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pins mixed in with loose change at the bottom. she reached and and pulled out to and bend them into tools. >> over the next three days, whenever the guards were out of sight, she maneuvered the pins in the locks keyhole. she tried again and again. finally, the lock popped open, but elisa seemed cautious. the bad guy seemed brutal enough to shoot if she tried to escape. >> so what i did, i would climb in the trees nearby and tried to see where i was. >> so you would unlock the lock, climb up in the trees and tried to see where you were, all while nobody was close guarding you? >> yeah. >> and then go back and sit down and put a lock back on? >> yeah, -- >> it's pretty brave. >> yeah, i was afraid that they might see me. >> with each climb, elisa grew more bold. soon, she would have to decide whether to run from her kidnappers. she closed her eyes tight, praying for guidance from her but they're, miles away in quito. >> i heard this, or i had this communication, i don't know,
are,, loved her life in the wilderness. >> tell me about lisa. >> a beautiful, strong, young woman, very intelligent and focused on what she wanted to do. even as a child, she was always interested in plants and flowers. >> elisa his brother and sister, and he and maria. >> since it was with the, she always took care of us. >> she was protective? >> yeah. >> elisa always had a strong adventure street, was ready to find a new bird, explore a new patch of land. her mother always admired her spirit but kept a mindful i. >> translator: children are a mother's life. >> you always want to protect your little girl, right? >> yes. >> still, her mother was eager for elisa to see the world, especially america. , as a teenager, elisa lived with her family in long island, worked at apple bees and dunkin'donuts. when she returned to ecuador, she enrolled at catholic university in the capital city of quito, where she studied botany and biology. this became her passion, the school bicycle club. she organized weekly races in
in the room that they used to share as kids. >> i used to talk to my sister, when i was going to sleep. i used to have a teddy bear that was her. >> you think that she could hear you? >> i don't know. energy is so powerful, maybe it's like, when you are connected and feel it so much, i used to close my eyes and imagine her. we all set she was fine, she's fine. >> the whole family was doing all that they could to send positive energy to lisa. >> what would you say? >> translator: that we love her very much, that her family was thinking about her. she is a strong woman who can handle a situation like this. >> of course, the levy family had no idea what elisa had been through over the past four days or what she had yet to endure. >> coming up, elisa's kidnappers up the ante. >> this guy said, we might cut a finger off. >> cut your finger off? >> yeah. >> when dateline continues.
even though elisa's captors forced her to report a message early on, they never actually sent it to her family. >> no pictures, no talking to elisa? alicia? >> no. >> so jaime asked the ringleader questions only his daughter could answer, the name of her grandmother and godfather. >> and when you got the right answers back on the line, what was that feeling? >> at least we knew that she was alive. >> translator: okay, okay, we will do everything you tell us, but take care of my daughter, please. >> the levys knew that they needed to come up with cash for the kidnappers. >> how much money where you prepared to send them? >> the only thing we really have is this house, so the bank offered us 80,000 dollar loan on the house. >> 80,000 is less than 10% of the $1 million the kidnappers wanted. in desperation, jaime called his family back in new york. >> my brother was going to cash in his retirement plan, and my other sister was going to do
know about the u.s. and ecuadorian agencies on the hunt for her captors. now, the colombian government had joined the effort too. >> the law enforcement 30s including -- >> zeroing in and circling the? >> if anybody as experience in kidnapping matters, it's the columbia authorities. >> some of the specifics are classified, but the colombians provided high tech equipment to help the team track the location of the ringleaders so fun. there was no way to know if he was in the simplest as elisa, but the kidnappers we're leaving behind other clues to. >> we'd like to say that there is no such thing as the perfect crime. they always leave a trace. >> and it was elisa herself who gave them their best clue. remember when she first client into the car, she asked on her brothers to make note that the license plate number. investigators check the number against video vehicle passing
one of elisa's brothers drops her off with a driver of a trooper, whose supposed to take her to the meeting. >> you pull up with your brother, you see the blue trooper, you get out and get right in? >> yeah. >> still, as she drove off, she had her brother right down the troopers license plate number, just in case. at first, things seemed fine. the driver was calm and friendly, but about an hour into the trip, he picked up two strangers, who said that they needed a ride, but that's not what they wanted. >> just points me with something here and says, don't move, don't scream, shut up, don't do anything. >> it's a gun? >> yeah. >> at your neck? >> yeah. >> coming up -- elisa's family learned what has happened to her, and after a chilling phone call -- >> do you want her alive, or do you want her dead? >> they wonder, what can they possibly do to bring her home? when dateline continues. ing! non-drowsy claritin knocks out symptoms
did she let her captor see that. she did not want to show weakness, especially to the guard she called the bad guy, who treated her roughly and issued dark threats. >> we might just sell you to a different group. >> a bigger group? >> yeah. >> a more scary group? >> i had no idea that they did that with people, but -- >> elisa understood his warning. her current captors could sell her to the farc, and even more brutal guerrilla group with expertise in holding hostages. it took extraordinary will power, but elisa forced herself to push aside our fears. >> i am all but myself. if i get sad and start thinking about it all over the again, is not going to be good for me. i better be positive. >> elisa was making a conscious effort to cultivate the guard
>> i would pray every night, a couple of things that i know, and i felt the people pray with me. i don't know how to explain it, but i was not able to feel sad anymore. i was just calm. >> the two guards watching over her were the only human contact she had. their boss, the ringleader, came and went from ramshackled what about 50 yards from her tent, but elisa never saw him. she came to think of her guards as the good guy who what bring her rice and beans, we assure hurt that she would soon be released, and the bat guy who often threatened to kill her or her family back home. but she never learned their names. she was determined not to become overly attached to her captors. she's been fiercely independent and comfortable in the wilderness from the time that she was a little girl.
the meeting that you ended up having with secretary mayorkas, elise saw, tell us about amelia is and what she was like and your mother. >> amelia and my mom were inseparable. i, in fact, had to fight my mom sometimes for time with my own daughter. they were best friends x they just lit up every room that they went into. and today i want to point out is especially emotional for us because today is actually by mother's birthday. rachel: wow. also before we get to the meeting, i understand that charges have not been pressed yet with by the k.a.. why that -- d.a.. why is that? why have will been no charges yet? i'm going to ask you, elisa. >> we're not completely sure yet. we're not getting much information, unfortunately. what we do know is from our crash report from the texas dps