she said, don t move, don t scream. this u.s. citizen taking deep into the wilderness, chained to a tree, pulled there might be worst in-store, her family out of their mind and worry. i could not believe it. the american embassy leaping into action. this is going to be a long process, not to be solved overnight. but could she do something to save herself? with a suppressing tool, she set in motion a daring plan you would unlock the lock while no one was guarding you. and then one night in the darkness i started seeing flashlights. was the nightmare over or about to start all over again? hello and welcome to dateline. this is an extraordinary story of survival. a young woman who was abducted, how her family and investigators raced to save her, she was plotting to save herself. she gave it everything she had with bravery and a belief in herself and a little something hidden in the bottom of her bag. here is kate snow with kidnapped. translator:
one moment, she had her whole life in front of her, the next it s a gun at your neck. abducted by strangers. she said, don t move, don t scream. this u.s. citizen taking deep into the wilderness, chained to a tree, pulled there might be worst in-store, her family out of their mind and worry. i could not believe it. the american embassy leaping into action. this is going to be a long process, not to be salt overnight. but could she do something to save herself? with a suppressing to, she set in motion a daring plan you would unlock the lock while no one was guarding you. and then one night in the darkness i started seeing flashlights. was the nightmare over or about to start all over again? hello and welcome to dateline. this is an extraordinary story of survival. a young woman who was adopted, as family and investigators raced to save her, she was putting to save herself. she gave it everything she had with bravery and a belief in herself a
the levy home. we had to get them prepared mentally. look, this is going to be a long process. it will not be solved overnight. the authorities told the levys that they would try to track down elisa s captors, but the most crucial work and solving and abduction is communicating with the kidnappers themselves. the ringleader had left a phone number wait elisa s mom, who would make that call? the agents decided that james levy, who now goes by a spanish name, jaime, had the department to take on the delicate task. jaime seemed to be able to handle it. it s an incredibly difficult thing to do, to talk to the kidnappers of your own child. definitely. but the u.s. and ecuadorian agents were prepared to help. they brought sample scripts, telling jaime what they expect their captors to say, and what he should say in return. after a coaching session, he made the call, recorded. hello? translator: hello, this is jaime levy. i am searching for my daughter, elisa levy.
state department official and a top operative of the ecuadorian anti kidnapping police. translator: the police don t know. in reality, law enforcement agents were on the hunt for elisa s kidnappers, identifying and surveilling known criminals in the area who could be suspects. we were able to undertake basic intelligence operation, big outs, investigations. but in a kidnapping investigation, pepe told us, time is never on his side. communications from the ringleader were getting shorter, sharper. things turned a little bit, a kidnapper started getting anxious. you can tuck that day weren t getting the results that they wanted. the tension inside the levy home was palpable, so was the pain. the little sister maria found and old stuffed animal of elisa