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Negotiator mark thundercloud thought he knew why the kidnappers released gerfa. their intent was to let her go to help raise more money. now she s out. and now she s got to talk to these people. right. someone needs to be there with her. reporter: heiko decided he should stay in lynchburg, try to find the money, and mark thundercloud moved his operations from the family s kitchen to a hotel room in manila. and there, as one month passed, then another, they tried to help gerfa deal with mr. so. december 6th was the last day. that we talked with mr. so. basically, he was saying, look, what you re offering is not enough. this might be the last communication that we ever have. we still expected calls. but on the 7th, nothing. on the 8th, nothing. on the 9th, nothing. reporter: oh, they would hear what happened to kevin. soon enough. a shock in waiting. dateline returns after the break. the break. ance. ....
The philippines, had always felt safe there. her older sister married a u.s. navy sailor and moved to america 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. ....
This weekend. nebraska and iowa seeing tough conditions. flooding expected in missouri sunday. now, back to dateline. welcome back to dateline. i m craig melvin. kidnapped victim gerfa had been released. but what about the fate of her son. and her cousin? here s keith morrison. reporter: in the dark of a philippine jungle, surrounded by men with hate in their eyes, gerfa lunsmann looked, terrified, at her 14-year-old son. an approaching car had put the kidnappers on alert. and now one of them held an automatic rifle to kevin s head. i just said, don t move, son while my entire body was frozen. reporter: and then the car passed. and they kept walking. and several hours later they ....
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. which is how eventually heiko could afford his used mercedes sports car and gerfa and kevin that vacation trip to the philippines. life was good. but now it was very bad indeed. when i first heard they were kidnapped, the first thing that came to my mind was oh, my gosh, it s abu sayyaf. reporter: abu sayyaf, a small but extremely violent militant group. over the years it claimed affiliation first with al qaeda, then isis, as it fought to establish an independent islamic state in the southern philippines. its bread and butter in its fight against the g ....
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 ....