I SURVIVED: I Lived In Fear I May Not Get The Real Eduardo Back

Summary

Cold Case Files: I Survived – "I Lived in Fear I May Not Get The Real Eduardo Back"

A&E / PodcastOne | October 18, 2025
Host: Paula Barros

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Episode Overview

This harrowing episode of "I Survived" explores the true story of American expats Jane and Eduardo, whose lives were upended by Eduardo's kidnapping for ransom in Mexico. Over the course of 225 days, Eduardo is tortured physically and psychologically, while Jane risks everything to save him. The episode is a raw account of endurance, love, and survival in the face of organized crime and unthinkable brutality.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Life Before the Abduction (02:32–03:21)

• Jane (American) and Eduardo (Mexican) recount their storybook romance and the idyllic life they built in San Miguel de Allende.
  • Jane: "It was love at first sight for me with Eduardo and for this beautiful little town." (03:14)

The Kidnapping (03:30–06:41)

• The morning ritual with their children is shattered when their car is boxed in, and armed men ambush them.
• Both are attacked, bound, and forced into a getaway vehicle.
• Eduardo is separated, beaten, and led off blindfolded; Jane is left bound but manages to escape and get help.
  • Eduardo: "In one second, we were surrounded by people with guns." (04:09)
  • Jane: "Imagine what this looked like... now we’ve got a guy with a machete in his belt standing next to a woman who’s bound and bleeding. It looked really bad." (10:01)

Eduardo’s Captivity: The Box (07:13–19:16)

• Eduardo is kept in a tiny, brutal box for months. The conditions are purposefully dehumanizing—constant light, loud narco-pop music, surveillance, beatings, humiliation, and deprivation.
  • Eduardo: "You get used to the small space and you get used to the light day and night, but one thing that you can never get used to is that loud music all the time that drives you crazy." (18:16)
• Kidnappers use psychological tactics, telling Eduardo his wife is also captive and unfaithful.
  • Eduardo: "I started thinking then some of the things that they were telling me about her, they were true." (20:10)

Jane’s Ordeal: Negotiating with Kidnappers (11:14–26:31)

• Jane becomes the contact point, receiving ransom demands of $8 million, threats of injecting Eduardo with HIV, and gruesome photos as proof-of-life.
• She communicates through coded newspaper ads and emails under the watch of the Mexican AFI (federal police).
  • Jane: "They were expecting 8 million. That wasn’t anywhere near what I was going to be able to come up with... I will do everything. I will go to the end of the earth if it takes until my last breath.” (19:20)

Endurance, Torture, and Despair (21:33–27:36)

• Eduardo is injected with unknown blood, shot twice (once in the leg, once in the arm), and starved, dropping to 84 lbs.
• He contemplates suicide from the relentless pain and isolation.
  • Eduardo: "I don't think that there is a way even to describe that—it's the closest to hell you can ever be." (23:14)
• Jane, guided by AFI, begins to apply pressure by giving the captors silence.

Negotiations Reach Breaking Point (32:01–33:21)

• After 200 days, ransom demands drop to what Jane can gather.
• During the drop, the kidnappers betray Jane, seizing one of her employees and demanding more.

Release and Aftermath (33:27–39:27)

• Eduardo is released after 225 days. Shockingly transformed, he and Jane reunite at their ranch.
  • Jane: "At first I didn’t know who it was... I’ll never forget it. I didn’t even recognize my own husband." (34:55)
  • Eduardo: "Seven and a half months without talking, you lose your voice. So I just start crying." (35:24)
• Family flees Mexico for the U.S. on police advice. Recovery is slow: PTSD, hearing loss, liver and bone injuries.
  • Jane: "The whole family was still healing. We were all being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder." (37:21)
• Their employee is eventually released after continued negotiation.

Reflections on Survival and Closure (38:35–39:27)

• The family still loves Mexico but can never return. The case remains unsolved; the kidnappers were never caught.
  • Jane: "You can never, ever give up. No matter how hard it is. Even in the very worst moments, you just hold on." (39:08)
  • Eduardo: "Those three things...visualizing the love...to trust the energy and to calm your mind down—those were the three things that kept me going. That’s how I survive." (39:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Eduardo: "There is a camera in the highest point of the box. Then they’re watching you all the time." (08:15)
• Jane: "How do you explain kidnapped for ransom?...How do you put a price tag on somebody’s life?" (11:40, 02:27)
• Jane: “I lived in fear that I may not get the real Eduardo back, if I ever even got him back.” (20:38)
• Eduardo: "Everything I tried, it didn’t work. If I had had pills or something...I would have tried anything." (23:14)
• Eduardo: “I started visualizing the love that I had at home, the love of my kids and my wife and family—to trust that energy and to calm your mind down. Those were the three things that kept me going.” (39:27)
• Jane: "You can never, ever give up. No matter how hard it is. Even in the very worst moments, you just hold on, you know?" (39:08)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:32 — Introduction to Jane and Eduardo’s life in Mexico
• 03:30 — The morning of the kidnapping
• 06:41 — Eduardo’s separation and arrival in the box
• 10:01 — Jane’s escape and desperate search for help
• 11:40 — Jane faces her children and begins negotiations
• 18:16 — Eduardo describes psychological torture
• 21:33 — Threats of HIV-tainted blood; Eduardo injected and shot
• 27:03 — Eduardo’s moments of despair and Jane’s silence strategy
• 32:01 — Negotiation breakthrough and betrayal at ransom drop
• 33:27 — Eduardo’s release and fraught return home
• 37:21 — The family flees Mexico and begins recovery
• 39:08–39:27 — Reflections on survival and hope

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Episode Takeaways

This episode delivers a gripping narrative of perseverance, terror, and the power of family love in the face of unspeakable suffering. Eduardo and Jane’s ordeal exposes the cruelty of organized crime, the desperation it breeds, and the fragile hope that keeps victims alive. It is a reminder that even in the darkest circumstances, endurance and human connection can prevail.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

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[Narrator / Storyteller]

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[Narrator / Storyteller]

This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

All of a sudden I hear something electric like an engine and he pushed my head against the wall and started shaving up all of my hair off. Everything.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Real people.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

And an email came in from the kidnappers threatening that if I didn't have a substantial amount of money to offer on a specific date that they would be injecting him with HIV tainted blood who faced death.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

You're in a small space with music loud day and night and a bright light day and night. And they're in total control and there is a camera in the highest point of the box.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Then they're watching you and live to tell how.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

How do you put a price tag on somebody's life? How do you Explain Kidnap for risk.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

This is I survived. It's June 2007 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. American born Jan and her husband of 15 years, Eduardo, live in Mexico.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

Eduardo and I met in a supermarket in Maryland. And before I knew it, everything moved very, very quickly. It was really a storybook romance.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

I took her to Mexico, and she fell in love with San Miguel de Allende. I mean, just to the point that she said, I don't want to go back to the United States. I want to make my nest in Mexico.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

It was love at first sight for me with Eduardo and for this beautiful little town. And we started a life there.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo, Jane and their children lived on a ranch on the outskirts of town. Each morning they drove their three children to school.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

Our typical morning routine was to sing on the way to school. So we were singing songs with the children and talking about our summer plans and very excited, and everything seemed pretty normal. We dropped the children off, gave them their kisses, and we were headed back to the house. Eduardo and I in his Jeep. Suddenly, things started getting strange.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

We are just about half the way to get back to the house. Of course, it's a very narrow street, little road.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

We're going at a slow pace, and this SUV in front of us slows down even more. And then very suddenly slams on the brakes.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

So I stopped right behind them, and then I felt then the car behind me bump me right at the same time. Everything was done exactly, precisely in the same moment. In one second, we were surrounded by people with guns.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

One of them had a hammer in one hand and a gun in the other. And in that moment, my whole life flashed in front of my eyes.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

One guy was already pointing at me, this gun, like silver color, right at my head. He told me to get out of the car, and with the same gun, he broke the window of the car. Everything was just blowing in pieces.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going to happen, what could have provoked this. But we're about to die.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They pulled me out of the door. He, with the same gun, he hit me really strong in the head.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

Another man came from the other side of the car, and he had a police club and a handgun. This is all just, you know, in a second.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

Immediately, I started feeling, you know, blood all over my body.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I immediately thought about my kids. I thought we were going to get killed.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

He looked at me and said, you know, don't with us, I mean, or I kill you.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo and Jane were forced into the kidnapper's car.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

I found myself in seconds inside their car with a pillowcase over my head. My hands were with handcuffs and duct tape around my feet. The other guy on the other side was doing exactly the same to my wife. I couldn't see. I only heard her screaming.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

The car pulled away. This was all in a matter of seconds. This had been very carefully planned. Eduardo was saying, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. He was yelling.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

And they told me, shut up. Callate, callate, cabron. Which means, shut up, ass. Then we drove for about 7 minutes, 8 minutes.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

We pull over and the car comes to a stop. The car's shaking. I hear water screaming. There's a lot of commotion. I hear the engine of another car pulling up alongside of us. And I hear the doors open. The doors close, and I don't hear water screams anymore.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

And then we were separate. But I thought then she was right behind me in another car. I find myself blindfolded, bleeding, tied up. It took at least 35 to 45 minutes drive. And they keep telling me, just shut up, asshole.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

When the car stopped, Eduardo was dragged into a dark room. He was stripped naked and his blindfold was removed. In the corner of the room was a box.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

This guy pushed my head down and pushed me inside his box. All covered by this dark gray, rough material. All of it inside the box. I had exactly four fingers like that before I can touch the ceiling of the box. And I could put two fingers before I can touch the side.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo's prison was six feet high, seven and a half feet long, and 27 inches wide.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

The first thing that you feel right away is that they are trying to scare the hell out of you. You are totally weak. No clothes on. In a tiny little box, I had a bucket. And it had like maybe an inch and a half or two inches of chlorine. There was the smell of it. And the whole thing, it would burn my eyes. It was. We use it for as a bathroom because he had two holes on the box. One was pumping air in and the other one was sucking air out. Two light bulbs and two big speakers. And the music was on since the moment that I arrived. And there is a camera in the highest point of the box. Then they're watching you all the time.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

The kidnappers slid sheets of paper under the door.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They want me to write everything about how much money I had exactly to the detail, everything that I had. And again, don't even try to lie, because we know everything about you. We have your wife next to you, staying in another box, we have all the information from your wife. We want to double check with you. And don't even try to lie to me because I kill you right then. We want money, but don't come with a ridiculous figure as $2 million. Son of a Beach. Because that won't be even enough to get you flowers for your funeral.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

His captors tell him Jane is locked up in another box.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They told me that she was staying in another box very close to where I was kept. I was so concerned about Jane that even I will hallucinate that I could hear her voice screaming and yelling.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I feel like I'm alone. And I took the thing off my head. I looked around. There was nobody there.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Jane had actually been left behind in the abandoned getaway car. Eduardo's captors were deliberately deceiving him.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I was out of that car so fast. I mean, it took me seconds. I'm bound with duct tape, and now I'm hopping like I'm in a sack race, trying not to cry, trying not to lose my breath to get to the highway. This poor old man on a bicycle, this rickety old rusty bicycle with a machete in his belt is riding by. And I said, I think my husband's been kidnapped. Please help me stop a car. I need to get to help. Imagine what this looked like. Now we've got a guy with a machete in his belt standing next to a woman who's bound and bleeding. It looked really bad.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo was told he could only communicate by writing notes.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

Never make sounds, never knock the door, and you wait for us until we decide whatever request you have. So if you don't follow the instructions, we're going to beat you up until you understand. So even thinking the most simple things in life that will make me suffer for them big time.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

At the highway, Jane finally forced a car to stop, and the police were called.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

We were now accompanied by many police vehicles to the scene where they had left me with the first getaway car. There was actually an envelope in the grass right next to the door I had exited. And it said, senora Jane, we have your husband. We will be giving you instructions through emails. We will be in touch.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Jane returned home and waited for the email.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

One of the toughest moments of my entire life was when my children came home from school that day and I had to tell them what had happened. They believe in a world that has Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. How do you explain kidnapped for ransom?

[Narrator / Storyteller]

A masked kidnapper unlocked the box and gave Eduardo a note.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

He sent me a note saying $8 million, and that's what they wanted. And I told him, I don't have that kind of money. And he says, you have that kind of money. And we know my father owned newspapers, and he was very famous in Mexico. So they thought, this guy is a multimillionaire.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

You know, what a lot of people didn't know was this very powerful, very, very wealthy man lost the majority of his fortune before his death. Then it was divided among nine brothers and sisters. So we worked for our money. We were in real estate, and we lived a simple life.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Jane called the afi, a Mexican federal agency that fought organized crime.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

It would be the equivalent of the FBI in Mexico. And they told us that an agent representing the AFI would be arriving to the ranch within the next 12 hours.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

The AFI believed Eduardo had been snatched by the EPR, a leftist guerrilla group. Five days later, an untraceable email arrived from the kidnappers.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

The message basically said, we've got Eduardo, and he's going to be with us until you pay us the sum of $8 million. There would be no negotiating. And to answer the classified ads of a national newspaper that they specified, Jane.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Placed the coded reply in the missing pets column of the newspaper.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

Basically, it would say, this puppy was lost on Wednesday. We're doing what we can to come up with the price asked for this puppy, but the amount you're asking is out of our economic reality.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

After seven days, Eduardo suffered sleep deprivation due to the constant light and music.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

I will say to myself many, many, many times a day, they're trying to drive you crazy. Don't let them drive. You know, calm your mind down. I will visualize the beauty of living out on the ranch and see that beautiful sky. Wow, it's beautiful, the sky full of bright stars and the bluish color of the moon and just gorgeous. And I would say, trust that force, you know, trust that energy. And I will repeat that also thousands of times.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

On the 10th day, the kidnappers gave Eduardo a note telling him they had released Jane.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

Then they sent me a note saying, you stupid family doesn't want to cooperate with us. So here's what we're going to do. We are not totally sure if we going to cut your fingers now or we're going to start shooting. You're never going to see the sunlight again. And then you never going to come out as you came in, complete.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

At first, the clues don't seem connected. A bill here, a fee there. But step back, and the pattern is clear. Credit card debt. Is the suspect hiding in plain sight. It doesn't kick down the door. It follows you like a shadow. And just when you think you're safe, it strikes.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

The evidence is everywhere.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

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[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo has been kidnapped and held for ransom in Mexico. He has been tortured, brutally beaten, and confined in a box for 30 days. Inside the box, the light is always on and music blasts 24 hours a day.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

At the very beginning, they play one and then they play another one without stop, but different kind of CDs. But then later on, they choose just one.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo was blasted with Mexican drug trafficking ballads called, called Narco Pop.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

And that one stay on every single day, over and over and at night. And there is a camera in the highest point of the box. Then they're watching you all the time. So every time that I want to rest and just lay down, they will put the volume up in a split of a second. I will try to cover my ears. And it was just like, I just couldn't take it. I mean, it was too much. You know, you get used to the small space and you get used to the light day and night, but one thing that you can never get used to is that loud music all the time that drives you crazy. And it's the same thing over and over and over.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Jane received an email from the kidnappers with a photo attached.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I collapsed and I felt like at that moment, I wasn't going to be able to go through this. I didn't know how we were going to get through it, but I just. I just started falling apart and it just destroyed me, you know, I fell apart. The emails would slowly but surely get more and more aggressive and nasty. They were expecting 8 million. That wasn't anywhere near what I was going to be able to come up with. So for as many times as I could, I would say, you know, I'm looking for money. I'm looking for money, I'm looking for money. But I can tell you one thing. I will do everything. I will go to the end of the earth if it takes until my last breath and the last penny we have, and I'm getting him back.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

During the daily beatings, his captors taunted Eduardo with lies about Jane.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They will tell me that, you know, she has another man in her life. They seem very happy and obviously it looks like they have a romance. And I think they're having a great time with your money. I started thinking then some of the things that they were telling me about her, they were true.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo has now been captive for 100 days. His kidnappers forced him to write hundreds of letters to Jane.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

An email came with an attachment and I was really scared to open that attachment. And it was a letter from Eduardo that had been scanned, it was handwritten, it was in his handwriting. And that was one of the most difficult moments for me for some reason, just to see his handwriting and also what it said. You have me abandoned here, laying in this, in this box. I'm tortured and starving. You're such a bitch. You want to keep all my money and let me die here. Things like that, Things that he would never say to me. I lived in fear that I may not get the real Eduardo back, if I ever even got him back. But things got worse and an email came in saying that they were threatening that if I didn't have a substantial amount of money to offer on a specific date, that they would be injecting him with HIV tainted blood.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

So they started injecting me with his blood. I was so weak that my arms got like ballooned because they would put any kind of blood, it wasn't even my type.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

They started sending me pictures of what it would have looked like after these injections. But then they started saying that they were going to shoot him.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

On day 141, Eduardo's captors become even more violent.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They came into the box early in the morning, like at 6 o' clock in the morning. They cover, they blindfold me, they, they tied my, my, my hands. And I could hear the, the gun being prepared with a bullet going in. You know, when the ch, ch and the pain was more than words can say. I felt like it was a bomb inside my leg that exploded from the inside out.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

There was a part of me that was in denial that I really didn't think they'd do it. And then the photograph came in. They said that they were going to be shooting him, I think once every 15 days or something like that. We didn't have 8 million, for goodness sake. How do you put a price tag on somebody's life?

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo was left lying in a pool of his own blood.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

It was a lot of blood just sitting there rotten. I slept on top of the blood and the wound got infected. They wrote me a letter, said, let's see what kills you first, the infection or shooting you around your body. I started really feeling right after they shoot me that it wasn't worth living. And then I really was wishing to die big time and I was finding ways to kill myself. But it was very, very hard Then I found one of these little metals, and they stick in the wall, not like a nail, but like a stick staple. And it had a very rough edge to it. So I start cutting myself with it. I start bleeding. And that moment where I start bleeding and cutting myself, I thought, it's not bleeding enough because the thing was too small. Everything I tried, it didn't work. If I had had pills or something like that, I would have tried anything. I don't think that there is a way even to describe that is the closest to hell that you can ever be. I just couldn't take it anymore. It was too much.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

An email arrived warning Jane that unless she paid, Eduardo would be shot again.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

The powers that be within the AFI tell our agent now it's time to be silent. And I said, how? What do you mean, silent? We're not going to answer. I said, that's absolutely right. This is our way of pressuring them back. You know, it's expensive for them to keep up this whole thing. They've got people to pay, so we're not going to answer.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

On the 157th day, when Jane did not reply, Eduardo was told he would be shot a second time.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

The next day, they did the same exact thing. They covered my face, blindfold me, they put me against the floor, and this time they shoot me in the arm. They say, now we're gonna come back, Starting now, every 10 days until we receive money.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I didn't want to believe that they'd do it again, but they did. And the photograph came in. You know, what could I do? I just. I felt completely helpless. That was one of the toughest things, I think, was to not answer. Give them some silence.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They were increasing with the torture and the music, the quality of the food and the quantity. It went down immediately. Also. They will give me, for instance, chicken soup with the head of the chicken, you know, with the eyes coming out and the pig and the whole thing in there. And of course, I will eat everything. I was pure skin and bones, and I was so weak.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

After 170 days, Edoardo clung to his sanity by visualizing his family and friends.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

I visualized talking to this imaginary friend, but of course, the conversations were just inside my head. So I would say, you know, good morning, Jim. Look at me this morning. I've been shot. I haven't been able to stand up for one month. Look at the stuff they feed me. This is not a way of going through life. I don't know why I deserve this torture. And he would listen to me And I could hear his voice talking back at me.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Jane's strategy of ignoring the kidnappers began to show results.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I could tell just in the speed of their messages coming in, the frequency, what they were saying. They were starting to get desperate. I decided that maybe I could help make him feel a little more nervous. I very often felt that we were being watched. And that was when I decided to start moving things around and make it look like I was leaving for the US and maybe I wasn't going to give him anything. Maybe I was just going to take off for the States. They were starting to sweat. I was loving it.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They told me that my family didn't want to cooperate, and they decided to kill me. I swear to my life that I thought that's the best thing that can happen. I will die. And I'm very happy that my family is not going to send $1 to these criminals. They don't deserve one penny. So this is my time to go. They told me that they were thinking of shooting me in the head, just between the eyes.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Knowing he was about to die, Eduardo thought of his children.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

Naia, the smallest one. I could only see the beauty of her eyes. I couldn't even hear saying anything. But I will hear. For instance, Fernando will say to me, I miss you, dad. And that, as brief as that. And then I will hear Emiliano. I could see him inside the the bottle of water that I have always on my side. I could visualize him inside the bottle, trying to look at me. They arrive into the box, and they tied my hands, and I thought, this is it. This is it. So I'm shaking because I know this is the moment that they're going to shoot me between the eyes.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

This episode is sponsored by better help. October 10th is World Mental Health Day, and this year we're taking a moment to say thank you, therapists. Every healing journey starts with someone willing to listen. Someone who shows up, asks the right questions, and helps guide people toward growth. Better Help therapists have supported over 5 million people worldwide. And behind each of those stories is a therapist making a real difference. I remember once in therapy, my therapist said something so simple but powerful, you don't have to do this alone. It completely shifted how I looked at what I was carrying. Sometimes just one honest conversation can change your direction. If you've ever thought about Talking to someone, BetterHelp makes it easy. They've been connecting people to licensed therapists for more than 12 years with care and expertise. With over 30,000 therapists on the platform and a 4.9 out of 5 average session rating it's the world's largest and most trusted online therapy service. You'll fill out a short questionnaire, get matched to someone who fits your needs and if it's not right, you can switch anytime. Because finding the right therapist truly matters. This World Mental Health Day, we're celebrating the therapists who've helped millions of people take a step forward. If you're ready to find the right therapist for you, BetterHelp can help you start that journey. Our listeners get 10% off their first [e-mail] survived. That's betterhelp.com survived. I survived is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

To free her kidnapped husband, Jane must raise $8 million. Eduardo has been locked in a box for 180 days. Tortured, beaten and shot twice. One morning, Eduardo's captors enter the box and make him face the wall.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

I thought this is it, this is it. I heard a sound of a plastic behind me and probably the plastic they're putting on the floor is to carry my body and just burn it or dump it. Then all of a sudden I hear something electric like an engine. And he pushed my head against the wall and started shaving up all of my hair, off everything, nothing left. And started shaving my beard that I could see. My beard was so long, six and a half months long beard and the hair was down to here. When you spend hours and hours, 16 hours, sitting down in one tiny little space with the music trying to drive you crazy. I put my mind into to cleaning up everything, just picking hair by hair, my own hair and the previous people, their hair. I found hair from curly white hair from a previous guy who was inside a filthy box and that I spent most of days doing that, cleaning up.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

On day 200, Jane got an email.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

Finally, literally from one message to the next, they dropped their demands to what I was finally able to offer, which for us was a substantial amount of money. They finally realized after seven months that that's what they were going to get. And they told me to prepare the cash.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Two brothers who worked for Jane and Eduardo went to Mexico City with the ransom.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

And then finally, at 3 o' clock in the morning, the phone rings. The younger of the two called and said, my brother went down the dark alley with the duffel bag as instructed. It's been four hours and he hasn't come back. And then a few hours later, I finally got an email saying, we will not be releasing your employee until you pay us the balance of the money making this $8 million. They've decided that what we've negotiated to was a nice gesture on my part, but now they're going to hold the employee until we give them the full amount. I had barely made it through this and my husband wasn't even home yet. And now we're starting over and we're seven and a half months into this. You know, how, in what world is this possible?

[Narrator / Storyteller]

On day 220, Eduardo is told that his ransom has been paid.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They give me a new set of pants, a new shirt, a baseball cap. And then this guy came in, threw me off on his shoulders and put me inside his car. They took me to this cemetery. It was probably around five o' clock in the morning. And they told me to put my face against the wall and to count from one to 200 slowly and never turn around. I count very slow, 200. Then when I open my eyes and I look at the sky for the first time and feel the fresh air, it was incredible experience. It was really like this, discovering a new planet. And I start taking the first few steps and I was trying to figure out which direction my hometown was. And I saw a car pass by and I asked him if he would give me a ride.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo hitched a ride to the family ranch.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

As soon as I arrived home, the door was open of the ranch. So the first thing, when I opened the door and I was in front of the glass door, I saw my wife at the other side of the glass, trying to figure out who I was.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I look up and there's a man standing there. And at first I didn't know who it was. It was a very thin, old, frail person losing his hair. And then it. I realized, oh my God, I'll never forget it. I didn't even recognize my own husband. So I opened the door and he couldn't even walk. I mean, he was just. I don't know how he even managed to get to the front door. And then he couldn't even talk. He couldn't smile.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

Seven and a half months without talking, you lose Your voice. So I just start crying.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I just started kissing him on his cold, bony cheek. And I told him how much I loved him and that everything was going to be okay. And he was so worried. He said, it's not going to be okay. They have our employee, you know, we have to get him out. And I said, it's going to be all right. We're going to get him out, and I'm not alone, and we're going to be fine.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

She didn't want the kids to look at me. She said, they're going to be in a shock. I saw myself in the mirror. I couldn't take it. I just. I couldn't believe myself that I was just pure bones. But I said, please let me hug those kids. So they came out, and I just went on my knees and grabbed them. It was an incredible moment. They couldn't talk. They were in shock to see how I looked. I couldn't talk either. I was just crying. I'm just so happy that I'm here.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

During his ordeal in the box, Eduardo lost half his body weight.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

My regular weight is 160, more or less. And when I came out, I was about £84. Then the police came to see me, and they told me that I was going to be better off if I would leave Mexico because they could never guarantee the security of my family. So I was not even allowed to be in my house for 48 hours. When I had to come to the United States.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

It was tough, you know, to pack your life into one suitcase. But the most important thing is that we're a family again. We have everybody. So we got on the plane.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo, Jane, and their children left Mexico and fled to America.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

The whole family was still healing. We were all being treated for post traumatic stress disorder. Eduardo was still very frail. It took him really months to heal.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

I lost 15% of my hearing on this side because of the loud music, and, you know, you don't rest. So they did a lot of damage. My liver. They broke three ribs. The wound in my leg was the worst thing.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Tests show the blood Eduardo had been injected with did not contain hiv.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I was still continuing to negotiate for the employees and literally every penny that we had left, which wasn't much. Everything that we had access to now that Eduardo was free was being offered for this man. And then one day the phone rang, and they just let him go, and he just called his family from the bus station. It was over.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo was one of more than 780 people kidnapped in Mexico in 2007. In 2010, the number of kidnappings rose to 1,847.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

I still love Mexico. I love its people, I love its culture. I love the life that we had there. But for us, that chapter of our lives is definitely over.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

They say that it's better not to say never, but I don't think I ever go back to Mexico in my life. It's going downhill very, very fast. It's totally out of control.

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo and Jane have never revealed how much they paid in ransom. Eduardo's kidnappers have never been caught.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

How did I get through this?

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

Love.

[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

Love of my husband, my children. Just never giving up. You can never, ever give up. No matter how hard it is. Even in the very worst moments, you just hold on, you know?

[Narrator / Storyteller]

Eduardo survived 225 days in the box.

[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

I survived because those three things that I keep repeating myself to visualize the love that I had at home, visualizing the love of my kids and my wife and my family, to trust the energy and to calm your mind down, those were the three things then kept me going, Kept me going. That's how I survive.

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[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

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[Eduardo (Kidnapped Husband)]

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[Jane (Eduardo's Wife)]

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