Kidnap on Highway 1 | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] When I was a kid, I had a strange fear of being kidnapped. That always scared me.
It always freaked me out that there might be somebody that wanted to take me and I'd never see my family again.
We were headed home from a family vacation in Mexico. Family trips to Mexico have always been wonderful and
we've been going for as long as I can remember. >> Divinity and Tyler were asleep in the
back seat. Um, for some reason Tyler always sits behind his mom and Dein always sits behind me. It's they've done
it their whole life. I don't know why. We were um on the toll road headed north. You could see the lights of San
Diego. A police car turned on their lights, the red and blue lights and siren. And I
looked back, I said, "Crap, Dad, we're getting pulled over." I heard sirens at the same time I felt
the truck kind of jerk over to the side. And I asked him, "Were you speeding? What have you done?" He said, "No, I
wasn't speeding." [Music] At that point, we were probably a mile and a half as a crow flies from the
border. We were so close to being home. >> We've been pulled over by police before.
It's never really been a big deal. So, he pulled over. The policeman walked up to the window.
He didn't even get a chance to really talk to him >> and he put a gun straight to my forehead
right here. Told me to get back in the truck. [Music] At that same exact second,
another car came around and blocked us in. It happened so incredibly fast. >> So, at that point, there was nowhere we
could go. They really trapped us in. >> I looked in the mirror and could see probably 8 10 guys.
>> There were 8 to 10 gunmen. There's men surrounding our truck. >> They were all dressed the same in a kind
of a military type. >> Very precise in their movements. All the other guys except for that first
one um had their faces covered. They just had this portion of their eyes showing.
They all had guns with silencers on them. They told us to put our heads down and
shut up. I remember my brother saying, "Oh, God, no. Please, no. [Music] after being told for I don't know how
many times that you're going to die. Like there's not a lot of other options to think.
In the truck, Chris had a radio that is specifically made for off-road racing. Right before they o were opening the
door, I grabbed the mic and I said, "Is anyone out there? We need help." >> And no one came back on the race radio.
>> There was nobody to turn to, nobody to call, nowhere to go. >> Once they realized that the race radio
was there, they ripped it off the mount. They ripped out the wires. When all this was happening, a guy
climbed into the truck on my brother's side. >> There were guys in the back seat with
the kids with guns on them as well. >> And another man jumped in the driver's seat.
>> He tried to reach back behind me and touch them and pat their legs or rub their legs. And I just kept telling, "I
love you and it's going to be okay." The whole time I'm doing this, there's this guy with a gun in my side yelling
at me to shut up and keep my head down. [Music] This took place in November of 2007. We
went down for the Baja 1000. It was Tyler's It was going to be his 16th birthday.
>> Chris and Tyler were working as part of a pit crew for the Baja 1000. >> Tyler started racing motorcycles when he
was five. He's very adventurous. Ever since my dad would take him, he would jump in a car
and help out where he could with changing tires or handing a driver a water bottle. Anything he could do to
spend the day in the dirt. [Music] As a family, we have traveled to Mexico a lot.
We would just go and have fun. It was just you didn't have a care. You just you went down and relaxed on the beach.
It was always warm. Cabo San Lucas is the very south tip of the Baja Peninsula. It's amazing.
The day before we came back, we had stopped along a little spit of beach coming up the peninsula
and probably 35 people met up with this in this deserted beach and we all barbecued and drank beers on the beach
and um camped out overnight and that was probably the most perfect day we've ever
had down there. It was awesome. [Music] [Music] We got up really early in the morning to
drive home. At first, we were caravanning on the way home, and those caravans get a little broken
up. and we were pulling a big travel trailer so we weren't driving nearly as fast as anybody else.
>> The plan was to stop in another city and sleep. >> I'm using the cell phone and calling the
hotel and confirming, "Yes, we're going to check in late. We still want that room. Please hold the room. No problem,
Mrs. Hall. Keep coming. We've got your room. When we get there, the room's gone."
I really think that was the turning point. >> I was tired and I was like, you know
what? We're not that far from home. We're just going to keep going home. >> Just go forwards 5 hours and sleep in
our own bed. At the time, it seemed like an okay idea. [Applause] My dad said, "Please take it all. Leave
us here. just whatever you want, take it. Leave us here. And the guy took his gun and put it to my dad's forehead and
said, "Shut up." I was so afraid that I was going to watch my dad get shot right there in
front of me, 6 in from where I was standing. I could hear Chris breathing really
heavily like in through his nose and kind of shuttering out through his mouth. I could hear Tyler breathing
really really heavily and I never heard a peep out of Deinia. [Music] >> Deborah had to sit up and pretend like
everything was okay. I remember her crying and and hold trying to reach back and hold Tyler's hand.
Sorry. >> Chris is the even killed one in our family. He kind of sets the tone for
things. If he's he turned white gray, he looked like he was going to be sick. And
if he's scared, I'm scared. >> We begged him, just please let our kids go. Just let the kids go. We Deborah and
I didn't care what happened to us. These are my babies. My They don't need this. Just let them walk away. We're out
in the middle of nowhere. My kids are not going to hurt you. They're not going to call anyone. Just let them go. And
they didn't care. >> They just laughed at us and said, "Shut up about your kids."
>> I think the gunmen were nervous once they discovered it was an entire family in the truck. And that scared me in
itself because the dynamics have changed. They're nervous, too. >> And then he started driving and the cars
followed us. >> And then they made a righthand turn off the toll road, but not at an exit or
anything. And then drove up into the hills. They said they were going to shoot us that we
were going to die. [Music] When we were traveling, it was in November of 2007, we weren't aware of any issues that were
happening across the border that would make us question traveling on the road at night or traveling on the road alone.
alone. [Music] >> Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places once in the number of
kidnappings for ransom gangs have killed more than 5,000 people. That's more than
the entire >> I don't see it as the hall's fault at all. These uh criminals took advantage
of the family. Being pulled over late at night in Mexico when you're uh been traveling all
day by a group that's dressed as law enforcement, it's it's very intimidating. The groups think that um
you do have money or you do have vehicles. You know, at that point, it becomes very serious and very
life-threatening. The violence in Mexico has increased dramatically in the last two years.
There's a battle going on. San Diego, we had probably 200 murders last year. In Tijuana, which is next to
San Diego, we're talking about thousand murders. We're seeing targeted executions.
Criminal organizations are melting human bodies in acid and they're hanging them
from bridge abutments for everybody to see. Drug cartels in Mexico are getting into kidnapping for ransom and they're
executing anybody who stands in their way. If you're kidnapped, you could expect to get executed.
[Music] They drove us onto a dirt road up into the mountains above Tijana. I don't ex know exactly where I was
because they made us keep our heads down and they stopped. They kept asking us, "Who are you?
What's your name? What do you do for a living? Um, where's the race car? Do you where's all the money?
>> My dad told him, "I'm I'm just a truck driver. I There's no race car. I'm just
a truck driver." I think these people wanted money. I think they thought we were somebody who we weren't.
They were going through the trailer just ransacking everything. They dug for money and cell phones.
I told them, you know, this is all the cash we have on us. This is our name. We're not anyone. I mean, we're just
somebody's family. >> I remember them rubbing down my legs to check my pockets and my pants. I
remember somebody grabbing at my neck looking for any jewelry. I was absolutely worried about them being
raped. Don't think I've ever felt that helpless in my life. [Music] >> You've got 8 to 10 guys with guns. I
just did not want them touching my daughter. I was scared to death of that. It was creepy. I didn't want them near
me. And I know my dad didn't like the fact that they were running, you know, grabbing at my legs and my neck and
stuff trying to look for things. And I couldn't imagine having to watch his daughter have that happen.
>> My only thought was to tell her I'm so sorry and and to try and protect her as
best I could. >> My mom kept asking these guys to please just leave my babies here. and take what
they want, just leave the kids alone. And they were mocking her. She would say, "Please just leave my babies here."
And they would be like, "Oh, please, please just leave my babies here." It was cruel. As a parent
in that situation, I felt like the most horrible person there is because there wasn't anything we could
do to help the kids. [Music] Tyler was shaking and crying. He was very, very upset. Um, he had a gun
pointed at his side the entire time we were there. Um, I just kept trying to hold his hand,
tell him that I love him. I mean, I tried to tell him it's going to be okay, but how do you tell somebody it's going
to be okay when they have a gun in their side? Once they realized there was no race car
on the trailer and left the trailer there and took us further up in the mountains.
[Music] We got to the top of the mountain. They stopped again where they took us really dark like
pitch black and not be able to see your hand in front of your face. pitch blackout.
These men pulled my dad and I out of the driver's side and my dad instantly just
wrapped his arms around me and he hugged me and he told me he was sorry and that
he loved me. [Music] And they pulled my mom and my brother out of the passenger side.
He's still breathing really heavily. And I looked over and they were putting him
into a ditch on his knees pointed away from me. And there were two men with guns, one on
each side and Tyler in the middle. And I thought, "Oh my god, they're going to shoot my baby.
This is it." And I just didn't want to see that happen. Just stop for just a second.
Our [Music] friend George had driven down with Chris and Tyler. [Music] The second day we were in Cabo. George
said when he woke up that he had had a bad dream. He dreamt that there were guns and somebody was killed and he just
couldn't shake this bad feeling. He said, "I I just need to leave." In retrospect, I think George had this
dream. It was a premonition. We should have all left. When the hotel gave away our rooms, that was a sign. And we had
two signs and we ignored them both. And now look what happened. [Music] When they put Tyler in the ditch,
I was physically ill. One of the gunmen placed me in the same ditch about 8 ft from him and he kind of
shoved me down into the dirt and I crawled over to where Tyler was and the guy yelled something at me and I'm like
told me to stop. I'm like, you know what? No, you're throwing us in a ditch. If he's going to kill us in a ditch, I'm
not going to be 8 ft from my baby. They threw a sleeping bag over Tyler and I and I thought, "They're going to shoot
us. This is it. They're putting the sleeping bag on us so that when they shoot us, they don't get blood on them."
Because of how big my dad's truck was, we couldn't see my mom and my brother. So, we rounded the back of the truck and
my brother was laying face down and so was my mom and both of their bodies were covered with a sleeping bag.
And right then and there I I thought they were dead. The last thing that I remember seeing
before they threw the sleeping bag over Tyler and I is Tyler's head. I crawled over and I just put my hand
over his head and kind of held his head and I was whispering him to that I loved
him and I was so very sorry that we got us into this and he was like, "It's okay, Mom. It's okay. I love you. It's
okay." They forced my dad and I down on the ground with my mom and my brother. Deina
and I got over there as close to them as we could. And as Deina got down the ditch, I got down tried to get on top of
her as best I could to cover her body with with my body. >> I could hear my brother crying and I
could feel him shaking. We all just laid there and they threw a pillow on the back of my dad and I's
head. At that point, I really thought this was it. Execution style to the back of the head. All of us laying here. we
were gonna die. [Music] I told my brother that I loved him. I told my mom and dad that I loved them.
And it was kind of like just wait for it and you know, is this going to hurt? Am I
going to know it just happened? But it it never came. >> It seemed like a long time and nothing
had happened and it it seemed like it got real quiet and we laid there and the truck drove
away and we laid there and they were gone. They were just gone. And after probably
10 minutes of laying there, my dad got brave enough to stick his head up and look around
and realized there was nobody around. Deborah kept saying, "Keep your head down. Keep your head down." And I looked
around and everybody was gone and the truck was gone. And the four of us gave each other a big hug
and and I remember Deborah and I telling the kids, "We're sorry. We're going to get you out of here." We had no cell
phone, no nothing. And we had no clue where we were. No sense of north, south, east, or west. No sense of direction cuz
of the fog. >> Our first reaction was to get up, get out, get away. My mom wanted to find a
place to stay until daylight so we could see what we're doing, where we were going, and everybody else felt, "No, we
need to we need to get out of this situation. What if they come back?" Tyler was sick and we were all just so
cold from being out exposed to that cold fog and air for so long. So, we wrapped
the sleeping bags around Tyler and Chris just said, "Come on, we're walking. We're getting out of here."
>> And I said, "We got to sit and listen for the ocean." I knew as long as we could find the
ocean, we we could find our way to help and find our way home. And we started walking.
>> We were all in shorts because we had just come from Cabo where it was 90° out.
Um, being the middle of November, in the middle of the night, it was about 48°, I
believe. There were cactus, there were trees, there were bushes, there were barb wire fences everywhere.
Rocks were wearing flip-flops, and we're trying to go down steep goat trail type,
no trail terrain. I mean, just not something that you would ever walk on if you were wearing hiking boots. I mean,
it was just bad. >> We probably walked for down the mountain for 45 minutes to an hour. We saw a light, a
very faint light in the distance and it was a trailer and we could hear dogs barking.
>> Deb said, "There's a house. I see a light and uh she wanted to start walking towards the house and I didn't think it
was a good idea." >> And so my mom started yelling, "Help." Somebody came out and fired two rounds
in our direction. Now we're getting shot at. [Music] We ducked and hit the ground just trying
to get as low as possible to get out of any potential line of fire. >> God's supposed to take care of you and
give you only what you're can handle and now we've got some other yahoo shooting
at us. It was crazy. If you don't prepare yourself for the worst, you know, how would how are you
going to get through it when it comes? You're not necessarily always safe when you think you are.
>> In 2001, um my freshman year of high school, there was a school shooting. >> Just getting reports of shots fired at
Santana High School in Santi. We've heard that three students. >> It sounded like fireworks just going
off. Pop, pop, pop. >> I walked into class and I instantly started hearing popping noises.
>> See so many ambulances at the school >> and someone said, "Somebody's got a gun." I heard some shots.
>> There's been a It sound like a shooting at Santana High School. >> We heard the shots and I saw some kid
laying on the ground. >> She was in the ninth grade when they had the shooting at the high school.
14. >> I was really close to where the gunman was. Grabbed my camera, started taking
pictures. >> I happened to be in a cooking class. You could hear screaming and just chaos.
>> Everybody was running around. Who is he? >> I don't know. I just >> You have a whole quad full of people.
You know, he fired. He killed a person in the restroom. He shot someone in the back who ran and collapsed
and died in in my teacher's arms. >> And he is still shooting. He's still shooting. Still shooting. Okay.
>> People were running into the classroom saying, "He's got a gun. There's somebody with a gun." And it the next
hallway over from where I was, um, another freshman was coming out of the bathroom just shooting.
No real target, just shooting. The SWAT team came into the classroom. It was a team of three or four men. They
had us one by one go out of the classroom. >> Okay. Where's the shooter? >> He was in the boys bathroom.
>> We know that there is one suspect in custody. >> The shooter was Andy Williams. He was a
fellow freshman. It was a kid that said he was bullied. >> I didn't know she was okay until I
actually saw her. I was never so glad to see her in my life. And she was she was
shaking. She was really scared. It was instant crying and hugging and just so happy to see them.
>> I mean, he took two lives and he permanently mentally wounded a lot of people.
>> She went from a little girl that, you know, was innocent to seemed like she grew up to an adult right then and
there. I think the school shooting forced me to grow up a lot faster than most teenagers grow up.
[Music] [Music] >> We heard some dogs barking and Deb said, "There's dogs. That's there's a house. I
see a light." >> I'm in flipflops. My mom's in flip-flops. Everybody's in sandals. It's
very slippery. My legs were getting cut up by the brush and we kept falling. [Music]
>> Tyler absolutely stood up and shared the burden. He definitely looked after and watched out for his mom and his
sister as best he could. We crossed the toll road, not realizing it was the toll road. got into this
housing area and we yelled for help and we rang bells and we banged on doors and
nobody would help us. >> It was around 3:00 in the morning and my doorbell was ringing. So I got up and I
went through the window. When I opened the curtain I saw four people standing there, father, mother
and the two children, teenagers. They looked very scared. something told me I should open the door and I opened the
door >> and she came out and she said, "Get in here right now." And she pulled us in
and she took us into her home and she was a lifesaver. Literally an amazing woman. She gave me her jacket.
Um she said, "What can I do for you?" I said, "Can we use your bathroom when we're all just do you have water?" And
she gave us her water and she said, "You can use my bathroom." She said, "It doesn't flush, but I'll carry the
buckets of water to flush the toilet for you." >> I noticed they had some scratches on
their knees and some on their arms, so I offered to clean them up and give them some medicine. I offered to call the
police so they could get some more help. >> She said that she was going to call the
police and we all said, "No, don't call the police. The police are who had us. don't call the police.
She said, "No, no, this isn't I'm going to call. I know the men in my department. It's going to be okay." And
she called the police department in her little Colonia and two men came in a pickup truck and they put Deini and I
went in front with the driver and put Chris and Tyler in the back with the other policemen and we did not want to
be separated. And my mom told the woman, "If you don't hear from us in a few hours, please call my dad." So, my
grandpa. And the woman said, "You'll be fine. These they're going to take you home. These police are going to take you
home." And she wrote down their their names, their truck number, the license plate number, every detail about them.
And when they were driving us to the border, they were going away that I've never been to the border. And that I
think that made my mom and I both very nervous. And then the officer that was driving, he shook his head and he looked
down and said, "You need to go home. It's not safe for you in here." And so they rushed us up to the border. and
they got out of the car and both of the officers hugged my entire family and we thanked them as much as we could and
they said go. >> When we walked up to the first customs agent, we told him who we were, what had
happened to us. We were sweaty, bruised, just a mess. >> And we said, "We don't have any ID or
anything. We need a bathroom. We need a phone. We need water." And uh said, "There's a bathroom and phone at
McDonald's across the street." He didn't seem to really care. >> The San Diego Police Department has like
a little satellite trailer thing right at the border. We talked to the police. They
would only take the stolen purses and wallets report. And I said, "Well, what about the brand
new truck that doesn't have 8,000 m on it and the 3-month old camping trailer and oh, I don't know, being kidnapped at
gunpoint by the Mexican police." And they said, "We don't, that's not our issue. We don't care about that. We're
here to take the stolen property report." >> And that was the extent of the police
report they could take. >> We left. They let us leave. We went to the McDonald's like they told us. We
didn't know where else to go. >> And we called my cousin and um we called him collect and he came to pick us up.
>> The crime that occurred to the family down at Mexico and they reach out to United States law enforcement to assist.
It sometimes becomes very difficult for us because we have no authority in Mexico.
When we were pulled over, in my heart, I honestly believe that it was the Mexican police or possibly the
federalis. At the time, we were under the impression they were police because they
pulled us over like they were police and they were very well organized, but truly we didn't know.
There have been several reports of kidnapping cells or the what we call the criminal element that do use Mexican law
enforcement uniforms, also Mexican military uniforms to further their criminal enterprises.
>> At the time, I had no idea who they were, and I still don't know who these people are.
>> The bandits were probably after uh the expected race car that um they thought
was in the trailer. Anybody down in Mexico gets accosted by what they think are uh law enforcement
person or military personnel. Uh and then they're held at gunpoint. They're placed in a ditch face down and guns
held at them at their heads. Uh they're extremely lucky to be alive. [Music] >> I never felt it was over until I was
home in my own home. >> We were just so so glad to be home. I remember getting home just being
thrilled to be home, happy to be around our dogs, but still worried because they had our
driver's license, they had our address, they knew who we were. After we got home from Mexico, we had
four people sleeping in our bed for a while. >> Once we did get home as a family, we
went to go see a therapist. >> Sleep. Don't we don't sleep anymore. Couple hours here and a couple hours
there. We don't we don't get a peaceful night's sleep. >> I'd sleep maybe an hour or two a night.
Pretty much ran on energy drinks. >> Nightmares all the time. >> I absolutely have nightmares.
[Music] I honestly think that the men with the guns are in our house and I will wake up
screaming and I don't even know what's happening. Tyler Tyler kind of went into his own
little locked himself away kind of thing. >> Tyler wanted nothing to do with seeing a
therapist. Didn't like it. >> I would like to talk to Tyler about it. He's not comfortable with it.
>> Tyler hates to discuss anything that happened down in Mexico. >> I think that Tyler is trying the hardest
to ignore what happened. If you ignore it, maybe it'll just go away. >> The therapist and my parents both felt
that I should go see a therapist on my own based off the fact that this is not my first traumatic experience.
>> And someone said, "Somebody's got a gun." >> I know exactly what I was wearing and
it's been 8 years. And that sticks in my head every day. I think with any traumatic event, your
personality changes. Um, I don't know whether mine was for the good or for the worse.
>> I think that Deina was able to deal with the Mexico incident much better due to
the shooting at Santana. She knows that she can be exposed to something that traumatic and come through. Okay. On the
other side, I think that it's really hard on Chris. I felt responsible for bringing him to
Mexico and I felt like I put him in that situation. Even if I had one gun, there were still
eight to 10 guys with guns. No matter how I look at this in different directions,
the outcome would have been way worse than what it was. >> When he and I do discuss what happened,
I say, "Had you been, you know, Mr. I'm macho dad, you know, rescuing my family.
They probably would have killed you and killed us. >> I guess what I did was right because my
family's alive and nobody was hurt. But in my mind, it sure seems like I could have done something different.
>> We're all home and we're all together and we're all safe. And I really credit
him with that. I'm at work. This person is obviously, you know, an official with the State
Department calling me. He said, "I regret to inform you that we found Chris's body in Tijuana." Your first
reaction is to go, "Oh my god." They were sure it was Chris because this man had his driver's license in his
pocket. I hadn't talked to him in probably two and a half hours. I had to get a hold of Chris and I
called him at home and he was actually meeting with someone. He said, "I'm in a meeting. Can
I call you right back?" Well, absolutely. Call me back. Don't call me back. I just needed to hear your voice.
I call them back. Leave a message. You have the wrong person. This is not my husband. Please don't call me back.
The next day, I get a call from someone else within the State Department. They left me a voicemail and they said, "Mrs.
Hall, we're so sorry for your loss. We'd really like to help you make arrangements to get your husband's body
back across the border." I'm like, "Are you freaking kidding me with this? Don't they talk to each other?"
Third day, I get another call from the same person. Mrs. Hall, we understand that this is a stressful time. Can we
help you make arrangements to get him back? And I was just by this point I'm not even frustrated anymore and beyond
that. And I called and left her a message. I said, "You know what? I never liked him. Keep him. I don't care what
you do with the body." They never called me back. [Music] I think are getting better. It's getting
back to normal. I don't know if it'll ever be normal. But it's absolutely getting better. Our
experience has brought us together. [Music] >> As time goes on, hopefully this will
heal itself. >> We're a couple. >> My parents being younger parents are a lot of fun.
I think as a family, we're definitely adventurers. We like to get out and see what there is to see.
>> We bought a boat. We all go to the river together. [Music] That's our new place to go, I guess. We
just had our 25th anniversary. We took our kids to Hawaii for their first time >> and we had a lot of fun.
[Music] I don't think there's anything that's going to take the place of Mexico just
because it's such a different world down there. >> Even Tyler still talks about the Happy
Times. Um, still talks about his favorite burrito shop. >> There were so many times
that were good that completely outweigh the bad. >> And know we've lost Mexico and we won't
go back and just leave it at that. It's just going to have to be something that was once upon a time for us.
[Music]

A family vacationing in Mexico, kidnapped a mile from the U.S. border, recounts their terrifying brush with death and improbable escape to safety. This episode aired on July 30, 2010. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The Hall family recounts their terrifying kidnapping in Mexico and its lasting impact on their lives.

Key points

A Family's Vacation Turns Deadly. What was supposed to be a fun family trip to Mexico turns into a nightmare when they are kidnapped.
The Moment of Capture. The family is ambushed by armed men posing as police, leading to a terrifying ordeal.
Desperate Pleas for Safety. In a moment of desperation, a mother begs the kidnappers to spare her children.
A Premonition Ignored. A friend's bad dream foreshadows the family's impending danger, but they dismiss the signs.
Facing Execution. The family is forced into a ditch, fearing for their lives as the kidnappers prepare to execute them.
Surviving the Nightmare. A family recounts their harrowing experience of being kidnapped in Mexico and their struggle to find safety.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I just kept telling, "I love you and it's going to be okay.".

In a moment of fear, a parent reassures their child.

4:40WatchFeb 17, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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