Ransom

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Speaker 7 I'm Josh Mankowitz. This story was so off the wall, so downright weird, that it was our dateline season opener one year.

Speaker 7 It's about a young mom who disappeared, and all anyone could find was a ransom note, the kind left by kidnappers. Here's something to keep in mind.

Speaker 7 The kind of kidnapping that happens in books and movies and old TV shows where a wealthy family's loved one is snatched and held for ransom? Well, that hardly ever happens anymore.

Speaker 7 That's one reason why nothing here seemed to make any sense at the start.

Speaker 7 I would say that only later would it all become clear, except that even after all the twists have played out, I guarantee you will still have questions. I sure did.

Speaker 7 This is Ransom.

Speaker 7 This is the sheriff's office.

Speaker 10 My wife made a phone call to me a minute ago. She thought I'd be saving.
She was caught by gunpoint.

Speaker 7 Businessman Reed Gray was on the line with the sheriff's office in a panic. He told the 911 operator his wife had just phoned him minutes earlier to say she'd been kidnapped.

Speaker 7 The call would turn out to be just the beginning of an unbelievable saga that would baffle investigators and turn this husband's life upside down.

Speaker 7 The next few days would bring one setback after another,

Speaker 7 and no one could have predicted how it all would come to an end. It was around 5 p.m., September 4th, 2009.

Speaker 7 Reed's wife, Quinn, had called him at work and told him she'd just been kidnapped right out of their $4 million home.

Speaker 7 Reed couldn't believe what he'd heard and went to his office parking lot to try and think straight. Did she tell you where she was at? No.

Speaker 10 There's a note at the house with the gun in the hand.

Speaker 7 The news was as shocking as it was terrifying. Quinn, a mom of two young daughters, was a trained nurse who was now raising her children full-time.

Speaker 7 Her husband was a self-made man who'd finally hit it big big in the health care business. This frightened husband told the 911 operator he didn't know what to do next.

Speaker 10 He said, Reed and call the police. They won't shoot me dead.

Speaker 7 Reed Gray took a gamble and did just the opposite of what his wife had told him.

Speaker 7 Soon, multiple law enforcement agencies would be on the case.

Speaker 12 Just check and make sure that fire rescue is going to be coordinating with us.

Speaker 7 St. John's County Sheriff David Shore.

Speaker 12 Well, I mean, all bets are off. There's nothing more important than a victim who's being held against their will and who has been threatened with homicide.
So you roll out what you have.

Speaker 7 While Reed went to the sheriff's office, a SWAT team was deployed to his home.

Speaker 7 They cautiously entered the multi-million dollar residence. The house sat eerily empty.
A photo album opened on a couch. A happy Quinn on her wedding day.

Speaker 7 Crime scene techs swept inside and out, looking for fingerprints, tire tracks,

Speaker 7 any clues to the kidnappers' identities. On the dining room table, they found a sheet of yellow paper, the ransom note.
It looked to be in Quinn Gray's handwriting.

Speaker 7 Dear Reed, I need you to read this and be calm. Reed, Reed, do not be a hero.
This is professional. And there are three men holding me right now and they want $50,000 cash.

Speaker 7 I will be okay if you get them the money.

Speaker 7 What do you know about the victim?

Speaker 12 We knew she was a housewife raising children in one of the prettier parts of our county.

Speaker 7 Reed and Quinn Gray were new to St. John's County, having just moved into their beachfront home in Potavedra.
It's an area known for its world-famous golf course and luxe homes.

Speaker 12 I don't want to use the term the perfect kidnapping victim, but it fit.

Speaker 7 And her husband made a lot of money.

Speaker 12 And her husband made a lot of money, so in the worst-case scenario, as we make one wrong movie, they kill her.

Speaker 7 On the day Quinn was kidnapped, the 37-year-old PTA mom had made appointments for her daughters to have haircuts, and she was far along in the planning for an upcoming party for one of her daughter's birthdays.

Speaker 7 Now, Reed Gray tried to shield the eight and six-year-olds from the news that their mom's life was in danger. He picked up his girls from school and took them to a friend's house.

Speaker 7 While he waited at the sheriff's office,

Speaker 7 Reed was still in his shirt and tie from work and he was an emotional wreck.

Speaker 10 I'm pretty happy and all right now.

Speaker 7 He shared more details about Quinn's brief frantic call to him hours earlier. Quinn sent it to somebody with a gunpoint in her head.

Speaker 7 On that call, she said there were three kidnappers and they were Albanian. The $50,000 ransom was to pay back money Reed had borrowed from a loan shark.

Speaker 7 But Reed Gray insisted he didn't owe money to anyone.

Speaker 14 Let me put it in perspective.

Speaker 13 I'll probably make a little over $1.3 million this year. $50,000 doesn't do much.

Speaker 7 Why ask for only $50,000 from a man who was making more than a million dollars a year? Reed didn't know, and neither did investigators. At this point, there was only one goal, Quinn's safe return.

Speaker 12 It was very disconcerting to realize that we had a housewife and a mother of two small children in whatever she was going through. It wasn't good.

Speaker 7 And there was something else that wasn't good.

Speaker 7 This investigation was starting with no witnesses, no clues to the kidnappers' identities, and more important, no answers to the question, where was Quinn Gray?

Speaker 7 Quinn appears on the phone, calling her husband with frantic instructions. Get into the car with the money.
Let's go!

Speaker 7 Thank you!

Speaker 7 Would he be able to get the cash and find his wife in time?

Speaker 7 Reed Gray, husband, father, and successful businessman, was at the sheriff's office near his expensive home in Ponte Vedra, Florida, a wealthy community about 20 miles south of Jacksonville.

Speaker 7 His wife, Quinn, was kidnapped just a few hours earlier. The ransom, $50,000.

Speaker 13 I'm not going to be able to work, sleep, eat, breathe until this is resolved.

Speaker 7 One thing you have to understand is that in the modern-day marketplace of crime, kidnapping for ransom is practically an antique. Here's why.

Speaker 7 It's not difficult to abduct a family member of a rich person, but things like improved technical surveillance, cooperation between law enforcement agencies, even caller ID, now make it just about impossible to pick up ransom money and escape undetected.

Speaker 7 As a result, the kind of kidnapping you see in the movies pretty much exists only in Hollywood. But for Reed Gray, this was frightening, nerve-wracking reality.

Speaker 18 No prior trouble with any kind of phone calls in the middle of the night,

Speaker 11 strange noises around the house, anything like that, right?

Speaker 9 I mean, no.

Speaker 7 Married for almost nine years, Reed told investigators his relationship with Quinn was better than ever and that the couple was even thinking about having another child.

Speaker 13 She's been just an amazing friend. She's active in taking the girls to dance, taking the girls to all their after-school programs.

Speaker 19 She was a wonderful daughter, yes.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mom, Gail Sykes.

Speaker 19 Now that's very difficult for a mother to say who has four daughters, but she was absolutely the sweetest of all the children.

Speaker 7 That night, Reed called his mother-in-law with the devastating news.

Speaker 19 I was just completely in shock. As a mother,

Speaker 19 it's your worst nightmare, imagining what's happening to your child.

Speaker 7 What do you think Quinn's going through at that point?

Speaker 19 Being tortured, tied up, fearing for her life, fearing that she would never see her children again.

Speaker 7 While Quinn's mom waited for news at her Georgia home, Reed stayed at the sheriff's office until about 2 a.m. He then returned to his house while his kids kids stayed with friends.

Speaker 7 Early the next morning, Saturday, about 16 hours after Quinn's kidnapping, Reed sent a text to his wife's phone. Haven't slept all night.
Please tell me you're all right.

Speaker 7 But there was no reply. About two hours later, Reed, who was now with investigators,

Speaker 7 finally got a call. It was Quinn, and Reed became emotional.

Speaker 10 What do I need to do? They'll call you back.

Speaker 21 I don't know. They'll call you back, okay?

Speaker 7 All right. I love you.

Speaker 10 You just said don't call me back, if you please.

Speaker 7 Investigators wired up the phone so they could record all the calls. Sheriff Shore was surprised to hear Quinn's voice.

Speaker 12 Historically, the kidnappers don't let the victims communicate.

Speaker 7 And in this case, it was Quinn's voice on the phone. Yes.
The advantage of that for the kidnappers is you don't ever hear their voice. That's true.

Speaker 7 The sheriff rolled out his mobile command unit to a secluded area near Quinn and Reed's home. From inside, he started directing the more than 100 law enforcement personnel who were working this case.

Speaker 7 They waited for the next contact from the kidnappers. And then, about 45 minutes after that last call,

Speaker 7 Reed's phone rang again. The cell reception was poor, but Quinn gave Reed a location for a money drop.

Speaker 7 you can't no just this goes

Speaker 7 down butler boulevard to the left you've got the cops

Speaker 7 cutler boulevard hello

Speaker 7 the conversation abruptly ended and quinn sounded angry it was easy to imagine the tremendous stress she must be under reed was growing increasingly worried for his wife's safety she goes you got the cops they know they're gonna tell me she'll say remain calm that she's probably gonna call back again.

Speaker 9 The first time screaming, crying, help.

Speaker 15 Megan is urgent.

Speaker 25 Are there Megan is urging?

Speaker 7 Reed stayed at the sheriff's office as surveillance teams scrambled to get him place at Butler Boulevard. Investigators also needed more time to get $50,000 cash together for the ransom.

Speaker 7 But only 30 minutes later, another call came in. Hello?

Speaker 7 It was Quinn again. instructing Reed to head to a different location.
He was now to go to a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

Speaker 9 I want to see you. I want to exchange you for the money.
I am not giving that money without you.

Speaker 10 Hello?

Speaker 7 Now investigators rushed to get teams in undercover cars in place at the Chick-fil-A.

Speaker 7 But before Reed left for the Chick-fil-A, he got yet another call.

Speaker 7 There was a problem at the money drop point.

Speaker 10 So we spotted three Fed cars near Chick-fil-A. So I don't know where I'm going now.
We need to wait for more instructions.

Speaker 7 Were the sheriff's undercover teams spotted at the Chick-fil-A? Is that what Quinn meant by fed cars? A few minutes later, on Reed's cell phone, came an ominous text from Quinn.

Speaker 7 I know you want me dead. Reed texted back.
I don't know if that's Quinn. I have your $50,000.

Speaker 7 Stop with me. Just give me my wife.
There was no reply.

Speaker 7 Investigators brought Reed back to his house and and parked in the driveway. They set up a mini command center in the house using a recorder to tape all incoming calls.

Speaker 7 And that's when something happened that no one expected.

Speaker 12 We sent the detectives to that home and we didn't do it surreptitiously because we hadn't thought about it.

Speaker 7 And they walk in the front door. They walked in the front.

Speaker 12 They pulled in in an unmarked vehicle. And the minute they pulled in, we received a text from the victim.

Speaker 7 Reed got another text on his cell phone.

Speaker 1 Wait for instructions.

Speaker 7 You've up twice already. You involved other people.
Whose Ford is in the driveway? The Ford was an unmarked sheriff's vehicle. They're watching the house.
They're watching the house.

Speaker 7 Fearing they were being watched by the kidnappers, the sheriff ordered all his personnel to go covert and get out of sight.

Speaker 16 We were watching ourselves to see if they were watching us.

Speaker 7 The kidnappers, they've got you looking over your own shoulder.

Speaker 12 That's exactly right.

Speaker 7 What does that say to you that these guys are playing by a different set of rules? Yes.

Speaker 12 That That was probably one of the earliest indications to me that this case was not going to turn out like a lot of people assume.

Speaker 7 Finally, investigators get their first lead, only to realize something's gone terribly wrong.

Speaker 20 My hair was on fire. I thought, how can something like this happen?

Speaker 7 It was Saturday afternoon. Quinn Gray, wife and mother of two, had been missing for almost 24 hours.
After two attempted money drops failed, the local sheriff called in the FBI.

Speaker 7 Almost 150 people were now working to find Quinn Gray. The agent in charge of the FBI's Jacksonville office was James Casey.

Speaker 7 He says the kidnappers appeared to be deactivating Quinn's cell phone after each of the calls they made to Reed.

Speaker 26 Somebody in the scheme was smart enough to take the battery out of the cell phone because we were able to, through some technical capabilities, determine that that phone was not only off but had no power to it at certain times.

Speaker 7 Meaning you can't trace it.

Speaker 26 Meaning you can't trace it.

Speaker 7 While there was no pinpointing an exact address where Quinn's calls were originating, technicians were tracing pings when the phone was in use.

Speaker 7 Those are the electronic connections made when a phone hits a particular cell tower. And that gave investigators a general idea where Quinn might have been held.

Speaker 7 FBI agent Tony Krabatt was selected as the lead crisis negotiator for the Bureau.

Speaker 20 We're tracking the phone and we're thinking that, you know, we've got some leads.

Speaker 7 Agents felt they were making progress. But then suddenly the phone was also pinging farther away.
The kidnappers and Quinn might have been on the move.

Speaker 7 Sheriff Detective Howard Cole was sent in pursuit.

Speaker 8 It was believed that Quinn Gray's cell phone was being tracked to an area west of Orlando.

Speaker 7 But something had gone wrong. Before tracing the calls, investigators had to get a judge's approval.
And in the rush to fill out the proper paperwork, someone made a small but critical error.

Speaker 20 When they actually went to get the order signed by a judge, what was typed into the actual affidavit and order, the numbers were transposed.

Speaker 7 So somebody put the wrong phone number in?

Speaker 20 Human error.

Speaker 7 So the phone you were following wasn't Quinn's phone? Correct. How long did you follow that other phone?

Speaker 20 All day Saturday.

Speaker 7 And suddenly, what investigators thought were solid leads from Quinn's cell phone simply vanished. When you realized you guys were following the wrong cell phone, what?

Speaker 20 My hair was on fire. Your hair was...
My hair was on fire. I thought, how can something like this happen? So we were really back to square one.
Who are we looking for? We had no idea.

Speaker 7 The rest of Saturday went by with no word from Quinn or the kidnappers. Meanwhile, Quinn's mom, Gail Sykes, left her Georgia home and headed to her daughter's house in Potavedra, Florida.

Speaker 19 I jumped in my car and I headed south.

Speaker 7 How long's the drive?

Speaker 20 Seven and a half hours.

Speaker 19 Long drive with that kind of information in your brain.

Speaker 7 At around 2 a.m., when Gail arrived, she found an unbelievable scene.

Speaker 19 I walked into

Speaker 7 like a war zone. The SWAT teams hiding inside the house?

Speaker 19 They were everywhere. I was told that they were outside in the bushes, that they were on the roof.

Speaker 19 It was,

Speaker 7 I don't know, unreal.

Speaker 7 Early Sunday morning, almost 36 hours since Quinn Gray's abduction, and 12 hours since the last contact from the kidnappers,

Speaker 7 FBI hostage negotiator Tony Krabbitt decided to have Quinn's mom send text messages to her daughter's phone, hoping the kidnappers would read them.

Speaker 20 Now, every 20 minutes, every hour, we send a message. Please call me.
I love you. Let me know that you're safe.
I'm very worried about you.

Speaker 7 You want the kidnappers to start thinking of her as a mom who needs to go home to her family and not just a

Speaker 20 cash register. I want the kidnappers to think of Quinn Gray as a wife, as a daughter, as a mother.

Speaker 7 Finally, a text came back about 9.30 a.m., this time to Quinn's mom's phone.

Speaker 7 Have the money in a bag. No traceable devices.
No Reed whatsoever. If he is anywhere close, she's dead.
No cops. Be ready to leave at 11 o'clock.

Speaker 7 The kidnappers had apparently decided they no longer wanted to deal with Reed. Why? Because the kidnappers don't trust Reed?

Speaker 10 Maybe.

Speaker 20 We didn't know. One of the techs said he had messed it up already.
But after the failed Chick-fil-A drop, another thought was that mom was more controllable.

Speaker 7 So Reed Gray was no longer at the center of a huge law enforcement effort that was working around the clock to save his wife.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mother would make the next money drop. It was an unlikely role for this 62-year-old grandmother, a manager at a Walmart, and a dog breeder on the side.

Speaker 19 I was very concerned that if I didn't drop the money properly, that that would be the end for Quinn.

Speaker 7 What in your background prepared you for what you were going through?

Speaker 19 I guess just being a mother and trying to protect your children.

Speaker 7 Despite her nerves, Gail Sykes was pressed into service.

Speaker 7 At around 10.30 a.m., the kidnappers instructed Quinn's mom to go to Michler's Landing, an area along the beach, and there she would find further instructions in a bathroom.

Speaker 7 Gail left her daughter's house.

Speaker 7 The money was in a blue bag, along with a tracking device, courtesy of the FBI. At the location, Quinn's mother found the designated bathroom.
Hidden inside the toilet paper holder was a note.

Speaker 7 It looked again to be in Quinn's handwriting, and Gail read it aloud to investigators.

Speaker 7 Anything goes wrong and I'm dead.

Speaker 20 Up to this point they didn't want to hurt her. They had no intention of hurting her.
But now it says, anything goes wrong, I'm dead.

Speaker 7 They're escalating it.

Speaker 20 Yes.

Speaker 7 Undercover agents converged on Joe's Crab Shack, a local restaurant popular with tourists.

Speaker 20 We've got surveillance units out, we've got an airplane out. You're watching.
We're watching.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mom drove to the crab shack.

Speaker 19 And I drove through, came around the corner, and there were bushes sitting on like a sidewalk area. I stopped the car, rolled the window down, threw the money toward the bushes.

Speaker 7 Did you tell investigators to watch the money carefully? Absolutely.

Speaker 10 These guys all armed for this?

Speaker 21 Yeah.

Speaker 10 All right, because you know, I don't want some stranger to come along and pick up that bag.

Speaker 7 The plan is to see who picks up the bag and then what, follow them back to where, presumably where Quinn is. Right.

Speaker 12 We knew at their level they were going to be aware of a tracking device. They knew they're going to be surveilled.
So really the plan was if somebody grabbed that bag, we're taking them down.

Speaker 7 Sheriff Shore and FBI agent in charge, Casey, monitored the situation from the Mobile Command Center as undercover surveillance teams reported back on what was happening in the parking lot.

Speaker 26 It wasn't too long after she threw the money out

Speaker 26 that a group of males walks by.

Speaker 26 One of them wanders over, kicks the bag a little bit.

Speaker 26 You pick up the bag, throw the bag in the back of an SUV, jump into the car,

Speaker 26 and start doing kind of a securitis route around the area.

Speaker 20 They start doing suspicious things. They drive through a little neighborhood almost trying to clean themselves from surveillance.

Speaker 7 It was the first major break in the case.

Speaker 20 Now we've got a lead. We've got a license plate, we've got three males,

Speaker 20 and we're watching where they're going.

Speaker 7 But what happened next was not written in any book.

Speaker 7 And that's where everything went wrong.

Speaker 20 That's where everything went wrong.

Speaker 7 On the trail of the men with the money, and no one could believe where it would lead. And then a new demand shakes up investigators.

Speaker 20 We're all thrown for a loop when we hear this.

Speaker 7 The ransom drop had been made. Sheriff's investigators and FBI agents believed they might be on the verge of breaking the kidnapping case of Quinn Gray.

Speaker 7 Undercover teams and an FBI plane were following several men in an SUV who had just picked up the ransom money from a restaurant parking lot.

Speaker 7 Investigators were hoping the men didn't notice the tracking device in the bag or that the bag only contained $10,000.

Speaker 7 FBI agent in charge, James Casey. The kidnappers asked for $50,000.
Right. You didn't give them $50,000.
You gave them $10.

Speaker 26 We gave them less than $50,000.

Speaker 7 And they said, don't put a GPS tracking device in. Right.
And you did. Right.

Speaker 7 Is that standard procedure to sort of ignore kidnappers when they say that kind of thing?

Speaker 26 Well, look, we're in charge of how this goes, not them. The idea was to get the bag to them and find out where they are.

Speaker 7 But then came something no one expected. Quinn's mom, Gail Sykes.

Speaker 19 Quinn called and said, where's the money? They're gonna kill me. Where's the money?

Speaker 7 And you said I dropped it.

Speaker 17 They dropped it.

Speaker 19 Absolutely.

Speaker 10 Jesus, Quinn. What kind of people are these? I told you.

Speaker 22 You go to the crab shack and there's a huge parking lot on your right.

Speaker 10 Listen to me. Hello.

Speaker 7 And for the first time, everyone heard the voice of one of the kidnappers.

Speaker 10 Was anybody following you? No, I don't.

Speaker 19 Certainly not.

Speaker 10 Okay, if anybody follows you? You know what happens.

Speaker 10 What? I'm sorry.

Speaker 10 Hello?

Speaker 7 When you hear that guy's voice on the phone, that changes everything.

Speaker 12 Absolutely. She said early on it was three Albanians and grabbed her and it was over at Loan Shark and we got a mail there.

Speaker 19 78285-CO6.

Speaker 7 At last, a solid lead. But everyone, including the FBI's James Casey, was perplexed over why the kidnappers were still asking for the money.
Didn't they have it?

Speaker 26 They pulled into a gas station not far from Joe's crab shack after they'd done a little bit of driving around.

Speaker 26 So as we're sitting there watching them, a Jacksonville Beach police cruiser pulls into the gas station, starts talking to these young men.

Speaker 7 And you're thinking what?

Speaker 26 We had no idea what was going on.

Speaker 7 Trying to keep the kidnapping quiet so as not to tip off the local media, the FBI and Sheriff's Department had not told the local police about the ransom drop.

Speaker 7 So a frantic call was made to the Jacksonville Beach Police, instructing officers to bring the suspects in. Detective Howard Cole of the Sheriff's Office rushed to the scene.

Speaker 8 Immediately, everybody, rightfully so, says, these guys are involved. We need to interview these guys and we need to find out what the connection is.

Speaker 7 One man told the detective he was German.

Speaker 23 What's your address in Germany? Hamburg, Germany.

Speaker 7 Even though they were from Germany, could they have had some connection with the Albanian man Quinn mentioned in her first call to read?

Speaker 23 We walked back, like crossing a parking lot. We saw that blue bag.
One of the guys was joking and said, yeah, for sure there's money inside. Damn, that's a lot of money.

Speaker 23 What are we going to do with it?

Speaker 7 But in an unbelievable stroke of bad luck, it turned out these men. were not the kidnappers.

Speaker 8 And it becomes pretty clear pretty quick that these guys were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Speaker 7 The men were actually college exchange students, two of them played on the same tennis team.

Speaker 8 They looked at a bag and said, Hey, wouldn't it be cool if there was some money in that bag? And I mean, it was really that simple, that coincidental, and

Speaker 8 couldn't make it up.

Speaker 7 The college students stumbled onto the bag, picked it up, and then got scared when they saw cars following them. They then called 911.

Speaker 27 We pumped a blue bag of some things

Speaker 27 on the parking lot, and there was like a huge amount of money in there, and we just want to give it to you guys.

Speaker 8 They came down to Jacksonville Beach to have some fun.

Speaker 7 And they wound up with more than they expected.

Speaker 10 A lot more.

Speaker 7 It was a chance encounter that had everyone on edge. All of the money drop attempts, Butler Boulevard, Chick-fil-A,

Speaker 7 and now Joe's Crab Shack

Speaker 7 had ended in failure.

Speaker 7 Three attempts at a ransom drop. The money never actually changed hands.
The kidnappers never actually got the money. No.

Speaker 19 I turned to the FBI and I said, what's happening with the money? They said, well, we don't exactly know where the money is right now.

Speaker 19 I said, great. So you've gotten my daughter killed.

Speaker 7 The real kidnappers were still looking for their money. And of course, it wasn't at the drop location.

Speaker 20 It's tense. And mom's a wreck.
Mom is getting upset because mom knows she dropped off the money.

Speaker 7 Everything went south at that ransom drop.

Speaker 20 And we still didn't know who we were looking for. We're back to square one.

Speaker 7 Back to square one again.

Speaker 20 Again.

Speaker 7 You were kind of at the end of your rope.

Speaker 19 Absolutely.

Speaker 7 It's not like a TV show, is it?

Speaker 19 No.

Speaker 7 It had been about 43 hours since Quinn disappeared. As the FBI prepared yet another bag of money, the kidnappers called back.
It was the same male voice from before,

Speaker 7 and he was angry about the lack of progress.

Speaker 10 Tuesday morning, he's going to go to the bank, he's going to pick up $50,000, and we'll arrange something else for me.

Speaker 7 More bad news for everyone. It was Sunday of that Labor Day weekend.
Monday was a holiday. The banks would be closed, guaranteeing that this drama would last for at least another day and night.

Speaker 20 We're all thrown for a loop when we hear this. We didn't want to string this out two more days.

Speaker 7 Not wanting to drag this out any longer, investigators decided to try a risky new strategy and told Quinn's mom to now take an aggressive approach whenever she talked with the kidnappers.

Speaker 7 That's a big gamble.

Speaker 20 We tried to take a little more control. We were still being cooperative.
We were very clear clear that we were willing to pay the ransom.

Speaker 10 I did not get the money. My partner did not get the money.
Nobody from us had the money. You know, I tell you seriously,

Speaker 10 I think you're lying to me.

Speaker 10 What? I think you're lying to me. I think you got it.

Speaker 7 But then something frightening happened. That aggressive approach might have backfired.

Speaker 10 Did you hear that? What?

Speaker 10 Did you hear that round?

Speaker 7 The what?

Speaker 10 Did you hear the round I just fired? No, my God, I didn't hear the round you just fired. No.

Speaker 10 Okay, well, listen. Your daughter is fine.
She just talked to you. Keep it up.
I know. Oh, fuck.
If I heard a round, you let me talk to her again.

Speaker 19 I mean, it was completely unexpected. I was in a situation of hopelessness.
I mean, I figured that I would never see her again.

Speaker 19 And that was so sad because she would never be able to be a mother again and she would never see her children again.

Speaker 7 Was that a gunshot? Investigators couldn't hear it. What did it mean? And

Speaker 7 was Quinn still alive?

Speaker 7 Just when things looked darkest, a huge break. An emailed photo with a hidden clue.
They didn't know that a photograph taken on an iPhone has GPS coordinates on it.

Speaker 26 And then we knew exactly where that photograph had been taken.

Speaker 7 It was Sunday afternoon,

Speaker 7 almost two full days since Quinn was abducted.

Speaker 7 And after a terrible morning, when the money drop at the Crab Shack restaurant turned so disastrous, a text message, apparently from Quinn, was sent to her mom's cell phone around 2 p.m.

Speaker 7 Mom, please, no cops. I am so sorry about all of this, but they are pissed and I want to see my girls.

Speaker 7 The FBI's hostage negotiator was Tony Krabatt. Do you think about the kids in a situation like this?

Speaker 20 Absolutely. You can't not.
Reed made arrangements for them to stay elsewhere so that they would be somewhat shielded by this. We're in the business of preserving life.
That's what we do.

Speaker 7 Do you think Quinn...

Speaker 7 Maybe she's not even alive anymore.

Speaker 20 We don't know. We don't know for sure.

Speaker 7 The investigators were becoming increasingly worried because they hadn't actually heard Quinn's voice since the day before.

Speaker 7 Then, at about 5.25 that evening, another text message came in to Quinn's mom's phone.

Speaker 7 I do not get access to my phone. Have Reed check his email.
Pic of me taken. Did he get all of the money?

Speaker 7 And in Reed's email, there was this photo of Quinn. What can you tell from that photo?

Speaker 19 Well, it certainly looked to me as though Quinn was very distraught. Maybe had been crying.
She didn't look like Quinn at all. Not at all.

Speaker 7 The photo was taken using a cell phone and the background could be anywhere.

Speaker 7 But investigators got lucky because there's a little known technology built into that photo and it offered investigators a huge break.

Speaker 7 They didn't know that a photograph taken on an iPhone and emailed to somebody else has GPS coordinates on it. I didn't know that.

Speaker 26 Yeah, we were very quickly able to check the photograph and find the GPS coordinates in there, and then we knew exactly where that photograph had been taken.

Speaker 7 Investigators rushed to this location in Jacksonville. How long after you looked at that photograph, did you have agents headed to the scene where it was taken?

Speaker 26 Minutes.

Speaker 7 But there was no one there.

Speaker 7 Later that night, the kidnappers called back, and Quinn's mother, again at the urging of the FBI, kept up a tough negotiating stance.

Speaker 22 I want Quinn in my car. I'm just warning you.
I'm not going to give you the money until you have Quinn in the car.

Speaker 10 I'm telling you what to do.

Speaker 22 I'm telling you what I'm going to do.

Speaker 7 Did that aggressive approach seem to work?

Speaker 19 I think so. I really think so.

Speaker 7 Another ransom drop was planned.

Speaker 10 All right, I talked to her first. I see her, and she walks across and gets in my car.

Speaker 10 Ma'am, I'm I'm making the decision.

Speaker 10 No, no, I'm sorry, but I am going to see my daughter and I'm going to have her in my car. I got your money.

Speaker 22 Let me see my daughter and I want her in my car.

Speaker 10 Do you understand?

Speaker 7 Was this at last the end of this ordeal? It was not because the kidnappers never showed and Quinn's mom returned home. That's when investigators realized they had a new problem.

Speaker 7 The story of Quinn Gray's disappearance somehow broke on the local news. A story investigators had been trying to keep out of the press.
This hits the news. You weren't expecting that?

Speaker 26 I wasn't. We'd been pretty fortunate to have this go a couple days without it being on the news.
Quite frankly, we don't want them to see it either.

Speaker 7 But the kidnappers did see it, and they were not happy. Quinn's mom received a text.
Why is she on the news?

Speaker 20 That was one of those, oh boy. You know, oh boy.

Speaker 20 Now what are we going to do with this one?

Speaker 7 Remember, the kidnappers had threatened Quinn's life if police became involved, a fact that was now hard to deny since it was on the news.

Speaker 7 So investigators came up with a cover story that deputies found Quinn's abandoned Mercedes SUV and came to her multi-million dollar home to make sure she was okay.

Speaker 7 They had Quinn's mom send a text. Quinn, the police have found your car.
They came here and they are now searching for you. Call me as I am now very worried.
I love you, Mom.

Speaker 7 Did the kidnappers seem to buy that? Yes, they did.

Speaker 7 But that good news would be short-lived as the next call from Quinn would send everyone into a panic. Quinn, Quinn, what's wrong? Quinn, Quinn!

Speaker 7 A mother-daughter conversation that turns everything upside down.

Speaker 20 The blood drains from her face. She starts to shake.
Her knees go weak.

Speaker 7 It was Monday, three days since Quinn Gray's kidnapping, and there had been no communication with the kidnappers since the night before.

Speaker 7 The FBI's Tony Krabat switched strategies.

Speaker 20 We had three drops go bad, but they were still willing to wait till Tuesday. They still wanted the money.
They're going to need a way out, and we wanted to give them a way out.

Speaker 7 What was the way out you offered them?

Speaker 20 Nobody's been hurt. If they drop you off somewhere, if they'll just let you go, nobody will know the difference.

Speaker 7 Just let her go.

Speaker 20 Just let her go.

Speaker 7 Monday morning turned into afternoon. Quinn's mom seemed to be getting desperate.
She sent a text on her own to the kidnappers. without FBI approval.

Speaker 7 I am heartbroken, and girls probably no longer have a mother. You have no heart, and I pray that what goes around comes around.

Speaker 20 She was angry. She was tired.
She was worried.

Speaker 7 Angry at you?

Speaker 20 Angry at all of us, I think. We weren't able to bring her daughter home yet.

Speaker 7 Throughout the ordeal, Reed Gray, who was pushed into the background after the kidnappers said they didn't want to deal with him anymore, had been alternately upset and angry as well.

Speaker 7 Detective Howard Cole spent some time with Quinn's husband.

Speaker 8 I think there was times when he actually wanted to go get the money out of his own bank account and make the money drop. I think there's times when he thought we didn't know what we were doing.

Speaker 7 What was your sense of Reed himself?

Speaker 8 Seemed like a real decent guy.

Speaker 7 Genuinely worried about his wife? Yes.

Speaker 8 I mean, he was helpless, he was powerless, and he was depending on us to fix it. And I just really was very empathetic.
I put myself in his shoes and

Speaker 8 I thought he dealt with it pretty well considering the circumstances.

Speaker 7 Reed waited at his home. Everyone waited as minutes became hours, hoping for some contact.
But there was nothing.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mom was so stressed that Tony Krabat suggested a change of scenery and had her brought to this back courtyard of the FBI's Jacksonville headquarters. It was around 6 p.m.

Speaker 20 Gail picks up the phone.

Speaker 19 Her whole physical being changed. And it was Quinn.

Speaker 19 Quinn, Quinn, what's wrong? And she was completely hysterical on the phone, screaming, literally. She was screaming at me.

Speaker 7 Quinn, Quinn! Talk to me, please!

Speaker 19 She was completely incoherent at that point. I mean, I couldn't even understand what she was saying.

Speaker 10 Quinn, did they hurt you?

Speaker 7 Tony Crabbit could only hear one side of the conversation.

Speaker 20 Gail's blood drains from her face. She starts to shake.
Her knees go weak. What?

Speaker 20 What?

Speaker 20 Nobody can understand what she's saying.

Speaker 19 And then...

Speaker 7 Quinn! Quinn!

Speaker 20 She hangs up.

Speaker 7 You think maybe they were attacking her or killing her then?

Speaker 20 Yeah, well, we don't know. But this is the first time that she sounds hysterical.
So we don't know now if she's hurt.

Speaker 20 It sounds like she's very upset.

Speaker 7 While Tony Krabat tried to calm Quinn's mom, someone else had already heard from Quinn, a 911 operator.

Speaker 28 It was Quinn.

Speaker 28 Okay, what happened?

Speaker 7 She was free.

Speaker 28 I need to attack me.

Speaker 7 Shaken and in tears, Quinn said she was just dropped out of a white van and was now standing near a mall shopping center in front of a restaurant.

Speaker 28 Somebody on the way, okay. Okay, thank you.

Speaker 7 Sheriff's deputies headed to Quinn's location while she stayed on the line with 911.

Speaker 28 He tried up to your chair with that teeth and you tied.

Speaker 28 You have no idea what I do about the room. I cannot imagine, and I'm so sorry for you.

Speaker 7 Deputy Trent Dopp was one of the first to find her.

Speaker 8 She was acting very erratic, was flailing around a lot, and was yelling on her cell phone.

Speaker 7 Quinn was brought to the FBI's Jacksonville office, where her mom and brother-in-law met her. And it's not quite the joyful reunion you'd expect.

Speaker 19 As far as being joyful, no. She was hysterical and she saw me for the first time.
Of course, I was hysterical and we ran to each other, embraced each other, and cried together.

Speaker 7 An audio recorder in one of the FBI's interview rooms picked up Quinn's voice from the hallway.

Speaker 7 Quinn was then led alone into that interview room, and one of the first things she told the agents there was that she felt her husband didn't really want to save her life.

Speaker 29 Right now, I feel like my husband wanted to be dead. 100%.

Speaker 29 Why is the...

Speaker 30 The man makes a lot of money.

Speaker 19 Let's just say that maybe my life isn't worth him paying it back.

Speaker 29 I feel that there is a very dark and sinister side to my husband that I've always sensed in a way.

Speaker 7 Was there something about Reed Gray that investigators didn't know? And could he have had anything anything to do with his own wife's kidnapping?

Speaker 7 The focus for so long on the mysterious kidnappers now falls heavily on Quinn's husband and their relationship.

Speaker 8 Their marriage, for lack of a better way of putting it, was rocky.

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Speaker 7 Quinn Gray had finally been released after three days of captivity.

Speaker 7 But when she was brought to the FBI's Jacksonville headquarters, Quinn started blaming her husband Reed for putting her through the whole ordeal.

Speaker 29 Right now, I feel like my husband wanted to be dead.

Speaker 7 She said that if Reed had only given the money to the kidnappers on that first night she was abducted, she might have been set free much earlier.

Speaker 31 But if my husband had just done what he was supposed to do, I would be fine.

Speaker 7 As it turned out, investigators had been suspicious of Quinn's husband from the very beginning. Sheriff David Shore first spoke with Reed right after Quinn was kidnapped.

Speaker 7 When you talk to the victim's husband, Reed Gray. Yes.
What's the first thing you say to him?

Speaker 12 Well, you know, his first comment to me was, you know, is the media involved?

Speaker 7 That's the first thing you said to you? Yeah.

Speaker 12 I didn't feel comfortable with that answer. Gosh, your wife's kidnapped, and that's the first question.

Speaker 7 And someone else was suspicious of Reed. Quinn's mom.

Speaker 19 I thought possibly Reed had something to do with it.

Speaker 7 Because?

Speaker 19 It just seemed like a real convenient way for him to not have to deal with his wife anymore.

Speaker 7 Detective Howard Cole said investigators had to take a close look at Reed.

Speaker 8 Anytime you have a situation of this nature, nine times out of ten, it's inner circle, it's spouse, it's a business associate, a friend.

Speaker 24 But would you mind showing me your hands?

Speaker 7 Remember when Reed first went to the sheriff's office on the day Quinn was kidnapped?

Speaker 24 Did you go anywhere today where you would have to go outside in any fashion?

Speaker 11 Yeah.

Speaker 7 Detectives immediately thought something was suspicious.

Speaker 11 Do you know how you got mud or dirt on your shoes there?

Speaker 13 You're asking if there's anything on my shoes, which there's not, that tells me you don't have any leads.

Speaker 11 It tells us we don't rule anything out.

Speaker 7 Okay.

Speaker 7 And during that interview, investigators learned that Quinn and Reed had endured some major problems in their relationship. What did Reed Gray tell you about his marriage?

Speaker 8 Their marriage, for lack of a better way of putting it, was rocky.

Speaker 13 Here's the ugly side of our marriage. She went out and she didn't come home till like three in the morning.

Speaker 13 She was pretty intoxicated, went upstairs, I looked in her purse, found her underwear in her purse. At this point, I'm just like, Quinn, it's time to be honest.

Speaker 13 Honest about everything since I'm getting a divorce she.

Speaker 8 He did explain a lot of circumstances surrounding past infidelities, both both on his part and on her part.

Speaker 13 As our relationship started to deteriorate a little bit, I dated a few people. She dated a few people as well.

Speaker 7 Reed admitted he'd had an affair and said Quinn had multiple affairs. That kind of admission all but guaranteed more questions.

Speaker 8 We interview him on everything from personal finances to kids, their associates, business, everything.

Speaker 8 And we threw a lot of really hard questions at him.

Speaker 24 Do you know where she's at right now? No. And do you have anything to do with her disappearance?

Speaker 13 No, 100% no.

Speaker 7 And even though Reed seemed to be upset while his wife was missing, the investigators were keeping an eye on it.

Speaker 7 Was there a time when you were sort of distrustful of him or kind of wondered what was going on?

Speaker 8 I was questioning his motives and how he was, even though he was acting appropriately. That in and of itself is not enough to eliminate somebody.

Speaker 7 Did you specifically ask Reed? about the money he had supposedly borrowed from a loan shark?

Speaker 34 Yes.

Speaker 19 And he said... He never borrowed any money from a loan shark.
I didn't believe him.

Speaker 7 On that first night of the kidnapping, when Quinn's mom went to her daughter's oceanfront home, investigators sat her down with Reed.

Speaker 19 Some of this truthy's truths probably will hurt Reed

Speaker 7 and recorded the conversation.

Speaker 22 She was concerned, and I had heard this many times from her, that Reed threatened her with divorce, and she didn't like that idea, of course.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mother openly speculated about whether Reed knew more than he was saying.

Speaker 22 I also have have thought that possibly you could be behind this. They killed Quinn and you got rid of all kinds of things.
You got rid of the wife. You don't have to have an argument about custody.

Speaker 35 You don't have to give her any money.

Speaker 10 I mean, things are going so good between us, Violet, I don't know that they're going good between you.

Speaker 22 That's what you're saying.

Speaker 7 I don't know that, Reed. You thought he was lying?

Speaker 19 Yes. I think he was evasive with me to begin with.

Speaker 7 Suspicions about Reed lasted throughout the time investigators searched for Quinn. On the same day day she was released.
They asked Reed to take a lie detector test, and he agreed.

Speaker 8 He was being candid. He took a polygraph with a very experienced polygrapher who cleared him for being a suspect.

Speaker 7 Officials at the sheriff's office and FBI came to the same conclusion. Reed Gray had absolutely nothing to do with Quinn's kidnapping.

Speaker 19 I apologized to him in the FBI building and we hugged. And I said, I'm so sorry

Speaker 19 that I thought that.

Speaker 7 But that still left the question, who had kidnapped Quinn?

Speaker 31 I didn't know what was going on.

Speaker 29 And I was crying, and I was like, please just tell me that you're not going to kill me.

Speaker 7 Back at the FBI office, Quinn was less than completely cooperative with agents after her release.

Speaker 31 Did they say anything when they dropped you off?

Speaker 29 Did they sue any threats?

Speaker 29 What did they say to you?

Speaker 31 That's the part I'm not getting into.

Speaker 7 She eventually became angry.

Speaker 31 I'm sorry, but I'm going over the big stuff.

Speaker 8 I'm not being confrontational with with you.

Speaker 31 No, but I think you are. No, ma'am.
I am trying to get the details.

Speaker 7 Watching from another room was FBI agent in charge, James Casey. How'd she seem in that interview?

Speaker 26 She was very disheveled.

Speaker 26 Her story did not make sense.

Speaker 7 And immediately, investigators were confused. Why was Quinn so annoyed? And why wasn't she cooperating in the search for her kidnappers? They got few answers that night, and Quinn returned home.

Speaker 7 But two days later,

Speaker 7 Quinn Gray was a different person when she met with Detective George Harrigan of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Department.
From the beginning, our goal was let's let her tell her story.

Speaker 30 It's just been the most incredible ordeal to go through something like this and then in a 24-hour period to be brainwashed so significantly that you actually believe that your husband is trying to kill you.

Speaker 7 Quinn said the kidnappers had in essence brainwashed her into believing her husband wanted her dead, and that she wasn't cooperative with investigators earlier because the kidnappers told her if she gave away any information about them, they would find her and kill her.

Speaker 7 But after some restful sleep, Quinn said she now believed her husband was trying to save her life.

Speaker 30 And just all of a sudden, coming back into reality of what was really going on.

Speaker 7 Quinn was finally ready to tell her story of what had really happened during her 72-hour nightmare.

Speaker 7 Just how much of a nightmare was it? Quinn's bizarre description of a sexual encounter with her abductor.

Speaker 36 And I acted like I enjoyed it and I'm not gonna lie sometimes I almost did it.

Speaker 30 All of a sudden coming back into reality of what was really going on, that I knew.

Speaker 7 Quinn Gray was finally prepared to tell all the details of her kidnapping.

Speaker 15 Do you feel okay? Do you feel like you're able to talk and get this out?

Speaker 30 Well, I have to because he's.

Speaker 7 Detective George Harrigan of the St. John's County Sheriff's Department was chosen to interview her.

Speaker 25 I asked her to start from the very beginning and act as if she had not told anyone this story before.

Speaker 11 So go back to you wake up Friday.

Speaker 15 Okay. Tell me your day Friday.

Speaker 30 It was just a normal, absolutely normal day.

Speaker 7 Quinn said she had a facial at a local spa, went to yoga class, and ran errands in her Mercedes SUV.

Speaker 7 When she returned home, she went up to her bedroom.

Speaker 30 So I went up to my closet to change my clothes. He came in this way and said, don't do anything stupid.
I'm not here for you.

Speaker 15 And he's got a gun.

Speaker 30 He's got a gun and he's got yellow rubber gloves on.

Speaker 7 Startled by the gunman, Quinn screamed, but she was the only one home. Her husband was at work, her kids in school.

Speaker 30 So he has a gun to my head, and I mean, I'm screaming bloody murder.

Speaker 7 How did she describe this guy?

Speaker 25 He was a sharpshooter or sniper in the Albanian military, that he goes around doing these kind of jobs. She said that he had some type of foreign accent.

Speaker 30 Look on his face and the evil in his eyes. I was like, I'm dead.

Speaker 7 The gunman said he was not there for Quinn, but for the $50,000 that Reed Gray owed to a loan shark.

Speaker 30 Just didn't add up.

Speaker 7 Then the kidnapper started to restrain Quinn.

Speaker 30 He sat me down on my bed and he came over and tied me my hands, just my hands with zip ties.

Speaker 7 Then she said the gunman took her out of the house and eventually threw her into the back of a van. Frightened and crying, she was driven around for what seemed like hours.

Speaker 7 She had no idea where she was being taken, and she feared she would never see her husband or two daughters again.

Speaker 7 The van eventually stopped, and Quinn was brought into some sort of warehouse. possibly a mechanic's garage.

Speaker 7 She was strapped into a chair with more zip ties, and that's when she became very frightened.

Speaker 30 He tied my mouth. He put duct taper on my face.

Speaker 18 At this point, I was like, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 7 Deputies later took photos of the marks Quinn said were made by the zip ties being pulled too tight. Quinn was then left alone in the dingy, dirty warehouse.

Speaker 7 She heard what sounded like a TV on in another room with foreign voices and screaming.

Speaker 30 I just started looking around the room and praying for my kids, and I was praying God would get me out of it.

Speaker 18 Because I looked over there was another chair.

Speaker 30 And so I was thinking maybe, maybe this is like a torture room. Maybe this is where they hold women to torture them before they kill them.

Speaker 7 Quinn Gray says she believed this could be the last day of her life.

Speaker 30 I was praying that whatever this crazy is going on, that I would live and survive.

Speaker 7 After being left in the chair for hours, the kidnapper returned and eventually cut her free.

Speaker 25 She said at some point he realized he was going to have to let her sleep or lay down to try to sleep. So he let her lay down and then a few minutes later he laid down next to her.

Speaker 25 He begins to kiss on her neck and I said, what's going through your mind? And she said, I'm thinking we're going to have sex.

Speaker 25 We're going to have sex.

Speaker 30 I knew I wasn't going to

Speaker 30 resist him.

Speaker 30 So I tried to make it the best possible. The more he loves it, maybe I have a chance.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 18 Right, which makes sense.

Speaker 18 It makes sense.

Speaker 15 Take a couple of deep breaths for a minute and hear me out so that you can kind of get yourself together, take your time.

Speaker 25 So then sex happens. And I asked her to,

Speaker 25 as best she could, describe that for me because it was important if she remembered anything identifiable about this guy. And she described explicit sex.

Speaker 30 I mean, we just, every position all night long.

Speaker 7 Quinn said she didn't try to fight off her kidnapper because she thought it might save her life.

Speaker 30 It's really embarrassing.

Speaker 15 I know.

Speaker 36 And I acted like I enjoyed it, and I'm not going to lie, sometimes I almost did.

Speaker 15 Listen, it's not unusual to have weird feelings and weird thoughts going through your head when you're exposed to a massive amount of trauma.

Speaker 7 Sheriff David Shore later watched that interview.

Speaker 12 The bottom line is people react differently under stress.

Speaker 7 It must have been stunning to hear somebody describe a sexual assault as something that they enjoy.

Speaker 12 Yes, it was quite, it was, it was stunning.

Speaker 7 When she was held at that warehouse, Quinn said she spent the first hellish night sleeping on a concrete floor. But the next day, the kidnapper moved her to a motel, the Emerson Inn.

Speaker 30 At that point, he makes the decision that we're going to go to a hotel for the night. We're going to rethink this whole thing, and that's when we ended up at the Emerson Inn.

Speaker 7 Quinn said the kidnapper also brought his gun to the Emerson Inn and threatened to kill her husband and children if she didn't cooperate. Mentally broken, Quinn obeyed all the kidnappers' demands.

Speaker 7 The detective asked Quinn to share as much detail of her entire experience as possible, hoping to glean some clues.

Speaker 7 She remembered something that seemed incidental, but something that would later turn out to be crucial to the investigation.

Speaker 30 He bought chicken tromettes, you know, and

Speaker 30 a thing of paper and drinks for us. Okay.
So we were eating like spicy chicken drumettes.

Speaker 7 Quinn also told police that unlike what was written in the original ransom note, she no longer believed three men were involved in her kidnapping.

Speaker 30 My very gut instinct now that I'm clearly thinking and getting it all is that there's not anyone else involved but him.

Speaker 7 The interview lasted almost six hours.

Speaker 7 But it wasn't the end of Quinn and Reed's anguish. They were frightened to return home.

Speaker 13 What would be the difference in that guy being in that house right now when he doesn't know?

Speaker 30 He's not over there right now.

Speaker 18 He's probably

Speaker 7 later said he was extremely worried for his family's safety.

Speaker 13 Do you guys have this guy or not?

Speaker 14 No, sir.

Speaker 13 He has nobody in custody. I won't lie to you.

Speaker 16 I need to know that that guy is caught too.

Speaker 7 And investigators also desperately wanted to catch that guy.

Speaker 21 Take a good look at the surveillance video taken from a Palm Valley public.

Speaker 7 And they were about to get some unexpected help. This is communications.

Speaker 10 How can I help you? I need to talk to somebody about my picture appearance for some kind of woman kidnapping or something like that. Is that you?

Speaker 7 The man in the video, the man Quinn says abducted her at gunpoint, comes forward. But he's not what investigators expect.

Speaker 8 He comes from a very good family, has a college education.

Speaker 7 This guy was no gangster.

Speaker 8 Absolutely not.

Speaker 7 A manhunt was underway for Quinn Gray's kidnapper.

Speaker 7 Two days after her release, Quinn remembered something important. It was a new lead for investigators.

Speaker 8 The big thing that she says during the conversation is on Sunday morning we were at Publix right there at Michael's Landing in Ponavedra.

Speaker 7 Quinn remembered the kidnapper bought food from a public supermarket while she was in captivity and she remembered specifically what he purchased.

Speaker 30 That's where he bought the chicken. He bought a thing of paper.
He bought chicken trunnettes, you know.

Speaker 7 Detectives went to the Publix. where a manager checked the store's computers and found a match for those items.

Speaker 7 Armed with the exact time the food purchase was made, investigators scanned the supermarket surveillance footage from that moment. And they found this man.
Quinn confirmed it. He was the kidnapper.

Speaker 8 She gave us enough information to go find his picture in Publix and post it on the internet and post it on the news.

Speaker 21 Witnesses describe the man to be in his mid-20s or early 30s and about 5'8 to 6 feet tall. And now they need your help and hopes of solving this case.

Speaker 7 Two days later, a 911 operator received a call. This is communications.
How can I help you?

Speaker 10 I need to talk to somebody about I was buying something at Publix, and my picture appeared for some kind of woman kidnapping or something like that. Is that you?

Speaker 10 I'll make it on my way over there to you guys. What is your name, sir? Jasmine Osmanovich.

Speaker 7 And within an hour, Jasmine Osmanovich ended up here at the sheriff's office.

Speaker 38 I definitely want to play some ping pong with you today.

Speaker 7 He didn't seem to have a care in the the world that he was considered the prime suspect in a kidnapping. Sheriff's detective Howard Cole conducted the investigation.

Speaker 38 Let's just get this over with.

Speaker 7 What did you learn about Jasmine Osmanovich?

Speaker 8 He is a Bosnian immigrant. He comes from a very good family.
He was involved in the auto mechanic trade, has a college education, was one or two classes away from a degree in criminal justice.

Speaker 7 This guy was no gangster.

Speaker 8 Absolutely not.

Speaker 30 He gets me out of the cars.

Speaker 7 But he did match Quinn's description of her abductor. While he was not Albanian, he did have an accent.

Speaker 38 I just want this sniper to be okay.

Speaker 7 But Osmanovich said he had no idea why anyone would be looking for him.

Speaker 16 You have the filing rights on the United States Constitution.

Speaker 7 He freely signed a document waiving his right to remain silent.

Speaker 7 He also said he had an alibi for the night Quinn Gray was kidnapped.

Speaker 7 He was at a bar and met a girl. named Stacy.

Speaker 16 Okay, tell me about Stacy.

Speaker 38 Well, me and Stacey met up, we just kind of had a two-night two-night stamp piece.

Speaker 7 But his story had more than a few holes. Osmanovich wasn't sure of Stacy's last name.
He didn't have her phone number or her address.

Speaker 8 Here's a character. What can I tell you? And he was like, I did none of that, and by the end of the day, you'll see I'm walking out of here.

Speaker 7 In addition, Osmanovich said he saw Quinn's picture in the media.

Speaker 7 And he didn't know her.

Speaker 11 Did you recognize her?

Speaker 38 Sir, I mean, she looks like a blonde chick. I mean, you didn't look at that picture and say, sir, I don't know this woman.
Sir,

Speaker 38 she doesn't look like anybody that I know.

Speaker 7 Okay. But the atmosphere quickly changed when Cole brought in a photo of Quinn Gray.

Speaker 16 We've already been to the Publix. You know why? Because this woman brought us there.

Speaker 24 Okay, so what did I do?

Speaker 16 She is saying that you abducted her.

Speaker 11 Abducted her?

Speaker 15 Yes, sir.

Speaker 16 I have more than enough evidence to charge you based on her work.

Speaker 7 And then the detectives started to apply pressure to Osmanovich.

Speaker 16 And for you to say that you don't even know her concerns me greatly, Jasmine. Concerns me greatly.

Speaker 16 Because this woman, I can assure you, bud, knows you.

Speaker 38 She says she knows me.

Speaker 15 Absolutely.

Speaker 16 And I know she knows you. And I know you know her.

Speaker 18 Sir?

Speaker 38 I told you everything that I had.

Speaker 13 We were at the hotel with her Saturday and Sunday night.

Speaker 7 With her.

Speaker 14 Yes.

Speaker 11 And I'm not going on her word. I'm going on the clerk's word.

Speaker 7 Detective Cole told Osmanovich he had been identified not only by Quinn, but also by an employee of the Emerson Inn, who said that on the same weekend Quinn went missing, he saw Osmanovich with Quinn in room 207.

Speaker 16 And not knowing each other.

Speaker 38 What's the chances of that, Jazz?

Speaker 37 Listen.

Speaker 7 Cole referred back to Quinn's photo and tauntingly asked if this was the the woman, Stacy, that Osmanovich claimed he was with

Speaker 7 the night Quinn was abducted.

Speaker 24 It's her word against mine.

Speaker 15 No, it's more than that now.

Speaker 38 And how is it more than?

Speaker 16 Because we have independent people that I DJ Jog. If there's something more to it and this woman's not telling the truth, you need to be the one that's telling it, buddy.

Speaker 16 And if she is telling the truth, holy, you're in a whole lot of trouble.

Speaker 7 But Osmanovich maintained he did nothing wrong.

Speaker 7 And not only that, he said, he could prove it. He had a secret recording that was going to clear his name.

Speaker 7 The battle to get hold of that recording and then what it revealed. When you heard that tape, what'd you think?

Speaker 8 I'm a cop, 11 years, been on this planet 40. I blushed when I listened to the tape.

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Speaker 7 Jasmine Osmanovich was suspect number one in the abduction of Quinn Gray.

Speaker 38 You know what? I just have a feeling I'm in a bad mood right now.

Speaker 16 That's funny you should say that, because I've been feeling that way for the past days.

Speaker 7 He was denying any involvement whatsoever and said he didn't know her. He even said he didn't fit Quinn's description of the culprit.

Speaker 38 Did she say I was from Bosnia? No, she said you were from Albania.

Speaker 7 A what? Albania.

Speaker 38 You know what an Albanian looks like?

Speaker 16 A Middle Eastern. I mean, come on.

Speaker 11 I mean, that and uh Middle Eastern.

Speaker 38 Come on, give me a break.

Speaker 7 Not only that, but Osmanovich, a mechanic, said he thought he was being set up to be the fall guy in this highly public case.

Speaker 7 He was concerned that because she has money and he doesn't, that he's going to get the short end of the stick.

Speaker 8 Yeah, he did say that. You know, she's this rich woman from Panavidra and I know how this goes.
And

Speaker 8 he expressed a great deal of concern about that.

Speaker 38 It seems like since obviously she's rich, it's going to be my ass.

Speaker 38 She's what? Since she's rich, it's going to be my ass. I don't care less what she is.

Speaker 7 In an interrogation that would ultimately last nearly eight hours, Detective Howard Cole tried to keep Osmanovich talking, even when the suspect suspect tested Cole's patience.

Speaker 8 He thought he was smarter than us. He wanted to control the interview and truthfully he drove me crazy.

Speaker 38 Well you can search everything that I own. You're not going to find anything

Speaker 38 because just like you said, you got an IQ and I got one too. Absolutely.

Speaker 7 He's walking around the interrogation room talking about his IQ. You hear that a lot from suspects?

Speaker 8 No, not that overtly.

Speaker 8 It's common for most of them to think it. It's very rare for them to actually say it.

Speaker 11 I'm smarter than her and her

Speaker 16 husband or whatever. No doubt about it.
But all I'm telling you is.

Speaker 11 And you know what?

Speaker 37 This is BS.

Speaker 11 This right here is bull

Speaker 38 and it's bull

Speaker 38 because the stone is headed my way.

Speaker 13 Oh, it is.

Speaker 7 Eventually, Osmanovich relented.

Speaker 14 He admitted.

Speaker 7 He may have known

Speaker 7 Quinn Gray.

Speaker 16 Now, do you or do you not know?

Speaker 24 I might have seen her.

Speaker 7 But Osmanovich said that even if he did know Quinn, he could still prove his innocence.

Speaker 8 He kept talking in like code and you know at one point I was like you know I don't understand what you're trying to tell me. Just explain to me what you're trying to tell me.

Speaker 8 And then he's like, you know how you cops you do videos and this and that. He's like, well I got my own audio.

Speaker 7 However, for some reason he wasn't willing to share that secret audio tape with investigators. He claims he has this tape that's exculpatory that gets him off the hook.
Yes, sir.

Speaker 7 But he won't give it to you.

Speaker 8 No, and it kind of blew my mind because I'm here telling him he's faced, you know, if I don't get this tape and if if I don't get it now, you know, he's facing, you know, kidnapping, sexual battery, extortion.

Speaker 7 Osmanovich insisted that secret recording he made would be his get out of jail free card.

Speaker 38 And I put a tape recorder with her voice and my voice in front of you, which I can go get.

Speaker 16 Tell me about these tapes. What's on these tapes?

Speaker 38 Sir, the tape, the tape, it's not going nowhere out of my possession.

Speaker 38 Which I hid.

Speaker 38 way off the location.

Speaker 7 Okay.

Speaker 16 Why would you do that?

Speaker 11 Why would what? You take that.

Speaker 38 You remember the IQ part?

Speaker 11 Yeah, I might have been played for a fool, but I'm not an idiot.

Speaker 7 Even under the threat of arrest,

Speaker 7 Osmanovich refused to hand over the recording or give its location.

Speaker 8 It was just a war of attrition, and he knew that he was in it up to his eyeballs.

Speaker 7 The next day, after Osmanovich's interrogation was completed, Detective Cole received some crucial information about that recording.

Speaker 8 We learned of the existence of the tape from Jasmine. The next morning, we learned of its possible location.

Speaker 7 The location was Osmanovich's home. His ex-girlfriend had gotten a hold of it and turned the recording over to Osmanovich's sister.
The sister then gave the tape to an attorney.

Speaker 8 We got a call from a defense attorney in Jacksonville and he said, Detective Cole, I think we have something you might be interested in.

Speaker 7 Finally, investigators had the tape. And when they pressed play,

Speaker 7 they couldn't believe what they heard. That recording led Sheriff David Shore to call a press conference.
He had a major announcement.

Speaker 40 As our investigation has developed, we arrested Quinn Gray.

Speaker 7 Just what was on that tape?

Speaker 10 I'm starting to feel like I'm the sensitive one. Famous for my family.

Speaker 7 Had Quinn been the victim, everyone thought.

Speaker 7 Let's see what happens at the hotel. She's been staying at the hotel all night long.

Speaker 7 At last, investigators had the secret recording that Jasmine Osmanovich had tantalizingly refused to turn over.

Speaker 7 But far from exonerating him, it offered plenty of evidence against him.

Speaker 12 It's compelling.

Speaker 8 It was the icing on the cake.

Speaker 12 It was the point of no return for Quinn. It was the point of no return for Osmanovich.

Speaker 7 On that recording, investigators heard a completely different story from what Quinn Gray had said happened during her ordeal.

Speaker 27 We've been staying in at the Emerson Inn on room 207.

Speaker 7 The recording started on that Monday when Quinn was still missing. Jasmine narrated as he drove alone to the Emerson Inn.

Speaker 27 She stayed the whole night by herself. She didn't want me to stay with her.

Speaker 10 So I'm going right now back to there.

Speaker 7 The recording continued with Jasmine entering room 207.

Speaker 7 And investigators were shocked as they listened because Queen Gray didn't sound like a captive at all. In fact, she seemed to be in on the whole thing.

Speaker 10 I don't know what the new plan is, but

Speaker 10 we'll see.

Speaker 10 But I got a different plan.

Speaker 7 Osmanovich next appeared to mock the massive law enforcement manhunt that was underway to find Quinn.

Speaker 10 If they just knew you were here by yourself all night long,

Speaker 10 they would have a pit.

Speaker 10 That's why I'm starting to feel like I'm the sensor one.

Speaker 12 We went to the hotel and talked to the people that worked at the hotel, and they said she sat in the car while he was checking in.

Speaker 7 They were hand in hand.

Speaker 12 They said, in fact, he left the room many, many times during the weekend.

Speaker 7 And remember those bruises and marks Quinn said she got from being zip-tied to a chair? The recording suggested Quinn made them herself.

Speaker 7 I'm going to have to have a few more marks if I'm telling these stories, don't you think? Are those from last name? Yeah. Well, that's from the rope.
I was doing the rope. Oh, you were doing that?

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 7 She's a smart girl. I'll have to to have a couple minutes on you.

Speaker 7 And then there were parts of that recording that made even veteran investigators blush. On the tape, the two had what sounds like intimate, consensual sex.

Speaker 7 Nothing like the rape Quinn described.

Speaker 19 Does Reek get this much action?

Speaker 10 You know he does it.

Speaker 7 The sheriff said that from the get-go, he and FBI officials were suspicious about this case, questioning if this was a legitimate abduction.

Speaker 7 But they had no option, they said, but to proceed as if Quinn really had been taken hostage.

Speaker 7 In the end, the recording Osmanovich made gave them all the proof they needed that this was not a kidnapping, but rather an elaborate hoax.

Speaker 7 The pair's real goal, the sheriff said, was to extort $50,000 from Quinn's husband Reed.

Speaker 12 We all smelled a rat. I mean, it just, it wasn't right.

Speaker 7 There were many things that just didn't add up. It started with a ransom note.
It was in Quinn's handwriting and unusually long.

Speaker 7 Secondly, investigators never needed to ask for proof of life during the abduction because the kidnappers regularly allowed Quinn to talk on the phone.

Speaker 7 And finally, there was Quinn's shocking debriefing, where she said she enjoyed having sex with the man she had described as her captor.

Speaker 36 And I acted like I enjoyed it, and I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I almost did.

Speaker 7 Osmanovich would later say that he and Quinn met by chance at a gas station just weeks earlier.

Speaker 7 A conversation started, and an affair soon blossomed, something that was strongly suggested by the recording.

Speaker 7 Right now, I'm all crazy about you.

Speaker 7 I'm all crazy about you.

Speaker 7 Quinn and Osmanovich told different stories of how the whole kidnapping plot evolved. But authorities suggest that Quinn's motive was to get the money, leave her husband, and start a new life.

Speaker 10 This is all over a heavy word.

Speaker 10 Whatever story we come up with, you stick to it. We both have to stick to the same story.

Speaker 7 But clearly, Osmanovich wasn't convinced Quinn would stick to their story.

Speaker 7 You think he made the tape because he thought that at some point he was going to get accused of kidnapping her and he needed to prove that it wasn't his idea.

Speaker 12 Or that it was her idea and I just went along for the ride. And it was probably a smart thing for him to do.
I mean, because it revealed to us, in no uncertain terms, that Quinn Gray was not a victim.

Speaker 11 Put your hands in front of you.

Speaker 7 Jasmine Osmanovich was arrested for extortion.

Speaker 7 And before the sheriff publicly announced Quinn's arrest, he had a heart-to-heart talk with her husband.

Speaker 7 Tough conversation for you to have.

Speaker 12 Yeah, you know, your spouse made this thing up and she had relations with a guy that were consensual. We know that was consensual because we got a tape recording and it's crystal clear.

Speaker 12 You know, I mean, how do you process that information?

Speaker 7 One day after Osmanovich's arrest, Quinn Gray was placed in custody.

Speaker 40 We arrested Quinn Gray and charged her with extortion.

Speaker 40 This was an extortion attempt from the beginning. It was not a kidnapping.

Speaker 7 Quinn pleaded not guilty. After her arrest,

Speaker 7 she was defiant.

Speaker 41 If I wanted $50,000, all I would do is take it out of the bank account. Did you have a sexual relationship with Usmano? No, I did not.
I did not know him. Why would someone make this stuff up?

Speaker 41 You wouldn't make it up because it's the truth.

Speaker 19 I'm talking about him. Why would he make this up?

Speaker 41 Because he's a criminal and he came in and tried to extort $50,000 from me.

Speaker 7 And in another shocking twist, Reed Gray decided to stand by his wife.

Speaker 9 I want my wife to come out of this feeling wonderful. I want her to feel great about everything after this is all over and I think that's going to be the outcome.

Speaker 7 Her husband seemed to be standing by Quinn.

Speaker 7 But what did her mother think? You believe she's telling the truth. And then, what kind of legal price would Quinn Gray pay for her her escapade?

Speaker 7 Quinn Gray had pleaded not guilty to charges she tried to extort $50,000 from her husband in an elaborate kidnapping hoax.

Speaker 7 But even though investigators considered Lee Gray the victim, to the surprise of many, he decided to stand by his wife.

Speaker 7 Two months after her arrest, Reed even appeared on the Today Show and offered total support for Quinn.

Speaker 17 It's been a roller coaster of emotion from the onset. There are times when you sit in front of the FBI and they present you evidence that

Speaker 17 she was the mastermind of this, and you have no choice but to believe that entirely at that point. But I believe in all of my heart she was kidnapped.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mom also stood firmly behind her daughter, saying Jasmine Osmanovich was to blame, not Quinn.

Speaker 19 I believe she was just manipulated and her mind snapped.

Speaker 7 You believe she's telling the truth? Absolutely. The FBI and the sheriff do not.

Speaker 19 Well, they don't understand what can happen to a person who has a mental illness.

Speaker 7 Gail Sykes says her daughter suffers from bipolar disorder, a form of mental illness marked by both manic highs and deep depressions.

Speaker 19 I think that she was having a severe bipolar manic episode. She thought she was going to die.
You have to remember, she's just out of Hanley-Hazeldon. She was in a very fragile situation.

Speaker 7 Quinn had only recently been released from the Hazelden clinic where she'd undergone treatment for alcohol abuse.

Speaker 7 Her mom thinks that once Quinn stopped self-medicating with alcohol, her bipolar disorder suddenly emerged. On the Today Show, Reed said Quinn's family had a history of bipolar disorder.

Speaker 17 I know there's definitely something not right because that's not the wife that I know.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mom felt her daughter had a strong defense. She says that on the tape, Osmanovich says he will release Quinn.

Speaker 7 It's one of the few places on the tape where he sounds like her captor and not her lover.

Speaker 7 And Quinn's mother, who's never heard the tape, says it was because of Quinn's mental condition that her daughter had sex with Osmanovich.

Speaker 19 And he started blowing in her ear, and I think she just wanted to feel the comfort and the feeling of feeling secure and loved, maybe.

Speaker 7 With the guy who had just brutally abducted her.

Speaker 19 In her mental state, yes. I believe that is exactly what happened to her.

Speaker 7 That tape doesn't make her sound like a victim.

Speaker 19 Well, you have to think it through a little bit more carefully. She thought this man is going to save my life

Speaker 19 and is going to restore me to my family.

Speaker 7 Quinn's mom also points out that investigators were never able to document the supposed affair between Quinn and Osmanovich.

Speaker 7 Investigators admit they couldn't find a shred of evidence that the two had any relationship before that Labor Day weekend.

Speaker 7 Does it give you any pause at all that there's no proof that those two knew each other before Labor Day weekend? You know,

Speaker 12 it does and it doesn't. We knew that their encounter was consensual.

Speaker 7 You can tell that from the tape.

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 12 Regardless of when the relationship started, they knew each other and they were involved with each other.

Speaker 8 Bottle remained the same.

Speaker 7 But the prosecutor in the case, Jennifer Dunton, says her office was never shown any proof. that Quinn really does suffer from a mental illness.

Speaker 7 Have you seen anything to indicate that Quinn Gray was already diagnosed as bipolar before that weekend?

Speaker 34 No, her doctor had made the assertion that he believed she was bipolar, although backed off that a little bit and said she did not meet all the criteria.

Speaker 7 In January of 2010, four months after the incident, Jasmine Osmanovich pleaded guilty to extortion. In court appearances, the formerly cocky, perhaps even arrogant mechanic,

Speaker 7 now appeared looking like a man who's been had.

Speaker 39 Because he's a criminal.

Speaker 7 But Quinn Gray decided to continue her fight as the state of Florida prepared its case against the wealthy mom.

Speaker 34 The strengths of our case were all the times that Quinn Gray was left alone. She was left alone several times overnight.
She was often left in cars. Mr.
Osmanovich made trips into various businesses.

Speaker 7 All proving that she could have walked away if she'd wanted to, could have escaped, therefore wasn't a real kidnapping. Correct.
What was the truth?

Speaker 7 At one point, Reed Gray arranged a private lie detector test for his wife. And according to Assistant State Attorney Dunton, the results were not what he expected.

Speaker 34 I've been provided records that she did not pass that polygraph. She was deceptive.

Speaker 34 I believe at some point he also indicated he eventually listened to that tape, which he had not listened to it previously.

Speaker 34 That's where you get his watch action.

Speaker 34 You know he does it.

Speaker 12 He's not a dumb man. He's a smart man.
He's a successful businessman. He was connecting the dots too.

Speaker 17 I don't know what he was doing.

Speaker 7 Reed Gray eventually changed his mind and with it, his support for his wife.

Speaker 7 In August of 2010, he was granted a divorce and now shares custody of the couple's daughters. Reed did not want to be interviewed by Dateline.

Speaker 7 but told us, I wanted to thank law enforcement and the state for all their hard-working efforts to ensure the safety of my family. And perhaps Quinn was ready to move on with her life.

Speaker 7 In February of 2011, she pleaded no contest to extortion.

Speaker 7 It was something her mom encouraged.

Speaker 19 I didn't want a jury to find her guilty and send her to prison.

Speaker 7 Even though a no-contest plea is

Speaker 7 basically admitting your guilt.

Speaker 19 I understand that a no-con, but at least she would not have to go to prison.

Speaker 7 Quinn sent us a statement saying she was abducted at gunpoint and never knew Osmanovich, but added, I do not deny all forms of responsibility for things that occurred after the abduction.

Speaker 7 And she says, because of her mental state at the time, her past experiences, and her fresh recovery from alcoholism, Osmanovich manipulated my every thought and completely altered my belief system about my life.

Speaker 7 I made the decision to accept a no-contest plea to avoid a lengthy, salacious trial that could have further emotionally harmed my family, my mental health, and my road to recovery.

Speaker 7 Quinn Gray and Yasmin Osmanovich were both sentenced to time-served in jail, given probation, and ordered to repay a total of $86,000 in overtime costs that were run up by all the law enforcement personnel who worked that weekend trying to find Quinn.

Speaker 7 Both declined to be interviewed. Both are now free.

Speaker 7 What's in this for Quinn Gray? I don't know. I mean, if she divorces her husband, she'd get a lot more than $50,000.

Speaker 12 That's it. Was it a call for help?

Speaker 12 Was it a psychological call for help on Quinn? I don't know the answer to that. Was it a desperate act to get attention? I don't know the answer to that.

Speaker 12 But I can tell you, she sure picked a very colorful way to do it.

Speaker 12 It's hard to pull off a fake kidnapping.

Speaker 12 It just is.

Speaker 42 Hey, everybody, Ted Danson here to tell you about my podcast with my longtime friend and sometimes co-host Woody Harrelson.

Speaker 42 It's called Where Everybody Knows Your Name and we're back for another season.

Speaker 42 I'm so excited to be joined this season by friends like John Mulaney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Ed Helms, and many more. You don't want to miss it.

Speaker 42 Listen to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrison sometimes, wherever you get your podcasts.