i knew if i cannot convince him that i don t have that money, i will never see my family again. so i looked up toward heaven. and there was this one star just blinking. i pointed at the star, this one star up in the sky. and i told them to if they can get that star, my husband can give them $10 million. reporter: gerfa knew heiko would have sent all the money they had, even as the kidnappers squeezed him by putting his terrified son on the phone. dad! just send the money. that s all they want. reporter: heiko didn t realize that the kidnappers were beating kevin as he spoke. gerfa was forced to watch. helpless, full of rage. he get hurt from head to
yeah, no, uh, your son is she with you? can i talk to them? i want to know if they re okay. reporter: mr. so didn t say. meanwhile, fbi agents in the philippines were working sources on the ground. word was that gerfa and kevin had been taken to one of abu sayyaf s strongholds basilan, a large island about four hours by boat from where they d been kidnapped. to a base camp deep in what was nearly impenetrable jungle. we travelled to basilan to talk with the politicians there, who may have had some influence over this group. reporter: heiko had the fbi to help. but government money? no. they don t pay ransom. the government doesn t pay ransoms. right. any decisions that are made regarding ransoms are really made by the family. but it was actually to me no choice. i know i want to pay something. just to make sure they re safe. reporter: the week after the
just give me a name. reporter: mr. so was calm, business-like, like he d done it 100 times before. in fact, he was the voice for a violent separatist group known for executing prisoners, beheadings usually. we would like to tell you that we need 10 million u.s. dollars for the release of your family. can you hear me? and i just was thinking, are you losing your mind? who do you think you ve got? just couldn t believe it. $10 million. from me. reporter: why would they think heiko had 10 million? perhaps they d watched the internet. in lynchburg the kidnapping was big news. tv crews set up shop across the street and captured heiko driving his used mercedes coupe. there you were in your fancy car. yes. you must be worth millions. that was a wrong, wrong impression.
in 1985. brought then 16-year-old gerfa with her, hoping to give her a chance at a better life. she was so excited about the opportunity. i remember she worked at little caesar s pizza and that was the greatest thing, to get a job. reporter: she had a son, josh, went back to community college to improve herself. and there she met a german immigrant named heiko. and from then on that was it. they were a family. she become a lab technician, heiko a maintenance man. they bought a house in a leafy neighborhood of lynchburg, virginia and had kevin. and the immigrants son became an all-american kid. he was 14 that summer of 2011. smart, studious, and looking forward to the start of high school in the fall. he s this normal american kid who likes pizza and hot dogs and burgers, hang out with his friends, play video games, ride on his skateboard. reporter: they lived frugally, saved their money.
the fbi is here for you. what was it like to know the fbi is paying attention to this? it s really real now. this is the real thing. we never know how families are going to react, obviously. but almost in every case they re in a state of crisis. reporter: mark thundercloud was the leader of a special fbi hostage negotiating unit, formed precisely for an emergency like this. more than a dozen agents descended on the lunsmann house, covered the windows, set up a surveillance system in heiko s kitchen, and got ready for what they knew was coming, a demand for ransom. he s negotiating really with someone who s selling his family. the fbi told me that my wife and son are merchandise for them. that s kind of hard to hear. yes. we try to be very transparent with the families in these cases. we try to prepare them as best as we can. did you prepare heiko for the possibility they would be executed?