a beautiful young mom abducted from her beachfront home. her husband, horrified. >> my wife made a phone call to me to say that she was held by gunpoint. >> her mother, terrified. >> it's your worst nightmare imagining what's happening to your child. >> a note with big demands left by mysterious kidnapper who is seem to know all, see all. >> they are watching the house? >> they are watching the house. >> and then the victim herself calling. her mom jumping in to work with police would hand over the ransom herself. >> if i didn't drop the money properly, that would be the end for quinn. >> she dropped the cash all right, but who picked it up? >> and that's where everything went wrong? >> it's where everything went wrong.

>> a kidnapping case about to go way off script. >> her story did not make sense. >> what was really going on? >> i'm 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. i'm lester holt. whenever someone is kidnapped, it's a race against time. that's what happened in this story which begins with a young mom abducted at gunpoint. but as you're 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. here's josh mankiewicz.

♪ ♪ >> this is the sheriff's 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 husband's 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.

reid's wife, quinn, had called him at work and told him she had just been kidnapped right out of their $4 million home. reid couldn't believe what he'd 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 self-made man who finally hit it big in the health care business. this frightened husband told the 911 operator he didn't know what to do next. >> he said if i call the police, they will shoot me dead. >> a gun's 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. john's county sheriff, david shore. >> 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. >> while reid went to the sheriff's 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 kidnapper's 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. 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. john's county, having just moved into their beach front home in ponte vedra. >> i don't 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 37-year-old 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 daughter's birthdays. now reid tried to shield the 8 and 6-year-olds from the news that their mom's life was in danger. he picked up the girls from school and took them to a friend's house, while he waited

at the sheriff's office. reid was still in his shirt and tie from work, and he was an emotional wreck. he shared more details about quinn's 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 didn't owe money to anyone. >> 50 grand doesn't do much. >> why ask for only $50,000 from a man that was making more than $1 million a year? reid didn't know and neither did investigators. at this point there was only one goal, quinn's 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 wasn't good. >> and there was something else that wasn't 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. >> would he be able to get the

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quickbooks. backing you. is coming to theaters jurassic on june 22nd. kingdom and now xfinity customers can get movie tickets by using their x1 voice remote. get tickets. don't miss it. because at the very end there's this scene... [ dinosaur roar drowns out bryce's words ] buy tickets with your xfinity x1 voice remote. just say "jurassic world" to watch the trailer, then say "get tickets" for local showtimes from fandango. and it's just like, "wild." only with xfinity x1. reid 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. his wife, quinn, was kidnapped just a few hours earlier.

the ransom, $50,000. >> i'm 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. here's why. 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 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, nerve-racking 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. >> she's just an amazing friend. she's active in taking the girls to dance, taking the girls to all of the after-school programs. >> she was a wonderful daughter, yes. >> quinn's name, gail sikes. >> that's 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 mother-in-law with the devastating news. >> i was just completely in shock. as a mother, that's your worst nightmare. imagining what's 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 quinn's mom waited for news at her georgia home, reid stayed at the sheriff's 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 quinn's kidnapping, reid sent a

text to his wife's phone. haven't slept all night. please tell me you're 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? >> they'll call you back. i don't know. they'll call you back, okay? >> all right, i love you. she said they'll 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 quinn's voice. >> historically, the kidnappers don't let the victims communicate. >> 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. >> the sheriff rolled out his mobile command unit to a secluded area near quinn and reid's 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, reid's 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 -- >> i've 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 wife's safety. >> remain calm. she's probably going to call back again. >> the first time she was screaming, crying, help. >> reid stayed at the sheriff's 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 chick-fil-a 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 chick-fil-a. but before reid left for the chick-fil-a, he got yet another call. there was a problem at the money drop point.

>> they spotted three fed cars near chick-fil-a, so i don't know where i'm going now. you need to wait for more instructions. >> were the sheriff's undercover team spotted at the chick-fil-a? is that what quinn meant by fed cars? a few minutes later on reid's cell phone came an ominous text from quinn. i know you want me dead. reid texted back i don't know if that's quinn. i have your $50,000. stop with me, just give me my wife. >> were the sheriff's undercover team spotted at the chick-fil-a? is that what quinn meant by fed cars? a few minutes later on reid's cell phone came an ominous text from quinn. i know you want me dead.

reid texted back i don't know if that's 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 mini-command center in the house, using a recorder to tape all incoming calls, and that's when something happened that no one expected. >> we sent the detectives to that home and we didn't do it surreptitiously. because we hadn't 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, 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. >> 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, that's 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. and it only takes one mosquito bite to transmit it. that's why you need to protect your dog with heartgard plus. just one real beef chew given once a month, every month, helps keep your dog safe all year long. test dogs for infection prior to use. in rare cases digestive and neurological side effects have been reported. for more information contact your vet. get your dog out of hiding. ask your vet about heartgard plus. the vet's # 1 choice

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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 fbi's jacksonville office is james casey. he says the kidnappers appeared to be deactivating quinn's 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 can't trace it? >> meaning you can't trace it. >> while there was no pin pointing an exact address where quinn's 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. >> we're tracking the phone and thinking we've 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. sheriff's detective howard cole was sent in pursuit. >> it was believed that quinn gray's 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 judge's 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 wasn't quinn's phone? >> correct. >> how long did you follow that other phone. >> all day saturday. >> and suddenly what investigators thought were solid leads from quinn's 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, quinn's mom, gail sikes, left her georgia home and headed to her daughter's 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 gray's abduction and 12 hours since the last contact from the kidnappers, fbi hostage negotiator tony kravith decided to have quinn's mom send text messages to her daughter's 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 you're safe, i'm 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 quinn's mom's phone. have the money in a bag. no traceable devices. no reid whatsoever. if he is anywhere close, she's 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 didn't trust reid? >> we didn't know. one of the techs said he had messed it up already. after the failed chick-fil-a 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. 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. >> i was very concerned that if i didn't 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 was pressed into service. at around 10:30 a.m., the kidnappers instructed quinn's mom to go to mikeler's landing, an area along the beach, and there she would find further instructions in a bathroom. gail left her daughter's house. 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. it looked again to be in quinn's handwriting and gail read it aloud to investigators. >> so far i'm fine. no harm has been done to me. after you pick up this letter, you are going to drive north toward joe's crab shack. drop the money out of the car and do not look back. anything goes wrong and i'm dead. >> up to this point they didn't want to hurt her, they had no intention of hurting her, but now it said anything goes wrong, i'm dead. >> they're escalating it? >> yes. >> undercover agents converged on joe's crab shack, a local restaurant popular with tourists. >> we've got surveillance units out, we've got an airplane out. >> you're watching? >> we're watching. >> quinn's mom drove to the crab shack. >> i drove through, came around

the corner and there were bushes sitting on, i guess, a sidewalk area. i stopped the car, rolled the window down, threw the money toward the bushes. >> did you tell investigators to watch the money carefully? >> absolutely. >> you guys all on to this? >> yeah. >> all right. because i don't want some stranger to come along and pick up that bag. >> the plan is to see who picks up the bag and then, what, follow them back to presumably where quinn is? >> right. we knew at their level they were going to be aware of the tracking device, they knew they were going to be surveilled. >> an fbi agent monitored the situation from the command center, as undercover surveillance teams reported back on what was happening in the parking lot. >> it wasn't too long after she threw the money out that a group of males walks by. one of them wanders over, kicks

the bag a little bit. pick up the bag, threw the bag in the back of an suv, jump into the car and start doing kind of a circuitous route around the area. >> they start doing suspicious things. they drive through a little neighborhood almost trying to clean themselves from surveillance. >> it was the first major break in the case. >> now we've got a lead. we've got a license plate, we've got three males, and we're watching where they're going. >> but what happened next was not written in any book. >> and that's where everything went wrong. >> where everything went wrong. let's talk about haribo goldbears. aloha. i can't stop eating this orange one. the red one is more gooder to me cos it tastes like berries. my bears are like doing cartwheels and back flips and stuff.

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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. 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. investigators were hoping the men didn't notice the tracking device in the bag or that the bag only contained $10,000. fbi agent in charge, james

casey. >> the kidnappers asked for $50,000. >> right. >> you didn't give them $50,000, you gave them ten. >> we gave them less than $50,000. >> and they said don't put a gps tracking device in. >> right. >> and you did. >> right. >> is that standard procedure to ignore kidnappers? >> we're in charge of how this goes, not them. the idea was get the bag to them and find out where they are. >> but then came something no one expected. quinn's mom, gail sikes. >> quinn called and said where's the money, they're going to kill me. where's the money. >> and you said? >> i dropped it, absolutely. >> jesus, quinn, what kind of people are these? i told you, you go to the crab shack and there's a huge parking lot on your right. >> listen to me, hello. >> and for the first time, everyone heard the voice of one of the kidnappers. >> was anybody following you? >> no, i don't -- certainly not.

>> anybody follows you, you know what happens. >> what? i'm sorry? hello? >> when you hear that guy's voice on the phone, that changes everything. >> absolutely. she said early on three albanians grabbed her over a loan shark. we've got a male there. >> 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? >> they pulled into a gas station not far from joe's crab shack after they had done a little driving around. so as we're sitting there watching them, a jacksonville beach police cruiser pulls into the gas station and starts talking to these young men. >> you're thinking what? >> we had no idea what's going on. >> 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.

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. >> 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. >> one man told the detective he was german. >> what's your address in germany? >> hamburg, germany. >> even though they were from germany, could they have had some connection with the albanian men quinn mentioned in her first call to reid? >> we walked back and forth in the parking lot and saw that blue bag. one of the guys was joking and said i bet there's money inside. that's a lot of money, what are we going to do with it? >> but in an unbelievable stroke of bad luck, it turned out these men were not the kidnappers. >> and it becomes pretty clear pretty quick that these guys were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

>> the men were actually college exchange students, two of them played on the same tennis team. >> they looked at a bag and said, hey, wouldn't it be cool if there was money in that bag? it was really that simple, that coincidental, and couldn't make it up. >> the college students stumbled onto the bag, picked it up and got scared when they saw cars following them. they then called 911. >> we found a blue bag in a parking lot and there was like a huge amount of money in there and we just want to give it to you guys. >> they came down to jacksonville beach to have some fun. >> and they wound up with more than they expected. >> a lot more. >> it was a chance encounter that had everyone on edge. all of the money drop attempts, butler boulevard, chick-fil-a and now joe's crab shack had ended in failure.

>> three attempts at a ransom drop. the money never actually changed hands. >> no. >> the kidnappers never actually got the money. >> no, no. >> i turn to the fbi and said what's happening with the money? he said, well, we don't exactly know where the money is right now. i said great. you've gotten my daughter killed. >> the real kidnappers were still looking for their money. and of course it wasn't at the drop location. >> it's tense. and mom's a wreck. mom is getting upset because mom knows she dropped off the money. >> everything went south at that ransom drop. >> and we still didn't know who we were looking for. we were back to square one. >> back to square one, again. >> again. >> you were kind of at the end of your rope? >> absolutely. >> it's not like a tv show, is it? >> no. >> 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, and he was angry about the lack of progress. >> listen, i'm sick and tired of this [ bleep ], okay? i'm sick and tired of it. you've been giving me [ bleep ] left and right. >> reid has been giving you [ bleep ]? >> he's going to go to the bank, pick up $50,000 and we'll arrange somewhere else to meet. >> 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. >> we're all thrown for a loop when we hear this. we didn't want to string this out two more days. >> 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. >> that's a big gamble. >> we tried to take a little more control. it was still being cooperative,

we were very clear that we were willing to pay the ransom. >> i did not get the money, nobody has the money. >> you know, i tell you seriously, i think you're lying to me. >> i'm what? >> i think you're lying to me. i think you got it. >> but then something frightening happens. that aggressive approach might have back fired. >> did you hear that? >> what? >> did you hear that round? >> the what? >> did you hear the round i just fired? >> no, my god, i didn't hear the round you just fired. no. >> okay. well listen. your daughter is fine, she just talked to you. keep it up. >> if i heard a round, you let me talk to her again. >> it was completely unexpected. i was in a situation of hopelessness and i figured that i would never see her again and that was so sad because she would never be able to be a mother again and she would never see her children again. >> was that a gunshot? investigators couldn't hear it. what did it mean? and, was quinn still alive?

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it was sunday afternoon, almost two full days since quinn was abducted. 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 2:00 p.m. mom, please no cops. i am so sorry about all of this. but they are pissed and i want to see my girls. the fbi's hostage negotiator was tony kravith. >> do you think about the kids in a situation like this? >> absolutely. you can not. reid made arrangements for them to stay elsewhere so they'll be shielded by this. we're in the business of preserving life. that's what we do. >> do you think quinn, maybe she's not even alive anymore? >> we don't know. we don't know for sure. >> investigators were becoming increasingly worried because they hadn't actually heard quinn's voice since the day before. then at about 5:25 that evening, another text message came in to quinn's mom's phone. i do not get access to my phone. have reid check his e-mail, pic

of me taken. did he get all of the money? and in reid's e-mail, there was this photo of quinn. >> what can you tell from this photo? >> 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. >> the photo was taken using a cell phone and the background could be anywhere. but investigators got lucky, because there's a little known technology built into that photo, and it offered investigators a huge break. >> they didn't know that a photograph taken on an iphone and e-mailed to somebody else has gpscoordinance on there? >> yes. >> i didn't know that. >> yes. we were very quickly able to check the photograph and find the gps coordinants in there. we knew exactly where that photograph had been taken. >> 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? >> minutes. >> but there was no one there. later that night, the kidnappers called back and quinn's mother, again at the urging of the fbi, kept up a tough negotiating stance. >> i want quinn in my car, i'm just warning you. i'm not giving you the money until you have quinn in the car. >> i'm telling you what to do. >> i'm telling you what i'm going to do. >> did that aggressive approach seem to work? >> i think so. i really think so. >> another ransom drop was planned. >> all right, i talk to her first, i see her and she walks across and gets in my car. >> ma'am, i'm making the decision, not you. >> no, no, i'm sorry, but i am going see my daughter and i'm going to have her in my car. i've got your [ bleep ] money. let me see my daughter and i want her in my car. do you understand? >> 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. >> deputies in st. johns county are looking for a ponte vedra woman didn't return home. >> a story broke on the news. a story investigators had been trying to keep out press. >> you weren't expecting that? >> i wasn't. we had it pretty fortunate to go a couple days without it being on the news. quite frankly, we don't want them to see it either. >> but the kidnappers did see it and they were not happy. quinn's mom received a text. why is she on the news? >> that was one of those, oh, boy. you know, oh, boy. now what are we going to do with this one? >> remember, the kidnappers had threatened quinn's life if police became involved. the fact it was now hard to deny since it was on the news. so investigators came up with a cover story. the deputies found quinn's

abandoned mercedes suv and came to her multimillion dollar home to make sure she was okay. 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. >> did the kidnappers seem to buy that? >> yes, they did. >> 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! >> a mother-daughter conversation that turned everything upside down.

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it was monday, three days since quinn gray's kidnapping. and there had been no communication with the kidnappers since the night

before. the fbi's tony kravith changed strategies. >> we wanted to give them a way out. and we wanted to give them a way out. >> what was the way out you offered? >> nobody has been hurt. if they drop you off somewhere, if they just let you go, nobody will know the difference. >> just let her go? >> just let her go. >> 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. i am heart broken, and girls probably no longer have a mother. you have no heart. and i pray that what goes around comes around. >> she was angry. she was tired. she was worried. >> angry at you? >> angry at all of us, i think. we weren't able to bring her daughter home yet. >> throughout the ordeal, reid 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.

detective howard cole spent some time with quinn's husband. >> 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 was times when he thought we didn't know what we were doing. >> what was your sense of reid himself? >> seemed like a real decent guy. >> genuinely worried about his wife? >> yes. he was helpless, he was powerless and he was depending on us to fix it. i just really was very empathetic. i put myself in his shoes and i thought that he dealt with it pretty well, considering the circumstances. >> reid waited at his home. everyone waited as minutes became hours, hoping for some contact. but there was nothing. quinn's mom was so stressed that tony kravith suggested a change of scenery and had her brought to this back courtyard of the fbi's jacksonville headquarters. it was around 6:00 p.m. >> gail picked up the phone, her whole physical being changed. >> and it was quinn.

>> quinn, quinn, what's wrong? >> and she was completely hysterical on the phone, screaming literally. she was screaming at me. >> quinn, quinn! talk to me, please! >> she was completely incoherent at that point. i couldn't even understand what she was saying. >> quinn, did they hurt you? >> tony kravith could only hear one side of the conversation. >> the blood drained from her face, her knees start to shake, her legs go weak. nobody can understand what she's saying, and then -- >> quinn, quinn. >> she hangs up. >> you think maybe they were attacking her or killing her then? >> we don't know. but this is the first time that she sounds hysterical, so we don't know now if she's hurt. it sounds like she's very upset. >> while tony kravith tried to calm quinn's mom, somebody else had already heard from quinn. a 911 operator. >> what's your emergency? >> my name is quinn gray and i was kidnapped.

>> it was quinn. >> okay, what's happened? >> she was free. >> i need you to take a deep breath, okay? >> i was kidnapped. >> 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. >> somebody is on the way, okay. >> okay, thank you. >> sheriff's deputies headed to quinn's location, while she stayed on the line with 911. >> i don't know, like a warehouse or something. he tied me to a chair with duct tape. you have no idea what i just went through. >> i cannot imagine and i'm so sorry for you. >> deputy trent was one of the first to find her. >> she was acting very erratic, was flailing around a lot and was yelling on her cell phone. >> quinn was brought to the

fbi's jacksonville office, where her mom and brother-in-law met her. >> it's not quite the joyful reunion you'd expect? >> as far as being joyful, no. she was hysterical when she saw me for the first time. of course i was hysterical and we ran to each other, embraced each other and cried together. >> an audio recorder in one of the fbi's interview rooms picked up quinn's voice from the hallway. 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. >> i feel like my husband wanted me dead. 100%. >> why is that? >> the man makes a lot of money. let's just say that maybe my life isn't worth him paying it back. i feel that there is a very dark and sinister side to my husband that i've always sensed in a way. >> was there another side to

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after telling her family she was abducted by her home, days later a florida mom has very suddenly been freed. it's a stunning turn of events but for everyone who loves her and the investigator who is have been trying to find her, it isn't over. there's another shock in store. here again, josh mankiewicz. quinn gray had finally been released after three days of captivity. but when she was brought to the fbi's jacksonville headquarters, quinn started blaming her husband, reid, for putting her

through the whole ordeal. >> i feel like my husband wanted me dead. >> she said that if reid had only given the money to the kidnappers on that first night she was abducted, she might have been set free much earlier. >> but if my husband had just done what he was supposed to do, i would be fine. >> 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. >> when you talked to the victim's husband, reid gray -- >> yes. >> -- what's the first thing you say to him? >> well, his first comment to me is was the media involved. >> that's the first thing he said to you? >> i didn't feel comfortable with that. gosh, your wife's kidnapped and that's your first question? >> and someone else was suspicious of reid. quinn's mom. >> i thought possibly reid had something to do with it. >> because? >> it just seemed like a real convenient way for him to not have to deal with his wife anymore.

>> detective howard cole said investigators had to take a close look at reid. >> any time 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. >> remember when reid first went to the sheriff's office on the day quinn was kidnapped? >> did you go anywhere today where you would have to go outside in any fashion? >> detectives immediately thought something was suspicious. >> do you know how you got blood or mud on your shoes there? >> there's nothing on my shoes. >> it tells us we don't rule anything out. >> and during that interview, investigators learn that quinn and reid had endured some major problems in their relationship. >> what did reid gray tell you about his marriage? >> their marriage, for lack of a better way of putting it, was rocky. >> there's an ugly side of our marriage. she went out and didn't come home. she was pretty intoxicated, i looked in her purse and saw underwear in her purse. i'm like, quinn, it's time to be honest.

>> he did explain a lot of circumstances surrounding past infidelities both on his part and her part. >> our relationship started to deteriorate and i dated a few people. she dated a few people as well. >> reid admitted he had an affair and said quinn had multiple affairs. that kind of admission all but guaranteed more questions. >> we'd interview him on everything from personal finances to kids or associates, business, everything. and we threw a lot of really hard questions at him. >> do you know where she's at right now? >> no. >> do you have anything to do with her disappearance? >> no. 100% no. >> and even though reid seemed to be upset while his wife was missing, investigators were keeping an eye on him. >> was there a time when you were sort of distrustful of him or wondered what was going on? >> 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.

>> did you specifically ask reid about the money he had supposedly borrowed from a loan shark? >> yes. >> and he said? >> he never borrowed any money from a loan shark. i didn't believe him. >> on that first night of the kidnapping, when quinn's mom went to her daughter's ocean front home, investigators sat her down with reid. >> some of these truths probably will hurt me. >> and recorded the conversation. >> she was concerned, and i heard this many times from her, that reid threatened her with divorce and she didn't like that idea, of course. >> quinn's mother openly speculated about whether reid knew more than he was saying. >> i also have thought that possibly you could be behind it. kill quinn and you got rid of all kinds of things. you got rid of a wife, you don't have to have an argument about custody, you don't have to give her any money. >> i think he was evasive with me to begin with. >> suspicions about reid lasted throughout the time investigators searched for

quinn. on the same day she was released, they asked reid to take a lie detector test. and he agreed. >> he was being candid. he took a polygraph with a very experienced polygrapher who cleared him. from being a suspect. >> officials with the fbi came to the same conclusion. reid gray had absolutely nothing to do with quinn's kidnapping. >> i apologized to him in the fbi building and we hugged. i said i'm so sorry that i thought that. >> but that still left a question, who had kidnapped quinn. >> i didn't know what was going on. i was crying and i was like, please, just tell me that you're not going to kill me. >> back at the fbi office, quinn was less than completely cooperative with agents after her release. >> did they say anything when they dropped you off, any threats? >> yeah. >> what did they say to you? >> that's the part i'm not

getting into. >> she eventually became angry. >> i'm sorry, but i'm going over the big stuff. >> i'm not being confrontational with you. >> i think you are. >> no, ma'am, i am trying to get the details. >> watching from another room was fbi agent in charge, james casey. >> how did she seem in that interview? >> she was very disheveled. her story did not make sense. >> 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. but two days later -- >> hey, quinn. >> yeah. >> i'm george. >> hi, george. >> 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. >> 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. >> quinn said the kidnappers had in essence brain washed 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. but after some restful sleep, quinn said she now believes her husband was trying to save her life. >> quinn was finally ready to tell her story of what had really happened during her 72-hour nightmare. just how much of a nightmare was it? quinn's bizarre description of a sexual encounter with her abductor. >> and i acted like i enjoyed it and i'm not going to lie, and sometimes i almost did.

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all of a sudden coming back what was really going on -- >> quinn gray was finally prepared to tell all the details of her kidnapping. >> do you feel okay? do you feel like you're able to talk and get this out? >> well, i have to -- >> detective george harrigan of the st. johns county sheriff's office was chosen to interview her. >> i asked her to start from the very beginning. >> go back to you wake up friday. tell me your day friday. >> it was just a normal, absolutely normal day. >> quinn said she had a facial at a local spa, went to yoga class and ran errands in her mercedes suv. when she returned home, she went

up to the bedroom. >> 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. >> and he's got a gun? >> he's got a gun and yellow gloves on. >> startled by the gunman, quinn screamed, but she was the only one home. her husband was at work, her kids in school. >> so he has a gun to my head and i mean i'm screaming bloody murder.

>> how did she describe this guy? >> 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. >> the look on his face and the evil in his eyes, i was like, i'm dead. >> the gunman said he was not there for quinn, but for the $50,000 that reid gray owed to a loan shark. >> i thought maybe my husband was in trouble and i didn't know about it, was hiding something from me. how much is this house worth? it's a $4.5 million house. we have a $25,000 mortgage payment a month.

that's why it didn't make sense that my husband would owe someone $50,000. it just didn't add up. >> then the kidnapper started to restrain quinn. >> she sat me down on my bed and came over and tied my hands, just my hands. >> 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. she had no idea where she was being taken. and she feared she would never see her husband or two daughters

again. the van eventually stopped and quinn was brought into some sort of warehouse, possibly a mechanic's garage. she was strapped into a chair with more zip ties, and that's when she became very frightened. >> he tied my mouth. he put duct tape on my face. at this point i was like no, no, no, no. >> 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. she heard what sounded like a tv on in another room, a foreign voice and screaming. >> i started looking around the room praying for my kids and

praying, got, get me out of this. and there was another chair so i was thinking maybe this is a torture room. and she said i'm thinking we're going to have sex. we're going to have sex. >> and i knew i wasn't going to resist him, so i tried to make it the best possible. the more he loves it, maybe i have a chance, you know what i mean? >> it makes sense. take a couple of deep breaths for a minute and hear me out so that you can get yourself together, take your time. >> so then sex happens. >> it must have been stunning to hear somebody describe a sexual assault as something that they enjoyed. >> yes, it was stunning. >> when she was held at that warehouse, quinn said she spent the first hellish night sleeping on a concrete floor. the next day the kidnapper moved her to a motel, the emerson inn. >> 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. >> 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 kidnapper's demands. the detective asked quinn to share as much detail of her entire experience as possible, hoping to glean some clues. she remembered something that seemed incidental, but something that would later turn out to be crucial to the investigation. >> he bought chicken and in some drinks for us so we're eating spicy chicken. >> quinn also told police unlike what was written in the original ransom note, she no longer believed three men were involved in her kidnapping. >> my very gut instinct now that i'm clearly thinking and getting it all is that there's not

anyone else involved but him. >> the interview lasted almost six hours. >> hi. >> but it wasn't the end of quinn and reid's anguish. they were frightened to return home. >> what would be the difference if that guy was in the house right now? >> i'm not going to get my stuff. i'm not going back there. >> reid later said he was extremely worried for his family's safety. >> no, sir, we don't have anybody in custody. i won't lie to you. >> i need to know that guy is caught, too. >> and investigators also desperately wanted to catch that guy. >> take a good look at the surveillance video taken from a -- >> and they were about to get some unexpected help. >> this is communications, how can i help you? >> i need to talk to somebody about my picture about some kind of woman's kidnapping or something like that.

>> is that you? >> the man in the video, the man quinn says abducted her at gunpoint, comes forward. but he's not what investigators expect. >> he comes from a very good family, has a college education. >> this guy was no gangster? >> absolutely not. and it only takes one mosquito bite to transmit it. that's why you need to protect your dog with heartgard plus. just one real beef chew given once a month, every month, helps keep your dog safe all year long. test dogs for infection prior to use. in rare cases digestive and neurological side effects have been reported. for more information contact your vet. get your dog out of hiding. ask your vet about heartgard plus. the vet's # 1 choice copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪ go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way."

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a manhunt was under way for quinn gray's kidnapper. two days after her release, quinn remembered something important. it was a new lead for investigators. >> the big thing that she says during the conversation is on sunday morning we were at publix right there in ponte vedra. >> quinn remembered the kidnapper bought food from a publix supermarket while she was in captivity and she remembered specifically what he purchased. >> that's where he bought the chicken, he bought a thing of paper. he bought chicken, you know. >> detectives went to the publix where a manager checked the store's computers and found a match for those items. 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. >> she gave us enough information to go find his

picture in publix and post it on the internet and post it in the news. >> witnesses describe the man to be in his mid-20s or early 30s and about 5'8" to 6' tall and now they need your help in hopes of solving this case. >> two days later, a 911 operator received a call. >> this is communications, how can i help you? >> i need to talk to somebody about -- i was buying something at publix and my picture appeared for some kind of woman's kidnapping or something like that. >> is that you? >> i'm actually on my way over to you guys. >> what's your name, sir? >> jasmin osmanovic. >> and within an hour, jasmin osmanovic ended up here at the sheriff's office. he didn't seem to have a care in the world, as he was considered the prime suspect in a kidnapping. sheriff's detective howard cole conducted the investigation.

>> let's just get this over with. >> what did you learn about jasmin osmanovic. >> he is a bosnian immigrant, comes from a very good family. was involved in the auto trade. has a college education. >> this guy was no gangster. >> absolutely not. >> but he did match quinn's description of her abductor. while he was not albanian, he did have an accent. >> i just want this nightmare to be over. >> but osmanovic said he had no idea why anyone would be looking for him. >> you had this on -- >> he freely signed a document waiving his right to remain silent. he also said he had an alibi for the night quinn gray was kidnapped. he was at a bar, and met a girl named stacy. >> okay, tell me about stacey. >> well, me and stacey met up. we just kind of had a two-night stand. >> but his story had more than a few holes. osmanovic wasn't sure of stacey's last name. he didn't have her phone number or her address. >> he's a character, what can i

tell you. he's like i did none of that. by the end of the day i'm walking out here. >> in addition, osmanovic said he saw quinn's picture in the media and he didn't know her. >> did you recognize her? >> sir, i mean she looks like a blonde chick. >> he didn't look at that picture and say i don't know this woman. >> sir, she doesn't look like anybody that i know. >> but the atmosphere quickly changed when cole brought in a photo of quinn gray. >> we've already been to the publix. you know why? because this woman brought us there. >> okay. so what did i do? >> she is saying that you abducted her. >> i abducted her? >> yes, sir.

i have more than enough evidence to charge you based on her word. >> and then the detective started to apply pressure to osmanovic. >> and for you to say that you don't even know her concerns me greatly, jasmin, concerns me greatly. because this woman, i can assure you, bud, knows you. >> okay. she says she knows me. >> absolutely. and i know she knows you. and i know you know her. >> sir, i told you everything that i have to tell you. >> you were at the hotel with her saturday and sunday night. >> with her? >> yes. and i'm not going on her word. i'm going on the clerk's word. >> detective cole told osmanovic 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 osmanovic with quinn in room 207. >> it's her word saying that i -- that i took her. >> what's the chances that you and her were staying in the same hotel in the same room at the same time and not knowing each other? what's the chances of that? >> listen, listen, listen. >> cole referred back to quinn's photo and tauntingly asked if this was the woman stacey that osmanovic claimed he was with the night quinn was abducted.

>> are you sure that's not stacey, bud? >> it's her word against mine. >> no, it's more than that now. >> how is it more? >> because i have independent people that identified you together. if this woman is not telling the truth, you need to be telling it, buddy. and if she is telling the truth, holy [ bleep ], you're in a whole lot of trouble. >> but osmanovic maintained he did nothing wrong. not only that, he said he could prove it. he had a secret recording that was going to clear his name. >> the battle to get hold of that recording and then what it reveals. >> when you heard that tape, what did you think? >> i'm a cop, 11 years, been on this planet 40. i blushed when i listened to the tape. dixie ultra plates? with two pounds of steak. in each hand. dixie ultra. stress tested so you can stress less at dinner.

jasmin osmanovic was suspect number one in the abduction of quinn gray.

>> you know what? i just have a feeling i'm in a bad movie right now. >> that's funny you should say that. because that's the way i've been feeling for the past eight days. >> 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. >> did she was i was from bosnia? >> no, albania. >> what? >> albania. >> do you know what an albanian looks like? a middle eastern. i mean come on. i mean that, that -- middle eastern, come on, give me a break. >> not only that, but osmanovic, a mechanic, said he thought he was being set up to be the fall

guy in this highly public case. >> he was concerned that because she has money and he doesn't that he's going to get the short end of the stick? >> yeah, he did say that. she's this rich woman from ponte vedra, i know how this goes. he expressed a great deal of concern about that. >> it seems like since obviously she's rich, it's gonna be my ass. >> she's what? >> since she's rich, it's gonna be my ass. >> i could careless what she is. >> in an interrogation that lasted eight hours, he tried to keep him talking. even when the suspect tested cole's patience. >> he thought he was smarter than us, he wanted to control the interview. truthfully he drove me crazy. >> you can search everything that i own. you're not going to find anything. because just like you said, you've got an iq and i've got one, too. >> he's walking around the interrogation room talking about his iq. do you hear that a lot from suspects? >> not that overtly of the it's common for most of them to think it. >> i'm smarter than her and her [ bleep ] husband or whatever. >> no doubt about it. but all's i'm telling you is -- >> and you know what? this is bs. this right here is bull [ bleep ]. and it's bull [ bleep ] because it's headed my way. >> oh, it is. >> eventually osmanovic relented. he admitted he may have known quinn gray. >> do you or do you not know -- >> i might have seen her. >> but osmanovic said that even

if he did know quinn, he could still prove his innocence. >> he kept talking in like code. and at one point i was like, you know, i don't understand what you're trying to tell me. just explain what you're trying to tell me. and then he's like you know how you cops, you do videos and this and that. i've got my own audio. >> 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 and gets him off the hook. >> yes, sir. >> and he won't give it to you. >> no. and it kind of blew my mind and i'm here telling him he's facing kidnapping, sexual battery, extortion. >> osmanovic insisted that secret recording he made would be his get out of jail free card. >> and i put a tape recorder with her voice and my voice in front of you, which i can go get. >> tell me about these tapes.

what's on the tape? >> sir, the tape -- the tape is not going nowhere out of my possession. which i hid way off the location. >> okay. why would you do that? >> why would what? >> you tape that? >> you remember the iq part? >> yeah. >> i might have been played for a fool, but i'm not an idiot. >> even under the threat of arrest, osmanovic refused to hand over the recording or give its location. >> it was just a war of attrition. and he knew that he was in it up to his eyeballs. >> the next day after osmanovic's interrogation was completed, detective cole received some crucial information about that recording.

>> we learned the existence of the tape from jasmin. the next morning we learned of its possible location. >> the location was osmanovic's home. his ex-girlfriend had gotten ahold of it and turned the recording over to osmanovic's sister. the sister then gave the tape to an attorney. >> we got a call from a defense attorney in jacksonville and he said i think we have something you might be interested in. >> finally, investigators had the tape. and when they pressed play -- >> this is room 207. >> they couldn't believe what they heard. that recording led sheriff david shore to call a press conference. he had a major announcement. >> as our investigation has developed, we arrested quinn gray. >> just what was on that tape? >> had quinn been the victim everyone thought? >> i'm starting to feel like i'm the suspect. when "dateline" continues. let's see what happens at the hotel. she's been staying at the hotel all night long.

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the secret recording that jasmin osmanovic had tantalizingly refused to turn over. but far from exonerating him, it offered plenty of evidence against him. >> it's compelling. it was the icing on the cake. it was the point of no return for quinn. it was the point of no return for osmanovic. >> on that recording, investigators heard a completely different story from what quinn gray had said happened during they are ordeal. >> we're staying at the emerson inn in room 207. >> the recording started on that monday when quinn was missing. jasmin narrated. >> she stayed the whole night by herself, she didn't want me to stay with her, so i'm going right now back to there. >> the recording continued with jasmin entering room 207. investigators were shocked as

they listened. because quinn gray didn't sound like a captive at all. in fact, she seemed to be in on the whole thing. >> i don't know what the new plan is. >> well, we'll see. >> just tell me you have one. >> yeah. they called the cops and everything, i mean -- but i've got a different plan. >> osmanovic appeared to mock massive manhunt that was under way to find quinn. >> if they just knew that you were here by yourself all night long, they would have a fit. [ laughing ] >> that's why i'm starting to feel like i'm the sinister one, doing this to my family. i wonder what my girls think right now. i wonder if they have any idea what's going on. >> we went to the hotel and talked to the people that worked at the hotel. they said she sat in the car while he was checking in. they were hand in hand. they said, in fact, he left the room many, many times during the

weekend. >> and remember those bruises and marks quinn said she got from being zip tied to a chair? the recording suggested quinn made them herself. >> i have to have a few more marks if i'm telling these stories, don't you think? >> are those from last night? >> yeah. that was from the rope. i was doing that. >> oh, you were doing that? >> yeah. >> you're a smart girl. >> i have to have a couple. they think that they don't have [ bleep ] -- >> 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. nothing like the rape quinn described. >> does reid get this much action? >> you know he doesn't. >> the sheriff said that from the get-go, he and fbi officials

were suspicious about this case, questioning if this was a legitimate abduction. but they had no option, they say, but to proceed as if quinn really had been taken hostage. in the end, the recording osmanovic made gave them all the proof they needed that this was not a kidnapping, but rather an elaborate hoax. the apparent real goal, the sheriff said, was to extort $50,000 from quinn's husband, reid. >> we all smelled a rat. i mean it just wasn't right. >> there were many things that just didn't add up. it started with the ransom note. it was in quinn's handwriting and unusually long. secondly, investigators never needed to ask for proof of life during the abduction. because the kidnappers regularly allowed quinn to talk on the phone. and finally, there was quinn's shocking debriefing, where she said she enjoyed having sex with the man she had described as her captor. >> and i acted like i enjoyed it. i'm not going to lie, sometimes i almost did. >> osmanovic would later say that he and quinn met by chance at a gas station just weeks earlier.

a conversation started and an affair soon blossomed. something that was strongly suggested by the recording. >> all right, you know i'm crazy about you. >> what? >> i'm crazy about you. >> quinn and osmanovic 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. >> do i have your word? >> what? >> whatever story we come up with, you stick to it. >> we both have to stick to the same story. >> but clearly osmanovic wasn't convinced quinn would stick to their story. >> do 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? >> or it was her idea and i just went along for the ride. it was probably a smart thing to do because it revealed to us in no uncertain terms that quinn gray was not a victim. >> put your hands in front of you. >> jasmin osmanovic was arrested for extortion. and before the sheriff publicly announced quinn's arrest, he had a heart-to-heart talk with her husband. >> tough conversation for you to have. >> yeah. your spouse made this thing up and she had relations with a guy that were consensual, we know it was consensual because we have a

tape recording and it's crystal clear. how do you process that information. >> one day after osmanovic's arrest, quinn gray was placed in custody. >> we arrested quinn gray and charged her with extortion. this was an extortion attempt from the beginning. it was not a kidnapping. >> quinn pleaded not guilty. after her arrest, she was defiant. >> if i wanted $50,000, all i would do is take it out of the bank account. >> did you have a sexual relationship with osmanovic? >> no, i did not. i did not know him. >> why would someone make it up? >> you wouldn't make it up because it's the truth. >> i'm talking about him. why would he make this up? >> because he's a criminal and came in and tried to extort $50,000 from me. >> and in another shocking twist, reid gray decided to stand by his wife. >> 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. >> her husband seemed to be standing by quinn. 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 escapade? quinn gray had pleaded not

quinn gray had pleaded not guilty to charges she tried to extort $50,000 from her husband in an elaborate kidnapping hoax. but even though investigators considered reid gray as a victim, to the surprise of many, he decided to stand by his wife. two months after her arrest, reid even appeared on the "today" show and offered total support for quinn. >> roller coaster of emotion, from the onset. there are times when you sit in front of the fbi and they present you evidence that 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 that she was kidnapped. >> quinn's mom also stood firmly behind her daughter, saying jasmin osmanovic was to blame, not quinn. >> i believe she was just manipulated and her mind snapped. >> you believe she's telling the truth? >> absolutely. >> the fbi and the sheriff do not. >> well, they don't understand what can happen to a person who has a mental illness. >> gail sikes says her daughter suffers from bipolar disorder, a form of mental illness marked by

both manic highs and deep depressions. >> 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 oit out of hazelton. >> quinn had only recently been released from the hazelton clinic, where she had undergone treatment for alcohol abuse. her mom thinks once quinn stopped self medicating with alcohol, her bipolar disorder suddenly emerged. on the "today" show, reid said quinn's family had a history of bipolar disorder. >> i know there's definitely something not right, because that's not the wife that i know. >> quinn's mom felt her daughter had a strong defense. she says that on the tape, osmanovic says he will release quinn. it's one of the few places on the tape where he sounds like her captor and not her lover. >> i can release you tonight, you go home, which i promised from day one, right? >> yeah. >> 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 osmanovic. >> 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. >> with the guy who had just brutally abducted her? >> in her mental state, yes. i believe that is exactly what happened to her.

>> that tape doesn't make her sound like a victim. >> well, you have to think it through a little bit more carefully. she thought this man is going to save my life. and is going to restore me to my family. >> quinn's mom also points out that investigators were never able to document the supposed affair between quinn and osmanovic. investigators admit they couldn't find a shred of evidence that the two had any relationship before that labor day weekend. >> 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, it does and it doesn't. we knew that their encounter was consensual. >> you can tell that from the tape? >> yes. regardless of when the relationship started, they knew each other and they were involved with each other. >> but the prosecutor in the

case, jennifer dutton, says her office was never shown any proof that quinn suffers from a mental illness. have you seen anything toll indicate quinn was diagnosed as bipolar before that weekend? >> 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. >> in january of 2010, four months after the incident, jasmin osmanovic pleaded guilty to extortion. in court appearances, the formerly cock, perhaps even arrogant mechanic, now appeared looking like a man who's been had. >> because he's a criminal. >> but quinn gray decided to continue her fight. the state of florida prepared its case against the wealthy mom. >> the strength 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 when osmanovic made trips into various businesses. >> all proving that she could have walked away if she wanted to, could have escaped, therefore, it wasn't a real kidnapping? >> correct. >> what was the truth? at one point reid gray arranged

a private lie detector test for his wife. according to assistant state attorney dutton, the results were not what he expected. >> i've been provided records that she did not pass that polygraph. she was deceptive. i believe at some point he also indicated he eventually listened to that tape, which he had not listened to it previously. >> does reid get this much action? >> you know he doesn't. >> he's not a dumb man, he's a smart man, he's a successful businessman. he was keblth connecting the dots, too. >> reid gray eventually changed his mind and with it, his support for his wife. in august of 2010, he was granted a divorce and now shares custody of the couple's daughters. reid did not want to be interviewed by "dateline," 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. in february of 2011, she pleaded no contest to extortion. it was something her mom encouraged. >> i didn't want a jury to find her guilty and send her to prison. >> even though a no contest plea is basically admitting your guilt? >> i understand, but at least she would not have to go to prison. >> quinn sent us a statement saying she was abducted at gunpoint and never knew osmanovic, but added i do not deny all forms of responsibility for things that occurred after the abduction. and, she says, because of her mental state at the time, her past experiences and her fresh recovery from alcoholism, osmanovic manipulated by every thought and completely altered my belief system about my life. 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. quinn gray and jasmin osmanovic were both sentenced to time in jail, given probation and ordered to repay a total of $86,000 in overtime costs that were run up by all of the law enforcement personnel who worked that weekend trying to find quinn. both declined to be interviewed. both are now free. and since our report first aired, quinn and her ex-husband have separately remarried. >> what's in this for quinn gray? >> i don't know. jail, given probation and ordered to repay a total of $86,000 in overtime costs that were run up by all of the law enforcement personnel who worked that weekend trying to find quinn. both declined to be interviewed. both are now free. and since our report first aired, quinn and her ex-husband have separately remarried. >> 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. >> was it a call for help? was it a psychological call for help? i don't know the answer to that. was it a desperate act to get attention? i don't know the answer to that. i can tell you, she sure picked a colorful way to do it. >> it's hard to pull off a fake kidnapping, it just is. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thanks for watching. /s ♪ welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. we are live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, critical mass. thought our politics were explosive before? try replacing the swing vote on the supreme court. we'll talk about the wild conjecture and what's actually about to happen. at the same time, democrats take stock after a top member of leadership is upset in new york. ring