Went wrong its where everything went wrong. A kidnapping case about to go way off script her story did not make sense. What was really going on . Im a cop for 11 years. I blushed it when i listened to the tape. A story with more twists and turns that the florida roads trying to find this missing mom. This case was not going to turn out like a lot of people assumed. Thanks for watching im lester holt. Whenever someone is kidnapped, its a race against time thats what happened in this story which begins with a young mom abducted at gunpoint but as youre about to see, though her family and veteran investigators spent desperate days trying to find out where she was, they never could have guessed who had her and why. Heres Josh Mankiewicz this is the Sheriffs Office. My wife made a phone call to me a minute ago, said she was held by gunpoint. Businessman told the 911 operator to say that his wife had been kidnapped the call would turn out to be just the beginning of an unbelievable saga that would baffle investigators and turn this husbands life upside down. The next few days would bring one setback after another. And no one could have predicted how it all would come to an end. It was around 5 00 p. M. September 4th, 2009. Reids wife, quinn, had called him at work and told him she had just been kidnapped right out of their 4 million home. Reid couldnt believe what hed heard. He went to his Office Parking lot to try and think straight. Did he tell you where she was at no. There is a note at the house. With a demand. 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. Her husband was a selfmade man who finally hit it big in the Health Care Business this frightened husband told the 911 operator he didnt know what to do next. He said if i call the police, they will shoot me dead. A guns a gun, man. Reid gray took a gamble and did just the opposite of what his wife had told him. Soon, multiple Law Enforcement agencies would be on the case. Check and make sure that fire rescue is going to be coordinating with us. St. Johns county sheriff, david shore. All bets are off, theres nothing more important than a victim whos being held against their will and who has been threatened with homicide, so you roll out what you have. While reid went to the Sheriffs Office, a s. W. A. T. Team was deployed to his home. They cautiously entered the multimillion dollar residence. The house sat eerily empty a photo album opened on a couch, a happy quinn on her wedding day. Crime scene techs swept inside and out, looking for fingerprints, tire tracks. 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 grays handwriting. Dear reid, i need you to read this and be calm reid, do not be a hero, this is professional and there are three men holding me right now and they want 50,000 cash i will be okay if you get them the money. What do you know about the victim we knew she was a housewife raising children, in one of the prettier parts of our county. Reid and quinn gray were new to st. Johns county, having just moved into their beach front home in ponte vedra. I dont want to use the term the perfect kidnapping victim, but it fit. And her husband made a lot of money. Worst case scenario, we make one wrong move and they kill her. On the day quinn was kidnapped, the 37yearold pta mom had made appointments for her daughters to have hair cuts and she was far along in the Upcoming Party for one of her daughters birthdays now reid tried to shield the 8 and 6yearolds from the news that their moms life was in danger he picked up the girls from school and took them to a friends house, while he waited at the Sheriffs Office. Reid was still in his shirt and tie from work, and he was an emotional wreck. He shared more details about quinns brief, frantic calls to him hours earlier. She said there was somebody with a gun pointed to her head. On that call she said there were three kidnappers and they were albanian. The 50,000 ransom was to pay back money reid had borrowed from a loan shark, but reid gray insisted he didnt owe money to anyone 50 grand doesnt do much. Why ask for only 50,000 from a man that was making more than 1 million a year . Reid didnt know and neither did investigators. At this point there was only one goal, quinns safe return. It was very disconcerting to realize that we had a housewife and mother of two small children in whatever she was going through, it wasnt good. And there was Something Else that wasnt good 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 Quinn appears on the phone, calling her husband with frantic instructions. Get in the car with the money. Just get in the car with it. With this one little nexgard chew comes the confidence, youre doing whats right, to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. Its the 1 vet recommended protection. And its safe for puppies. Nexgard. What one little chew can do. Hilda, i like the new do. Got some layers in there, huh . The more, the merrier. Got to have this stuff in the morning. Oh, thats too hot. Act your age. Get your own insurance company. 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Reid gray, husband, father, and successful businessman was at the Sheriffs Office near his expensive home in ponte vedra, florida, a wealthy community about 20 miles south of jacksonville his wife, quinn, was kidnapped just a few hours earlier the ransom, 50,000. Im not going to be to work, sleep, eat, breathe, until this is resolved. One thing you have to understand is that in the modern day marketplace of crime, kidnapping for ransom is practically an antique heres why its not difficult to abduct a Family Member of a rich person, but things like improved technical surveillance, cooperation between Law Enforcement agencies, even caller i. D. Now make it just about impossible to pick up ransom money and escape undetected as a result, the kind of kidnapping you see in the movies pretty much exists only in hollywood. But for reid gray, this was frightening, nerveracking reality. No prior trouble with any kind of phone calls in the middle of the night, no strange noises around the house, anything like that, right . No. Married for almost nine years, reid told investigators his relationship with quinn was better than ever and that the couple was even thinking about having another child shes just an amazing friend. Shes active in taking the girls to dance, taking the girls to all of the afterschool programs she was a wonderful daughter, yes. Quinns name, gail sikes. Thats very difficult for a mother to say that has four daughters. She was absolutely the sweetest of all the children. That night reid called his motherinlaw with the devastating news. I was just completely in shock. As a mother, thats your worst nightmare. Imagining whats happening to your child. What do you think quinn is going through at that point . Being tortured, tied up, fearing for her life, fearing that she would never see her children again. While quinns mom waited for news at her georgia home, reid stayed at the Sheriffs Office until about 2 00 a. M he then returned to his house while his kids stayed with friends. Early the next morning, saturday, about 16 hours after quinns kidnapping, reid sent a text to his wifes phone havent slept all night. Please tell me youre all right. But there was no reply about two hours later, reid, who is now with investigators, finally got a call it was quinn, and reid became emotional. What do i need to do . Theyll call you back i dont know theyll call you back, okay . All right, i love you she said theyll call me back in a few minutes. Investigators wired up the phone so they could record all the calls. Sheriff shore was surprised to hear quinns voice historically, the kidnappers dont let the victims communicate. And in this case it was quinns voice on the phone. Yes. The advantage of that for the kidnappers is you dont ever hear their voice. Thats true. The sheriff rolled out his mobile command unit to a secluded area near quinn and reids home. From inside, he started directing the more than 100 Law Enforcement personnel who were working this case. They waited for the next contact from the kidnappers. And then about 45 minutes after that last call, reids phone rang again the cell reception was poor, but quinn gave reid a location for a money drop. Just get in the car with the money and go down and take a left on ive got to write it down. Just go just do it now, please reid butler boulevard, hello the conversation abruptly ended and quinn sounded angry. It was easy to imagine the tremendous stress she must be under. Reid was growing increasingly worried for his wifes safety. Remain calm shes probably going to call back again. The first time she was screaming, crying, help. Reid stayed at the Sheriffs Office as surveillance teams scrambled to get in place at butler boulevard investigators also needed more time to get 50,000 cash together for the ransom. But only 30 minutes later, another call came in. Hello it was quinn again, instructing reid to head to a different location he was now to go to a chickfila restaurant. Take the convertible top down and wait in the parking lot. I want to see you i want to exchange you for the money. I am not giving the money without you. Hello . Now investigators rushed to get teams in undercover cars in place at the chickfila but before reid left for the but before reid left for the chickfila, he got yet another call there was a problem at the money drop point they spotted three fed cars near chickfila, so i dont know where im going now you need to wait for more instructions. Were the sheriffs Undercover Team spotted at the chickfila . Is that what quinn meant by fed cars a few minutes later on reids cell phone came an ominous text from quinn i know you want me dead. Reid texted back i dont know if thats quinn i have your 50,000. Stop with me, just give me my wife there was no reply investigators brought reid back to his house and parked in the driveway they set up a minicommand center in the house, using a recorder to tape all incoming calls, and thats when something happened that no one expected. We sent the detectives to that home and we didnt do it surreptitiously. Because we hadnt thought about it and they walked in the front door they pulled in in an unmarked vehicle. The minute they pulled in, we received a text from the victim. Reid got another text on his cell phone wait for instructions, youve up twice already you involved other people. Whose ford is in the driveway . The ford was an unmarked sheriffs vehicle. Theyre watching the house . Theyre watching the house. Fearing they were being watched by the kidnappers, the sheriff ordered all his personnel to go covert and get out of sight. We were watching ourselves to see if they were watching us. The kidnappers, they have got you looking over your own shoulder. Yes, thats exactly right. What does that say that they were playing by a different set of rules. It was probably one of the earliest indications to me that this case was not going to turn out like a lot of people assumed. Uhoh, looks like someones still nervous about buying a new house. Is it that obvious . Yes it is. You know, maybe youd worry less if you got geico to help with your homeowners insurance. I didnt know geico could helps with homeowners insurance. Yep, theyve been doing it for years. What are you doing . Big steve . Thanks, man. There he is. Get to know geico and see how much you could save on homeowners and renters insurance. [ text notification now that you have] new dr. Scholls massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves, youll move over 10 more than before. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Monitor their blood glucose every day. Which means they have to stop. And stick their fingers. Repeatedly. Today, lifechanging technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. Without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. The most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. Life. To the fullest. 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 almost 150 people were now working to find quinn gray the agent in charge of the fbis Jacksonville Office is james casey. He says the kidnappers appeared to be deactivating quinns cell phone after each of the calls they made to reid. Somebody in the scheme was smart enough to take the battery out of the cell phone because we were able to do some technical capabilities and determine that that phone was not only off but had no power to it at certain times. Meaning you cant trace it . Meaning you cant trace it. While there was no pin pointing an exact address where quinns calls were originating, technicians were tracing pings when the phone was in use. 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 fbi agent tony kravit was selected as the lead crisis negotiator for the bureau. Were tracking the phone and thinking weve got some leads. Agents felt they were making progress, but suddenly the phone was also pinging farther away. The kidnappers and quinn might have been on the move. Sheriffs detective howard cole was sent in pursuit. It was believed that quinn grays cell phone was being tracked to an area west of orlando. But something had gone wrong. Before tracing the calls, investigators had to get a judges approval and in the rush to fill out the proper paperwork, someone made a small, but critical error. 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. So somebody put the wrong phone number in . Human error. So the phone you were following wasnt quinns phone correct. How long did you follow that other phone. All day saturday. And suddenly what investigators thought were solid leads from quinns cell phone simply vanished. When you realized you were following the wrong cell phone, what my hair was on fire my hair was on fire. I thought how can Something Like this happen and we were really back to square one, who are we looking for . We had no idea. The rest of saturday went by with no word from quinn or the kidnappers meanwhile, quinns mom, gail sikes, left her georgia home and headed to her daughters house in ponte vedra, florida. I jumped in my car and headed south. How long is the drive 7 1 2 hours long drive with that kind of information in your brain. Around 2 00 a. M. , when gail arrived i walked into an unbelievable scene. I walked into a war zone. The s. W. A. T. Team was in the house . I was told that they were outside, in the bushes, on the roof it was unreal. Early sunday morning, almost 36 hours since quinn grays abduction and 12 hours since the last contact from the kidnappers, fbi Hostage Negotiator tony kravith decided to have quinns mom send Text Messages to her daughters phone, hoping the kidnappers would read them. Every 20 minutes, every hour, we sent a message. Please call me, i love you let me know that youre safe, im very worried about you. You want the kidnappers to start thinking of her as a mom who needs to go home to her family and not just a cash register. I want the kidnappers to think of quinn gray as a wife, as a daughter, as a mother finally, a text came back about 9 30 a. M this time to quinns moms phone. Have the money in a bag. No traceable devices no reid whatsoever if he is anywhere close, shes dead no cops. Be ready to leave at 11 00 the kidnappers had apparently decided they no longer wanted to deal with reid why the kidnappers didnt trust reid we didnt know. One of the techs said he had messed it up already after the failed chickfila drop, another thought was that mom was more controllable. So reid gray was no longer at the center of a huge Law Enforcement effort that was working around the clock to save his wife quinns mother would make the next money drop. It was an unlikely role for this 62yearold grandmother, a manager at a walmart and a dog breeder on the side. I was very concerned that if i didnt drop the money properly, that that would be the end for quinn. What in your background prepared you for what you were going through . I guess just being a mother and trying to protect your children. Despite her nerves, gail sikes w