keith morrison (voiceover): jayne valseca was desperate to get the ransom paid

and free her husband. as directed, she gave the satchel packed with cash to the brothers, dropped them at a designated hotel in mexico city, and returned to san miguel. well, the brothers waited with the bag of money two days, and then, finally, an email with instructions. wear summer clothes, though it was winter. mark a letter t on their car with duct tape. bring no weapons, no cell phones. the address was a fried chicken place where they found a note taped to a payphone more directions. and on it went, a macabre scavenger hunt from restaurant to convenience store to restaurant, each stop with a note on a payphone and a map to the next location. for hours, they drove the giant city. keith morrison: all of these steps had to be followed to make sure that nobody was following these guys, to make sure that they were well-identified, that they were-- a typical kind of hand-off. jayne rager valseca: so they followed the steps. we started at 5:00 in the afternoon,

and from what i understand, they didn't get the final message until about 1:00 in the morning. wow. in the final note, on the inside, the note said, this is a photograph. make sure that the person that meets you at the next destination has the missing piece. keith morrison (voiceover): it was the proof of life photo, with a hole where eduardo's face should be. he was instructed to go down a dark alley at a specific spot and meet this person who would have the other piece of the photograph. keith morrison (voiceover): now, the brothers understood it was at an end, and they followed the kidnappers directions with absolute precision. there were eyes on them. they knew it. they pulled up to the end of an alley as they'd been ordered. one of the brothers picked up the bag of money, opened the door, got out of the car, walked down the alley. and to the remaining brother's horror, disappeared. [dog barking] a strange car hovered nearby as if to guard the exchange.

it was a police car. at the valseca ranch house in san miguel de allende, jayne and the federal agent huddled around the dining room table and waited. hours passed, an eternity. the tension in the room became unbearable. and then, finally, one of the two brothers jayne had sent to drop the ransom made contact. he was still sitting in his car at the mouth of that dark road. he was terrified. finally, the afi agent told the younger brother of the two, who had gotten left behind, to please go back to the hotel room and stay by the phone. keith morrison (voiceover): the rest of that night and all the next day, jayne, the afi agent, and the young man in the hotel room in mexico city watched the phone, willing it to ring. it did not. it took about 24 hours, and then i got an email. it said, in a cynical way, we have the person you sent with the money. we've counted the money. it's all there in unmarked bills as we had requested.

keith morrison (voiceover): but now, said the kidnappers, now they were holding jayne's employee, and would keep holding him, so that when they released eduardo, he and jayne would have to cough up even more money to get that man back. keith morrison: oh, wait a minute. at that point, now, you've got no employee, you've got no husband, you've got no money. but that wasn't enough for them. these people not only wantseg that you can get a loan for, everything that you can borrow. they want to take-- they want to wipe you out. keith morrison (voiceover): no one, not even the seasoned federal afi agent, predicted the kidnappers would take the money and the man who delivered it. that agent was by now practically a member of the family. he'd befriended the employees chosen to go to mexico city with the money. he'd been the cool one who kept jayne going through her months of crisis, but now, he left the room stunned. my stepson came into the house shortly after. he found our afi agent crying in the back alley.

he had always been very professional, very detached from emotion. he obviously didn't see it coming, and i don't think that he would have intentionally ever sent them into harm's way. so it was very, very hard. keith morrison (voiceover): they had failed. had they killed him after all? and if not, where was he? the kidnappers promised eduardo's release 48 hours after the drop, and there was no word, no call. nothing to suggest the kidnappers had or would make good on their claim. and here at the ranch, there was a family to care for. life had to go on. two days after the ransom drop in a sad, distracted ceremony, they lit candles on a cake, and marked fernando's 13th birthday. fernando valseca: the only thing i wished for was if my dad's alive, please just bring him back. keith morrison (voiceover): and then, the rest of the day, they tried to resume something like a routine, routine in limbo, forced normalcy.

there were small teeth to brush, bedtime stories to read. the next morning, her heart heavy, jayne willed herself out of bed, got breakfast for the kids. jayne rager valseca: as i'm clearing the dishes, someone walked by, it was very quick, and it was someone who looked very thin and frail and very, very old and had a fluorescent yellow baseball cap on, dark clothing. keith morrison (voiceover): now, what? she knew the kidnappers had been watching the house. was this one of them here with some fresh horror? coming up-- my mom looks out there, and she walks over to the window and looks closer. keith morrison (voiceover): --who was that quiet stranger? face-to-face with a ghost. jayne rager valseca: i pulled him into me, and put my arms around him, and he just felt so cold. it was literally as if he was already dead. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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it was her 16th so ywinter in mexico.pain. eduardo had been gone seven and a half months. she'd sold what she could, sent the money, played her hand, and still didn't know. had they murdered the love of her life after all? it was morning in the kitchen. jayne stared out the back door of the ranch house in san miguel, and that's when she saw it. there was a skeleton out there, a walking dead man.

my mom looks out there, and she walks over to the window and looks closer. keith morrison (voiceover): it took a moment to register. it was eduardo. she opened the door. his face was completely expressionless, and his arms were by his sides. i pulled him into me, and put my arms around him, and he just felt so cold. it was literally as if he was already dead. he didn't even have the energy to raise his arms to embrace me, and i just started kissing him all over his cheeks. he could barely talk, he just whispered, and told me, i love you so much. keith morrison (voiceover): it was as if his freedom had come at the last possible moment before death. and there by the door, as she held him in her arms, he begged her for her special banana pancakes. jayne rager valseca: he said when i was trying to dream about what it could be like coming back, if i ever was able to, i could always see you standing there at the stove, and see you

from the back making my food. keith morrison (voiceover): it was the morning after fernando made his wish over his birthday cake for this very thing to happen. keith morrison: that's some birthday gift. just grateful. best birthday gift of my life, got my dad back. i just sprinted down the hallway, and i saw him in the kitchen kneeling down like this with his arms open, and i gave him a hug. and the first thing that i noticed was touching his bones-- skin and bones, yeah. and he was pale, and he looked dead, but conscious. i remember, i didn't believe that that was my dad. i thought my mom hired an actor to play my dad. keith morrison (voiceover): the old eduardo crept back into that cadaverous body surrounded by his children, his plates of food, and the woman who fought for him every minute of those months, who cried for him, who saved his life. always jayne.

jayne rager valseca: he followed me around a lot. he wouldn't let me out of his sight, not even to use the restroom. he wanted to follow me everywhere. keith morrison (voiceover): and here he was, restored. eduardo valseca: when my kids first saw me and my wife, they say i have no expression in my face. at that moment, i hadn't seen myself in a mirror for seven and a half months, so i didn't know how i looked like. i didn't know if i had expression. keith morrison (voiceover): i'm living extra hours now, he told us. but in those first hours of freedom, he found it hard to stand. he could barely walk. he had lost half his body weight, weighed barely 80 pounds, and could not believe how truly awful he looked. eduardo valseca: the first time that i saw myself against a mirror and i lifted my t-shirt, i pulled it back on immediately. i couldn't believe i looked like pure bones and skin.

i just-- it was too much. keith morrison (voiceover): of course, given what he'd been through, he probably shouldn't have survived at all. the doctor who finally examined him noted late-stage severe starvation, liver damage, concussion, three broken ribs, and severe stomach infections. he hobbled around, bent and brittle, had to be supported up or down the stairs. eduardo valseca: it's like they sucked the life out of me. they just took everything away from me. dead, in a way. alive, but dead. exactly, exactly. keith morrison (voiceover): and yet, within those first hours and days of freedom-- he was already laughing, and it was as if drip by drip, life was coming back into this skeleton. kind of like the first day of the rest of your life, isn't it? completely. absolutely. it was a new life in a big way, and i was just so thrilled that i actually-- it felt like a miracle, after so much, to be able to have him there.

keith morrison (voiceover): and then, she'd see a cloud on his face or sense the torment in his dreams at night. he'd suddenly be haunted, again. eduardo valseca: i have these flashbacks of i'm not sure if i'm dreaming, and is this true, that i'm out or it's just a reflection of my thoughts. i would wake up early every morning, and go check that that wasn't a dream. i'd wake up-- - still there. fernando valseca: yeah. i'd run up to his room, and knock, and see him get up. ok, he's back. keith morrison (voiceover): but they all knew, their living nightmare wasn't over. the kidnappers still held their employee, were still threatening the whole family with death. and eduardo needed to tell jayne, as he is about to tell us, about his astonishing ordeal. coming up-- keith morrison: this is unbelievable. how do you keep your sanity? keith morrison (voiceover): --more than seven months in hell. since the first minute, that's the only thing i ever saw, just that box.

keith morrison (voiceover): exactly what had he endured? i thought this is it, he's going to shoot me, and then i start hearing these sounds and i didn't know what he was going to do. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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eduardo valseca is a charming and outgoing man-- hi, happy new year. do you have a message for us in the year 2000? keith morrison (voiceover): --with a ready laugh, an infectious zest for life. how, we wondered, given what you're about to hear,

is that still possible? he calls it the box. keith morrison: so this is exactly the same size. eduardo valseca: exactly. keith morrison (voiceover): we built replica, a precise copy of the miserable container in which eduardo was held for seven and one half months. here's where the air goes in. here's where it's pumped out. keith morrison: gee. i wouldn't fit in this damn thing. eduardo valseca: no, no, no, no. keith morrison (voiceover): just like the original, the inside surfaces are covered in dark, abrasive rug, a single bulb in the ceiling, an electronic eye watching. the box is only slightly wider than our own shoulders, barely long enough to lie down in. well, this is unbelievable. how do you keep your sanity? when i first arrived here, i repeat myself over and over and over, calm your mind down. keith morrison (voiceover): when he first came here, that was the violent ambush in the jeep outside the school,

then the bloody semi-conscious hooded ride that followed, a blind hustle into a building, up a stairwell on someone's shoulder, the stripping of all his clothes, the sudden confinement in a box. eduardo valseca: since the first minute, that's the only thing i ever saw, just that box. keith morrison (voiceover): then, the vicious daily beatings and the rules. rule one, no talking ever. communication was by handwritten note. the kidnappers would signal when they wanted to enter the box. always twice, always like that. [knock twice] keith morrison: and that was your signal to do what? eduardo valseca: to put a pillowcase over my head, and immediately-- keith morrison: always. eduardo valseca: --go like i am right now and put my head against the wall. keith morrison: so you never see their faces never? eduardo valseca: never, ever, ever. keith morrison (voiceover): they watched him on the webcam, kept him naked, fed him an occasional piece of fruit or a salad. a small bucket served as his toilet. it was rarely emptied. his kidnappers kept the light burning day and night,

blasted the inside of the box with high volume music. [music playing] i say please, just turn off the music just once, please. they say if we turn off the music and you're able to hear what we talk about, then we have to kill you. keith morrison: how loud was this music? eduardo valseca: very loud, to the point that i lost 15% of my hearing on the right side. keith morrison (voiceover): the beatings, said eduardo, intensified each time he was ordered to write jayne a new letter begging her to pay. he broke my bones and all that just kicking me. i couldn't feel the shape of my head anymore. it was full of bumps. keith morrison (voiceover): he secretly marked off the passing days on saved scraps of paper. slowly, he starved. if they gave him a bit of chicken, he'd eat the bone, as well. an egg? he'd eat the shell. and the tortures intensified. the kidnappers sent him notes telling him jayne didn't care about him, had moved another man into the ranch

to live with her. and in the endless hours of coffin-like solitude, doubts ate at his mind. eduardo valseca: i start feeling mixed feelings. i thought maybe she's feeling that they're going to kill me anyway, and they're going to take the little bit of money that we had. keith morrison (voiceover): they forced him to write those accusing letters to jayne, he said. and when she still didn't pay, they gave him a note announcing they would shoot him. they came in. they covered my face. they handcuffed me. they put me face down on the floor. so they put a gun right on my leg, and they shot me right there. and the pain is tremendous. it's like a bomb coming from the inside of your body out. keith morrison (voiceover): then, two weeks later, again the announcement in advance, you will be shot. and now, he shot me in the left arm right here, and again he didn't want to shoot the bone,

so it went from here and it came out on the other side. i was not afraid of dying because i couldn't take it anymore. if i had had a piece of glass or if i had had anything, i would have killed myself. keith morrison (voiceover): and so, he thought of home, of his wife's banana pancakes. he imagined the faces of his children. i will hear the voice of my kids. i will hear fernando saying dad, i miss you. and i will see emiliano so confused, like he couldn't comprehend why i'm not there at night to tell them bed night stories every night. and i will miss nayah, seeing those beautiful green eyes. keith morrison (voiceover): he was in his box for a total of 225 days, and then, one morning-- eduardo valseca: he put me against this wall with the handcuffs, and i thought, this is it. he's going to shoot me.

[deep breathing] that was it. and then, i started hearing these sounds, and i didn't know what he was going to do. keith morrison (voiceover): but they didn't shoot him. instead, they shaved him, and dressed him, and took the proof of life photo jayne was about to find in her email. and then, they tied the hood back on his head, and put him in a car, and brought him here. they ordered, face the wall. it was a cemetery wall. to die? a voice behind him said, start counting. eduardo valseca: so i start counting from one to 200 right here. and-- did you get all the way to 200? yes, absolutely. oh, i was so scared. i didn't want to screw it up. keith morrison (voiceover): and then, he turned around, and they were gone. keith morrison: you had been in that box all that time,

and here you are standing all alone in the middle of the night under the sky. what was that like? eduardo valseca: the first time in seven and a half months that i could feel the wind, and i could move my legs, and just move away from the wall. and it felt really like walking in a different planet. keith morrison (voiceover): his legs were so weak, he stumbled and fell as he hobbled to a nearby road. he felt in his pocket, a few pesos in there. he had no idea where he was. eduardo valseca: there was an old man already sitting there waiting for the bus from mexico city, and i told him what i was going, [speaking spanish] and he told me this is the right bus. keith morrison (voiceover): which is how, early that morning, eduardo valseca arrived at his own back door, and asked his wife to make banana pancakes. unmitigated joy and terror. terror? oh, yes. it wasn't over.

i couldn't even relish in the moment of having my husband back because we were still dealing with these people. keith morrison (voiceover): now remember, the kidnappers were holding jayne and eduardo's employee, the man who'd volunteered to deliver the ransom and for his trouble was snatched at the drop site. so now, a new round of email demands began arriving. jayne rager valseca: we started negotiating. it was like the whole thing all over, again. keith morrison (voiceover): but this time, the kidnappers promised to kill not just the employee, but the whole family, all of them. so you're still terrified. i just couldn't believe it wasn't over. keith morrison (voiceover): the federal police asked them to go to mexico city to be debriefed by senior officials, but they weren't prepared, how could they be, for what they'd hear there. coming up, the entire family suddenly in danger, again. i lost my best friends. i lost my home. fernando valseca: everything changed from one day

to another, everything, every single thing that you could imagine. it's literally two different lives. keith morrison (voiceover): and the cruelest setback of all. that was the worst thing in my life, more than the kidnapping. no, that was terrible. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. the freestyle libre 3 plus sensor tracks your glucose in real time, and over time it can help lower your a1c. ♪♪ this is progress. learn more and try for free at freestylelibre.us ♪♪ feeling ughh from a backed up gut? ughh. miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go. free your gut and your mood will follow. for 8 grams of fiber,

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>> i'm francis rivera with the hours top story. the 45 begin. once the clock starts at midnight, fireworks and relations of auld lang syne rang out throughout new york's times square for crowds gathered to catch the famous ball drop. before thousands flocked to the new york tradition, preparations were underway to secure the ball. it's adorned with 2688 waterford crystal triangles to the top of times square. here at msnbc, we're wishing you all a happy new year. new y listened very carefully while jayne and eduardo told

their terrifying story, but what the officials said in response was shocking and final. you must leave the country now, they were told, for your safety. their guard hustled them back to the ranch, about 48 hours to prepare. keith morrison: and then, in a moment, it was over. they gathered what they could carry, left behind clothes and dolls and donkeys and dogs and bunny rabbits, and they left, left forever. the kidnappers had left eduardo alive, if barely, but paradise? paradise was lost. i lost my best friends. i lost my home. i lost everything that i knew about life just like that, gone. keith morrison (voiceover): they came to america to jayne's mother's place to start all over, again.

nayah valseca: i wanted change after that happened. i wanted a new environment, and i wanted change. we needed a reset button after everything. fernando valseca: everything changed from one day to another, everything every single thing that you could imagine. it's literally two different lives. keith morrison (voiceover): that kidnapped employee, by the way? the kidnappers simply released him nearly three months later. no ransom at all. the federal police continued to maintain that the kidnapping was the work of a marxist revolution party called the epr, but there were no arrests. there were no answers. and gradually, the memory of their terror was mixed with nostalgia for the life they'd left behind, which is, in part, why a year and a half after eduardo's release, he and jayne decided to return with us to their beloved ranch. but it had to be secret, eduardo told us. no one could know they were coming. because you never know who is informing these people--

of course --because they knew everything about the kids. they knew everything about us. so anybody could be there telling them, here, they're back. keith morrison (voiceover): bodyguards would come along too, a strange accessory now given what a free and happy place the ranch used to be. keith morrison: that first night, though, in your old bed in the house, was that a little weird getting back into that? oh, it was great. i mean, really. well, and i slept well knowing that we had bodyguards. keith morrison (voiceover): it was just as they left it. their clothes still filled the closets. family portraits decorated their rooms. even the dogs greeted them as if their forced departure had been yesterday. ok. keith morrison (voiceover): there was a happy reunion at the school jayne helped found. [muffled chatter] keith morrison (voiceover): they led her around the campus to show off the progress they'd made in her absence. jayne rager valseca: wow. it looks amazing.

keith morrison (voiceover): how painful that absence had been. [crying] their trip back to the ranch coincided with eduardo's 61st birthday, so jayne hastily organized a fiesta with only close and trusted friends. and they, in a magic evening, were transported back into the world they left behind, a world they loved. [non-english singing] eduardo valseca: it was just wonderful. for jayne and i, it was just like 100% therapy. to go back to the place and feel happy about it and feel safe about it, it was fantastic. keith morrison (voiceover): the unease, if that's what it was that accompanied jayne and eduardo back to their ranch in san miguel, had vanished. this was home, and it was tugging hard, come back. and then-- keith morrison: what just happened?

just now, what happened? - ok. well, eduardo came through the door with the lawyer, and told me that now the entire train has been destroyed on the inside. it's been ransacked. keith morrison (voiceover): it was the pullman car, eduardo's inheritance from his famous father, the train in which he'd wooed jayne as they fell in love. he brought it to the ranch, a sort of magic shrine to their love and his past. someone while they were right here at the ranch had broken in, smashed it up. they were being watched. it felt like a warning. and the police? we called them. they said they couldn't come because they didn't have gasoline. imagine the answer for a police force to say that they cannot go to the ranch because there is not enough for gasoline. keith morrison (voiceover): and quite suddenly, they knew. it was over. jayne rager valseca: i'm just feeling like i'm so overwhelmed with the situation that we're living in in mexico today that i just can't stand it. i just cannot bear it anymore. i want to get far away from here.

keith morrison (voiceover): so eduardo said goodbye to his native land. jayne was his country now, the woman he saw at the phone booth all those years ago whom he wooed on his train car, who made a family, and saved his life, who, as he sat crumpled in his box, kept him alive and in love. eduardo valseca: i always knew love is important, but never as important as i know now. so you learn, it changes your life forever, for sure. keith morrison (voiceover): but it does not make life fair. we have to tell you, though it is difficult to do so, that jayne valseca's breast cancer returned full force, and four years after she fought for and won eduardo's freedom, she died. keith morrison: that had to be a dark time for you, a terrible time. it was horrible. keith morrison: did you at any point-- that was the worst thing in my life, more than the kidnapping. no, that was terrible.

it was definitely the most difficult time of my life, losing that woman. yeah. she was a hero. she was a badass. yeah, she was amazing. i look at her as like the person i want to become one day. i'm very lucky to have had a woman like that as a mother. very lucky. keith morrison (voiceover): now, her presence hovers over everything, but they are realists. she is gone. nothing they can do, so did it matter anymore, finding out who kidnapped and tortured eduardo all those 225 days or catching whoever it was? fernando valseca: i put that away. i wasn't even thinking of it. of course, i wanted justice, but i didn't-- but you accept that you probably will never get it. yeah, exactly. i was pissed off, and i was sick and tired of suffering out there, that i was happy to be back here,

and all i wanted to do is not think about what happened. keith morrison: did you at some point along the way think i'm never going to find out who did this to me, who did this to us, and i'll just give up? after time went by and i know these guys, the police and the government and all of that, they will never call me back, and they didn't care about it, i totally lost hope. keith morrison (voiceover): and then, out of the blue, total fluke, something amazing happened all because of one nervous cab driver, and a severed finger, and a harrowing tale. coming up-- eduardo valseca: and he says they grabbed a very dangerous kidnapper that we really seriously think that is the same guy that grabbed you. keith morrison (voiceover): after all these years, an arrest, and could it be? was this his prison? she's certain that when the time i was captured,

he owned this house, and nobody else was living here, so that's a great possibility that-- sure. --they kept me here. wow. it really, really looks like this is the place. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. speaker: who's coming in the driveway? speaker: dad. dad, we missed you. daddy, hi. speaker: goodness. my daughter is being treated for leukemia.

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here it was from the state attorney general, a months-long kidnapping solved with an arrest. man: the kidnappers demanded large ransoms that must be paid in us dollars. keith morrison: but was this the revolutionary group eduardo had been told about again and again? no. this was a chilean national, a resident of san miguel. and his kidnapping business appeared to be freelance for the money. the kidnapper had been charged with abducting this resident of san miguel. her finger was cut off during her ordeal. eduardo, now living in a washington dc suburb, heard of the arrest from a mexican newspaper reporter. [beep] reporter: hello, eduardo. [inaudible] eduardo valseca: he says, i work for reporter. and i don't know if you are aware. they grabbed, in san miguel, a very dangerous kidnapper that we really, seriously think that is the same guy

that grabbed you. keith morrison: wait, his kidnapper? now eduardo had to know. and so did we. was it true? so november 2019, more than a decade since he'd been taken, we took him with us to san miguel to find an answer that suddenly mattered a great deal indeed. reporters veronica espinoza and ana luz solis report extensively on the kidnappings in san miguel. how many kidnappings were there in san miguel in the last 10 years? 10 kidnappings that i know of. keith morrison: and in every case, naked in a box, the starvation, the extortion methods all were the same. and bit by bit, this peaceful and prosperous colonial town became fearful. the people don't have the same trust they once had in this paradise.

keith morrison: but now, by all appearances, they got him, the person behind it all. there were a series of statements made by federal authorities and from the state attorney general's office that said that he was in fact the leader of all these kidnappings, including eduardo's. keith morrison: and after he was caught, the kidnappings stopped. ana luz took us to the place the kidnapper was apprehended, told the story of the cabbie who was paid 10 times the fare to deliver a package that felt disturbing. and when he felt the package, it was like something really strange in there. inside was the finger of the kidnapped woman and a ransom letter. but the cabbie could see the man who gave him the package and the money was tailing him. taxi came along and, what, just stopped up here or something? right where you see that car coming. yeah. that's where he came. keith morrison: the cabbie was terrified. hurry, he begged the police. the police told him just pull up like you

were putting gas in the car. and that's when they came in. the cops arrested the man but had no idea yet who he was. and while they figured it out, that man made a phone call to this modern suburban apartment on the outskirts of san miguel. eduardo valseca: nancy was kept three months in this house. right in a resident-- i mean, a very suburban-looking place, right? - right. keith morrison: where for months, the kidnapper and his confederates had been holding that french-american woman, naked, starving, a wooden box for a cell. the details so similar to eduardo's case. so they had the wood around. and they had sort of like plastic that kills this sound, sort of like a-- how do you call that, like a-- soundproofing material. soundproofing material so she could scream and not be heard. that's right. keith morrison: this is a little bit changed from you. either they got some experience or it's different people. well, the different-- no, no, no. i think it's the same people. the only thing is that the difference

is the location where i was in the middle of nowhere. and you have to have proofing sound because you have neighbors all over the place. keith morrison: and the kidnappers phone call from the gas station was to his confederate in there. [speaking spanish] so the criminal said, tell carlos to clean the box. ah. [speaking spanish] so one hour later after that call. nancy was totally walking by herself. they just let her go? they just let her go. keith morrison: then ana luz took us farther out beyond the suburbs to this brightly-colored country house surrounded by acres and acres of privacy. here, she said, was where the kidnapper lived a solidly middle-class life. and if i close my eyes when we were coming on the car ride now on the way here, it's very similar of what i felt. the cobblestones-- the cobblestones and all that. keith morrison: as we approached, eduardo was tense.

was this where he was held all those 7 and 1/2 months a decade ago? she's certain. when the time i was captured, he owned this house. and nobody else was living here. so that's a great possibility that they kept me here. i can recognize-- wow, it really, really looks like this is the place, my friend. keith morrison: wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. this is incredible. keith morrison: the property is derelict, has been long abandoned. eduardo scoured the floor plan based on sounds he heard in captivity. what's it like to be in here knowing that it could be the place? it will feel like finding a treasure because just knowing that these guys kept me here and all that opens another level in my mind. and this is the place. but you know, i'm not 100% sure. and i'm going to tell you why. because after a few months, they changed me to another box.

and what i remember, very clearly, is that we walk on the same second floor for a while. so this is pretty small. this is very small. wow keith morrison: and then we saw it. look at this. lying in the dust of this abandoned place-- look at this. it's a picture of him and his wife. this is a picture of the kidnapper? eduardo valseca: that's right. that's the main guy. we found on the floor an electric bill with his name on. and that's him and his wife, kissing her. keith morrison: the words that go with these grainy pictures, the name, the identity, the person we're like a knife in the heart, a betrayal like no other. coming up. i don't even want to look at their faces. keith morrison: a heart-stopping realization, the man who kidnapped eduardo was very close to home. that's too much to digest.

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"popular! you're gonna be pop-uuuu-larrr!" can you do defying gravity?! yeah, get my harness. buy one line of unlimited, get one free for a year with xfinity mobile. and see “wicked,” in theaters now. eduardo valseca: there's-- i think this is like a laundry room. keith morrison: there are some shocks, some betrayals almost beyond describing that can suck out faith in humanity, in trust. look at him. look at him. keith morrison: like this photo of what looks like a loving husband. his name is raul escobar. and he is a kidnapper.

that was really incredible. keith morrison: the man who tortured, starved shot, cut off his victim's finger was, to many who knew him, charming, a good friend, a willing helper, the life of any party, got married in the beach house of his last victim. i was in shock. keith morrison: and the connection between escobar and eduardo may maybe even more painful. three years before eduardo's kidnapping, escobar enrolled his son in the waldorf school, eventually became a school trustee. it was the very school jayne valseca built on their ranch. and there, he had access to personal information about eduardo's family and a perfect vantage point to watch jayne as she negotiated to win her husband's freedom. but it got even worse. not only for that, but he was married to a woman from chile. and she had a son. and the son was dating my granddaughter.

keith morrison: here they are. years after eduardo's release, this is the kidnapper's stepson with eduardo's granddaughter. eduardo valseca: she really loved the whole entire family. so to know that this is the guy that destroyed our family and then we have to leave our country and all that because-- that's too much to digest. do you see his service on the pta and involvement in the school as being a cover for his criminal activity? oh, without a doubt. the answer of that is very simple. he looked like a wonderful father, a wonderful husband, caring and all that. keith morrison: escobar received 60 years for his last kidnapping, the woman whose finger he severed. he has since been transferred to a prison in chile to serve 18 years for his involvement in a separate crime there. after that, he'll return to mexico to serve out the remainder of his 60-year sentence,

according to authorities. the evidence links him to many if not all the san miguel kidnappings, including eduardo's. several of those who were also touched by the trauma at one point agreed that perhaps they would like to talk to us, tell the story, some of them held even longer than eduardo. but when it came time, no. they did not want to appear on camera. they're afraid. the reason? the kidnapper's known accomplices fled the country after his arrest. but maybe there were more. no one knows for sure. some say they've moved on to another part of mexico. and escobar, his sentence is very long. but-- do you have any hope at all that the authorities will try to investigate him for your kidnapping and the other kidnapping?

from 1 to 10, zero. i know the authorities don't give a damn. keith morrison: the federal government won't comment on potential prosecution of escobar for the other san miguel kidnapping. but as for the valseca children-- i don't even want to look at their faces. i don't want anything to do with them. i want them to-- rot in jail for the rest of his life. yeah. i wish i could say that i forgive and be as big as my mom and my father are. but it's just not the case. keith morrison: but they have moved on, relocated to colorado. and they've inherited from their parents a stubborn refusal to live in the past. i just try to stay grateful every single second that i get up in the morning and know that i'm ok and that i have these people in my life. i mean, after all the hell that we went through together and all the pain, it has made us unbreakable.

well, you went through it together. exactly. and we're finally settling into it i feel like. yeah. keith morrison: the lovely. ranch house outside san miguel was sold to developers who started digging away on 16 new home sites here. what's it like to see your place carved up this way and changed in these significant ways? a lot of emotions for sure. i don't see myself back here again at all. so i tried not to be emotional about it and not to think so much about it because it's just painful. keith morrison: and so is this. the waldorf school has left of valseca ranch. the classrooms and playgrounds, jayne's dream are abandoned, derelict. eduardo valseca: took forever to do these things, slowly, little by little. i planted those big trees now. and now they're big. yeah.

so that tells me, wow, i'm really getting old. [laughter] yeah, the beautiful memories. i can't just feel sadness in my heart, you know. life is too short. keith morrison: so you don't let the sadness in? eduardo valseca: no. you have to find excuses for being happy every day instead of bringing excuses not to be happy. that might be the secret of life. yeah. [music playing] [dramatic music playing] (crying) i've had so many nightmares about the attack. and i remember, like, when is this going to end? like, just make it stop. mary higgins: there was a home invasion. i'm yelling at mom. and i can see her just get yanked back by her hair.