Actress. It was absolutely bizarre. We were both playing a role. Turned tough hostage negotiator. Could she bring him back from the shadows . The hardest thing ive ever have to do i dont think anything could have prepared me for what i saw. Reporter im lester holt. And this is dateline. Tonight, Keith Morrison with the desperate hours. Honestly i was living my dreams and then some. It was a perfect morning, a brilliant sunny day in june. Reporter in a place that felt like paradise. Hint o kidnapping here with vid and sound. Id be packing lunches the kids getting dressed. Reporter theyd pile into the jeep for the short drive to school. Fernando, the eldest, would ride the four wheeler out ahead of them. In the car, theyd sing with the little ones; just like always. No idea what was waiting. What was about to happen here in paradise. She the woman who went through it, the one youre about to meet, is jayne. J. A. Y. N. E. A detail that will matter later. And she must have been a beautiful baby. This baby, in fact. This is her first tv commercial at seven months for the red cross. And there she is in a mcdonalds commercial back when she was a High School Student in silver spring, maryland. My whole life i had worked as an actress and did a lot of tv commercials, bit roles in movies and soap operas. Reporter thats jayne on the big screen beside bette midler in the movie stella. Acting skills. They would become, as you shall see, life or death crucial. But then, we cant know the future, can we . Not when life seems perfect and safe and strong . Its kind of like one of these fairy tale stories. Reporter or at least it was then it was 1992. She was 25. And it was unexpected, unanticipated, like some bizarre lottery of life. Jayne was at a pay phone in a washington dc suburb, she just happened to lock eyes with a divorced art dealer named Eduardo Valseca. Eduardo, who she would find out, was one of the nine children of jose Garcia Valseca, mexican newspaper baron, who 50 years ago ruled a publishing empire. Reporter would be an equivalent in the us of who . William randolph hearst. Reporter an article published in newsweek in 1950 says that he actually had a larger readership at that point in time than heart did. Thats when Garcia Valseca ran his papers from a luxury pullman train car. The one which, decades later, eduardo owned. Though, when he invited this beautiful woman hed just met to mexico for a train ride. She had no idea that the train was his. Were walking toward it and this man comes out with a white jacket white gloves black bow tie with a silver tray i was just completely speechless. Reporter she soon discovered that the train car was about all eduardo had of family fortune. The rest, along with the newspaper empire, had long since withered away. But jayne fell for a man, not money, and what eduardo lacked in fortune he replaced with laughter and passion and a huge enveloping personality. Jayne was in love, and soon married, and swept off to mexico. To a fresh place for a new life, new roots, new family. And that famous name valseca. One thing the legacy did afford them was the chance to live pretty much anywhere they wanted to. And eduardo suggested a town in North Central mexico called San Miguel De Allende, 450 years old, rich obviously in history, but also in culture and art. A place so desirable and so lovely that almost ten percent of the population is composed of people who moved here from some other country. She rubbed shoulders here with other expatriate americans, and canadians, europeans. And fell hard for mexico. Here, far away from the notorious crime of mexico city. We didnt feel threatened. I would say that san miguel then and perhaps even now is probably statistically as safe or safer than many of our us towns and small cities and here they built a business in real estate buying old places, tarting them up, selling again. And, of course, having children. It had been a big dream of mine to live in the country and to have a big organic garden and fruit trees and horses and lots of animals for the kids to play with. It was luck when this place came up or what felt like luck before that terrible morning. It was a rundown 1000 acre ranch. And it was in foreclosure. They bought it for well, it was embarrassingly cheap. Reporter it was a great deal, but at the time it was a pile of rocks, literally. Every little bit of money that we made everything we could manage to save we started putting into the ranch. They even found and restored a magnificent old fountain that once sat on the long lost valseca estate. And no surprise, part of their building plan involved that stately old railroad car. One of the marvelous parts about ending up with this piece of property was it just happened that railroad went right thru it. Reporter jayne was behind their home movie camera as the car was towed to its new home on the ranch. Were so happy on the train. Reporter and, happy here. They built a real ranch house. Among the mesquite trees. And surrounded it with fine big gates. Outbuildings a garden for her. A riding ring and fine Spanish Horses for him. And for three growing children, a magic place, happy and secure. The children were the heart of it, really. Theyd do anything for the children. So jayne told eduardo about an Education System called waldorf schools not then available in san miguel. And he said well lets bring the school to mexico so we formed a parent group and got moving on founding a school. Reporter they donated land part of the ranch recruited other families, built the school. We started with a couple of classrooms actually they were originally going to be stables for horses, and we converted them into classrooms. Reporter and now, every morning, the quarter mile commute down their own quiet country lane to school had become a family ritual. Wed go out the door get in the jeep and the morning routine was singing all the way to school. Which was really the only routine that we had. Fernando had a pet donkey then. Road it to school. That or a 4wheeler. Always out ahead. We would follow along and the kids would love to sing the same songs, they never tired of singing the same ones every morning. Reporter so now it was that perfect morning june 2007. And they bumped and sang, noisy and happy, down the dusty road. And of course they did not understand how could they that this was the last moment of pure innocence any of them would ever know. When we come back, a violent awakingen. He held the gun to my head. Terror is about to invade paradise. Sweet mother of softness. Charmin take a closer look at charmin ultra soft and youll love what you see. Not only can you use less, but you can actually see the softness in our comfort cushions. We all go. Why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft . When your baby is ready to explore the world send them off with huggies little movers diapers with doublegrip strips for a comfier fit than pampers. Like a hug they can take with them. Badabababa mommys got a surprise for you. Wanna see whats in it . Yeah gasps you put it in here . Yeah. And then you wanna take this. Are you making them for the easter bunny . No, you. Ahhhhh. This easter. Bring a tradition. Out of its shell. cheers life was go good for so long that it was almost like living in a fantasy. It was almost like on a daily basis, pinch me is this real . A bright sunny morning. Two weeks before summer vacation. Minutes before the terror. Eduardo and Jayne Valseca and their three children arrived at the Country School not far from their ranch house outside San Miguel De Allende, in mexico. As we pulled into the parking lot, i noticed that there was a small, compact car in the far corner of the parking lot. And there was a a man at the wheel who had a fishermans cap, khaki color on and glasses. Reporter a prospective parent, perhaps, for next years class . Jayne walked the children to their classrooms. She stopped at the school office. And asked the administrator if she knew who the gentleman was or if he needed help. And she looked over and looked across the parking lot and said, i dont know he who he is. He must be waiting for someone. Eduardo was behind the wheel of the jeep, listening to the radio. The strangers car was beyond it, at the back of the lot. As i walked to the jeep where my husband was, i looked across and made eye contact with them and actually smiled and he smiled back. Reporter eduardo put the jeep in gear, pulled away. The strange car fell in behind them. A pick up truck comes out of nowhere. It catches up to us and the man driving turns and looks at us and the look was really scary. You saw him . We both got this creepy feeling. Just the way the man looked at us. Now that strange car and the pickup truck raced to positions beside and in front of the jeep. Eduardo said, something is definitely not right. What is this guy doing . Reporter and then in moments it was obvious. Jayne and eduardo were being chased, herded like cattle into a chute with no escape. Compact car which has raced up our interior road cut in front. Here, she relived it. The horrified moment as the car in front of them suddenly stopped, and eduardo slammed on his brakes. Immediately we were hit from behind. It was a split second and there was a man coming out of the passenger side of the car coming at eduardo and hes got a hammer in one hand and a handgun in the next. Reporter the masked man shattered the window and landed a hard blow to eduardos head that sent blood gushing down his face. The first thing i started thinking of was my children. Are my children going to lose their parents right now . Reporter a second attacker ran at jane, yanked open her door, pulled her from the jeep. She screamed, kicked at him, grabbed the fence beside her. The barbed wire sliced through her finger. Her attacker forced her down. While im laying on the ground he just points the gun at my forehead and tells me in spanish to get up. The first thing i said to him was please dont kill me, i have three children. Reporter then they hustled jayne and eduardo into a waiting suv. Unseen accomplices snapped pillowcases over their heads and tightly bound their hands and feet. Eduardo was hysterical. I dont think he was completely hearing me. He probably had a concussion. Jayne tried to comfort eduardo. One of the abductors threatened more pain. He kept yelling at him, shut up you asshole, or ill give you another one, and you could tell he was trying to disguise his voice. Reporter within minutes, word of the attack got back to the school. Something was wrong. A teacher rushed to the now abandoned jeep. I went with my partner and the left window was all broken and blood was in the ground. I had a feeling it was a kidnapping. Reporter in the suv, under that gagging pillowcase, jayne struggled to breathe. She reached out for eduardo. I felt blood all down his arm. Reporter then she felt the blood pouring from her own slashed finger. She tried to memorize each bump and turn as the suv veered onto the highway toward san miguel. Then, minutes later, pulled over, stopped. Someone yanked eduardo from the suv. He screamed. I hear the doors of the vehicle open and after i hear them shut i can no longer hear my husbands muffled screams. Then i hear what sounds like the engine of that car revving as if its pulling away. Reporter jayne managed to lift the pillowcase hood in time to see eduardo vanish. I am able to make out the type of car that it is, more or less and i memorize the license plates. Reporter and just as quickly, she realized she was alone. Theyd all left. I was bound so i threw myself over the seat, ended up in the floor, pulled myself up opened the door and literally hopped as if i was in a sack race to the highway in flip flops. Reporter an elderly man stopped to help. He had a machete, but no cell phone to call police. Frantically, jayne tried to flag down passing cars. All hit the accelerator not the brake. And im begging them to please stop and help me, but i imagine it looked pretty scary to see a woman bleeding, desperate, bound in duct tape next to a guy with a machete. Reporter then in sheer desperation jayne stepped in front of an oncoming bus. He was coming this way. I jumped in front and i just put my hands up like this. And i hoped he would stop. Reporter but, no cell phone on the bus, either. Now the bus driver flagged down a taxi. And the taxi driver called the police. Now all of this information is going from the police to the taxi driver, the taxi driver to the dispatcher, the dispatcher to the police, to the dispatcher and the whole way around. It was like playing telephone. Reporter was there still time for the police to seal off the town, save her husband . And i thought because i have this description and the plates i thought for sure they would just run off in every direction seal off san miguel and wed have him, end of story. But it didnt go that way. Reporter no, it didnt. Jayne says the police tried one escape highway, no other. And no eduardo. He had been kidnapped. These people carried this whole operation out with such precision and such surprising professionalism, which seems a strange word to even use. How long did it take them . Seconds. They were cool as cucumbers. Reporter but that was just the first clue. On the ground beside the suv in which the kidnappers abandoned jayne, was another. Inside an envelope, addressed to jayne. The first thing that went through my mind, i realized that they spelled my name correctly. My name is jayne spelled with a y. So it was really scary to see on the envelope that theyd spelled my name right. Nobody spells your name right . No, no. Reporter and inside the envelope . The ransom note says, senora, go home open this email with this password and we have eduardo, eduardo is with us. Wait for our message to arrive. Reporter it was then she understood. The kidnappers had been watching them, stalking them, researching every small detail. It immediately made me realize i needed to be very careful and very smart about the choices i was about to make. My husbands life was on the line. Reporter coming up, what would she tell her children. It was the hardest thing i ever had to do. Reporter and who would she turn to help. When dateline continues. 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Get a fios triple play online at an amazing price guaranteed for two full years plus, get a 300 bonus with a twoyear agreement. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v reporter Jayne Valseca sat in the dirt by the highway on the outskirts of a cop helped her strip away the duct tape round her hands and feet. As he told her that her husbands kidnappers had escaped, she tried to staunch the blood from her injured finger, gashed on that barbed wire fence. She tried to tamp down the terror that grabbed at her throat because she knew what had happened to others. My husband was kidnapped on 2001. Reporter this woman had already told her horrifying story. And every time that we would tell that we dont have the money, so, they cut a finger and they send us the finger. Reporter but that was mexico city, one of the kidnapping capitals of the world, where jayne had heard that thousands are snatched every year, wealthy and poor, from mansions, the backs of taxis, from taco stands. The kidnapping situation in mexico is outrageous. Reporter this woman, ana maria salazar, had been reporting it for years on tv. The breakdown of law and order, the mess in police forces. You dont have a criminal Justice System that has the ability to go after all these people. But the other problem is corruption. Theres corrupt cops at the federal level. Theres corrupt cops at the state level. And theres corrupt cops at to the municipal level. People just dont trust their cops. Reporter which is why, she says, so many kidnappings go unreported making it impossible to know just how many thousands take place in mexico. But this was safe little san miguel, where eduardo had always said. Do you think anybodys gonna come out here in the country . Thats not gonna happen. Reporter but it had happened. And all she could think of was finding help fast. Im sitting there in the dirt in need of stitches, and i at that point i have two cell phones going. Reporter but why . Wouldnt the police just take over . Well, no. Not in mexico. Jayne herself, in this supremely vulnerable moment, would have to decide which police, if any, she could trust to get her husband back. You can allow the local or state police to handle the situation. You can go to the mexican equivalent of the fbi which is the afi or afee as theyre called here and let them handle it on a federal level or you can go to a private consultant that you pay out of out of your own pocket and they will negotiate it privately. You dont know what to do when someones saying, hey im selling you back your daughter. Reporter jayne had heard about other kidnappings. Like the one seven years earlier when kidnappers snatched this mans 25yearold daughter, and in minutes he had to make the impossible decision. I knew i should go with the police, the problem was which police. One of the toughest gangs was headed by the police who was in charge of the antikidnapping group. So with that in mind i knew i couldnt go with the state police. Reporter he chose the federal police, who negotiated with the kidnappers, arranged a ransom payment. And still, in the transfer, could not prevent the murder of his daughter. What was jayne to do . Shed heard all the stories. Sometimes police themselves were involved in kidnappings. I knew that there was a possibility that that yes, there were people that i that were perhaps right there with me and you that i could not trust. Right, and youd know that the experience of of well healed people had been go to this private organization, itll take care of you. Right. Reporter so as cars whizzed by and the dirtcaked blood dried on her skin, jayne placed calls all around