for you.

You are not alone.

Each of the littles are scraping all of the change and money we can find everywhere.

I've called everyone we know, and we've pulled $7,850 right now.

It's hard for us to get more.

We're trying.

How am I supposed to get this to you?

Will they let you go as soon as we pay?

We miss you and love you.

We are many and together.

We are strong.

Stay strong, Hefe.

And know that we are with you.

I love you, Aaron.

And then, sorry, and then there's a second one.

It's similar, but slightly different.

Well, let me explain my reaction to this first one.

So I'm deeply frustrated when I get this, because you may recall the previous day when he and I spoke, I was trying to communicate to him that I wanted the $100K, and yeah, you can take a little bit of time to get it, but this does not sound like part of our plan or what I was trying to communicate to him.

Clearly, there's massive confusion happening here, and this is driving me nuts.

And then he sends this other one.

The first one was set in the morning, but I saw them at the same time.

So here's the second one.

Jeff, there's information you don't seem to have.

Your accounts are being locked down, and all we have been able to pull together are the $7,850 from your friends and $5,567.48 from your bank account.

We can't get in touch with Paul.

Remember, Paul's my friend in Haiti who also has volunteered to help securing cash in the country.

And we haven't been able to get more access to cash in country.

We are actually concerned that US government is going to prevent us from getting the $13,417.48 cash to you if we don't get you out by Saturday.

When there is a ransom like this, they are freezing accounts.

It seems you don't know this, but you need to understand, we're working to get a special allowance to fly in cash in this week, but it needs to be soon.

Can you confirm that the gang and they, the gang, with the gang, that they can do an exchange soon?

So at this point, I'm just beside myself, right?

I had a plan.

I demanded, or I shouldn't say I demanded, not yet.

I requested the 100 grand of my own money, and now I'm confused, right?

There's, when I look back at it now, and I read this message, I can see that Aaron's clearly trying to communicate to me this negotiation approach that they are trying to enact, where they lowball, which is awesome, which is what they're supposed to be doing.

But I think that that message is coming from Aaron.

My brother-in-law in Utah, who knows nothing about Haiti or negotiations or kidnapping.

And so I'm just frustrated.

I feel like these idiots, my loved ones that know nothing are trying to subvert my intentions as though they know better.

So I'm just beside myself.

Or I also spent quite a bit of time wrestling with, maybe this isn't code, and maybe this really is all that they could come up with.

And for whatever reason, my accounts are locked down, and so my own money is not accessible.

Or maybe some of my investment was not liquid, so he couldn't come up with anything, and all of my family and friends are broke, and this is all they could come up with.

Or maybe they just don't care.

Maybe they're just leaving me.

Like all of those thoughts go around and around and inside your brain as you're sitting there staring at the ceiling.

Anyway, that was day five, Sunday.

Now, let me take a breath here, and I'll look at day six.

Okay, so day six, which is Monday.

So I spent the morning frustrated about the Aaron text.

I think I actually made a phone call maybe to, I think I actually made a call to Gunny on day five as well, kind of demanding that cash and getting frustrated with him.

I don't recall.

I think I also put him in touch with Paul as another option of getting cash, because I had spoken to Ball and Paul said he could get me a significant amount of cash, maybe all of the 100K.

Anyway, so I was pretty frustrated about that.

And so by day six on Monday, I'm trying to call Diego, because I believed that he could get it to me.

So I call him, and I clarify with him that I do want to pay the 100K.

So I'm not being subtle.

Oh, so it's important for you to know that Chef Jeff handed me the phone.

I explained to him, like, dude, I'm trying to get you this 100K.

I need to get to work.

I need the phone for an extended period of time so I can make a number of calls.

And he relents.

He's like, well, I'm going to get into the shower, and I'm going to leave you this phone, but I've never done this before.

I've never left the phone with a captive before, so you've got to promise me you're not going to screw me, right?

So, yeah, whatever, dude.

So he leaves me the phone, and he gets in the shower, and I start making calls.

One of those phone calls, I think my first phone call was to Diego, to say, yeah, dude, I really do want the 100K.

I'm good for it.

However you want to get the cash, either in country or bring my own money in or whatever, please, please help me do that.

And he says, okay, I'll work on it.

We should be able to get approval from the US government to move that kind of cash across the border, and we'll go from there.

And I asked him how long, and he said, probably take me four days to do it, which was crushing, right?

I was hoping he could do it in 20 minutes, right?

Which, of course, is irrational.

But when he said four days, it hurt my feelings, but at the same time, it was great to have some sort of plan with some final pacing to it, because, of course, I can wait four days.

So I'm relieved to be back on track.

I finished making those calls and kind of coordinating that.

I talked to Gunny also.

You probably figured out that I've changed these names.

So if I ever hesitate to use someone's name, that's why.

So I get those phone calls done, and Chef Jeff has still not come back.

And so I call Mary, and I actually have the recording of that call.

I'm not going to play for it here, because it's a little much.

But it was rough.

It's our first time really communicating with emotion.

And I expressed how much I missed her and loved her, and told her that I had spoken to Diego, and the 100K was on its way, and we should be able to be reunited in four more days.

And that was it, and I hung up.

That was the end of my Day 6.

“The first thing I do every morning is check Jeff’s location. It’s crazy to me that they have left this app alone on his phone. I check his location no less than 30 times a day.
Day five starts with reacting to the call Jeff has placed to my big brother Aaron the day before, my oldest brother. He has agreed to be my right arm through this whole ordeal. I am told early on, maybe day two or three, that usually the wives are too emotional or distressed to actually internalize all that is being said on the important phone calls. So having a trusted family member on the calls is very helpful to corroborate what is being said and for support. I don’t think Aaron or I really realized what we were signing him up for in those early days.

The team we have is being solidified by day five as well. Doug has found Austin. This was no less than a miracle. All Doug’s contacts from various fields all pointed to Austin as the expert at getting kidnapped individuals out of gang controlled Haiti. He has helped multiple people in our exact situation. He is a man of God, prays at the beginning and end of all calls, and most importantly, refuses to take a penny from me. This is a bigger deal than it seems at this point in time when I’ve had others tell me that they can get Jeff out —for a price, which only makes you think they too are in bed with the gangs. At this point, I don’t think I realize the value of having Austin as our lead, but it is critical.
Aaron and I are being taught by our new team that we have to keep everything as quiet as possible. The media could never know. Any chance the gang has to realize that they have ‘a big fish’ would be detrimental to Jeff and add to how long that they would keep him. I’m being schooled in how to keep things quiet, as well as being taught that anytime Jeff calls any of us, we are not talking to Jeff. It is not my husband, it is the gang. And we have to presume all we are saying and all Jeff is saying is what each of us need the gang to hear. In efforts to convince the gang that Jeff is not a big fish and is just a humble missionary doing humanitarian work, we agree on a small amount to offer the gang. Full well knowing, it will only be a down payment, no one gets out after the first pay, no one. Our other efforts that day that are keeping us busy are working directly against Jeff. Because we can’t ever communicate with him openly, we are always working around him for his own good, hoping he will start to catch on and get the idea. We are fielding all other people he talks to. Gunny and Diego have agreed to help Jeff get money, but Jeff doesn’t realize everyone is reporting back to Austin and our team is unified. It will take Jeff several weeks to realize this. We have to convince Gunny and Diego that they need to stop helping Jeff. Having multiple people trying to get money to Jeff is only hurting him. The gang will be all too happy to wait till each and every person that Jeff reaches out to gives their share. In fact, in order to preempt this, I start calling some of our closer friends that undoubtedly will pay anything if Jeff were to call them. I am instructed to have them just not even answer the phone. As awful as it sounds, it is the best way to help and get Jeff home quicker. Diego and Gunny are then instructed to tell Jeff they actually couldn’t come up with the money like they thought they could the next time that Jeff reached out to them. It’s important to know that all of this was killing me. If I didn’t have an expert team assuring me that working directly against my husband was actually the quickest way to see him again, there’s no way I could have done it. I now want to read an excerpt from my journal. These are actually letters to Jeff. It was so hard on me not to be able to talk with Jeff every day, and I knew that he had no way of recording anything either that he was experiencing. So I wrote over a hundred pages of letters and notes over the six weeks to Jeff. That really helped when he got back to corroborate his memories of each day and to fill in his parts. So this is an excerpt from that. My brain goes to worst case so often and then fear takes over. I stare at your picture on my phone all day and tell you of my love all day and pray you feel some of that regularly. I pray I’m not messing things up. I pray we are interpreting your calls the way you want us to. I worry you think that we are leaving you hanging. This is my worst fear. We have been told to go slow, never pay quick, or it will be a two-pay release like the Toussaint’s. They reached out to me. They gave me your messages, and I hope we’ll be helpful in giving our people the right information that is supposed to happen today. I hope you are being tutored by our Lord and that he is helping you know of our efforts and making sure that we stay on the same page. I didn’t know that one person could cry as much as I have. I feel strength come and go for me. We have kept this quiet so far. The longer it goes, the harder that gets. Luckily, you go there a lot, and I’ve been saying your project isn’t going well. He doesn’t know when he can return, and the area he is in has terrible reception and power. Okay, that’s enough of that journal. On day six, I get a text from Jeff that takes my breath away. Then as I’m staring at the text, he calls. I run to my room and close the door, a clear sign to my family that they need to leave me alone. I’ve been instructed to record every conversation as we can gain intel from so many things going on in every call. So I set up the iPad next to me to record, and I answer the phone. Knowing I’m not actually just talking to my husband, I say hello. We are both very emotional. Jeff seems convinced he has a solution. He’s trying to console me and tell me that he’s got it all covered, and he’s still trying to take care of me. The call is short, and we can’t talk long, and I’m not allowed to tell him of our plans. We don’t want the gang to know anything. Jeff tells me he thinks it will be four more days, and I feel sick because I am being taught that it will least be four to six weeks. And then he has to go, and we hang up. I hate the feeling of not being able to truly communicate with Jeff. It’s more painful than I ever could have imagined.”

— Mary

Not long after I finish my call and Kervins finishes translating, seven or eight kidnappers storm in the room and tell Stephanie and I to lay face down on two separate mattresses. Bad Cop is there. I don’t quite understand what he wants me to do. I ask him a question. He punches me in the ear. I lay down and put my arms behind my back not knowing what’s going on. Maybe the $100k wasn’t enough.

They start taping Stefanie up. They tape her legs and hands together behind her back. They torture Stefanie mercilessly while on the phone with her negotiator/family. They leave the room and go into Room Two. We hear screaming. While they are away, Sarah and I try to care for Stephanie by supporting some of her weight to relieve the tension of being hog tied. They come back in. More terrible. They leave again. We try again to help her. I’m able to stretch out some of the packing tape. I give her a Priesthood Blessing. Chef Jeff comes back in. He’s yelling at someone on the phone. He leaves again. He comes back in with street food, a luxury. He hands out a styrofoam container to each of us. Stephanie is still tied up. We don’t know what to do. Someone asks if we can untie Stephanie. He responds as if he’s forgotten. We all jump in and begin to cut the tape off of her wrists and ankles. Her hands are dark blue. Chef Jeff then sits to eat with us and starts speaking sweetly to Stephanie like the previous 20 minutes hadn’t happened.

At one point during Stephanies torture, Kervins makes comments that are sympathetic to the kidnappers. Something like “Chef, I told them the rules”. He was trying to align himself with the kidnappers as a survival mechanism. This is a deep betrayal to the other captives and underscores the reality of Stockholm Syndrome.