- did we all score 100? we're real estate agents! [laughter, cheers, and applause] abducted from her beach front home. her husband horrified. >> my wife made a phone call to >> her mother terrified. >> it's your worse nightmare imagining what's happening to your child. >> a note with big demands left by mist ear kidnappers who seemed to know all, see all. >> they're watching the house. >> they're watching the house. >> and then the victim herself called. >> her mom, jumping into 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? >> that's where everything went wrong. >> 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 of 11 years. i blushed when i listened to the tape. >> a story with more twists and turns than the florida roads they raced along trying to find this missing mom. >> this case was not going turn out like a lot of people assumed. >> josh mankiewicz with "ransom." ♪ ♪ ♪ >> thanks for joining us. i'm lester holt. whenever someone is kidnapped it triggers a race against time as police often joined by the victim's family, begin a frantic search. 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 to say that she was held by gunpoint. >> businessman reid gray was on the line with the sheriff's office in a panic. he told the 911 operator that his wife had phoned him minutes earlier to say she'd been kidnapped. >> i would say it's not. >> 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 4, 2009. reid's wife quinn had called him at work and told him she'd just been kidnapped right out of their $4 million home. reid couldn't believe what he'd heard and went to his office parking lot to try to think straight. >> did she tell you where she was at? no. there's a note at the house with the gunman's 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 had finally hit it big in the health care business. this frightened husband told the 911 operator he didn't know what to do next. >> she said if you 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. >> fire and rescue will be coordinating with us. >> county sheriff david shoar. >> all bets are off and there's nothing more important than a victim being held against her will being 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 residence. the house sat eerily empty, a photo album opened on a couch, a happy quinn on her wedding day. crime scene techs swept inside and out looking for fingerprints, tire tracks, any clues to the kidnappers' identities. on the dining room table they found a sheet of yellow paper,

the ransom note. that 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 beachfront home in pon tevedra. it's known for its golf course and lux homes. >> i don't want to use the term the perfect kidnapping victim, but it fit. >> her husband made a lot of money. >> worst-case scenario is we make one wrong move they kill her. >> on the day she was kidnapped the 37-year-old pta mom had made appointments for her daughters to get haircuts and she was far along in the planning for an

upcoming party for one of her daughter's birthdays. now reid gray tried to shield that their mom 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 call to him hours earlier. >> that there was someone with a gun pointed on her head. >> on the call she said they were three kidnappers and they were albanian and the $50,000 ransom was to pay back money reid had borrowed from a loan shark, but reid insisted he didn't owe money to anyone. >> i made $150 million and 50 grand doesn't mean much. >> why ask $50,000 from a man

who 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 the mother of two small children in whatever she was going through, it wasn't good. >> reporter: 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? coming up, quinn appears on the phone calling her husband with frantic instructions. >> get in the car with the money. >> would he be able to get the cash and find his wife in time? when "ransom" continues. at i ha, i didn't want to change toothpastes. i already had a product that made my mouth feel clean. why am i going to go and change it? the first thing he recommended was that i use sensodyne.

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♪ ♪ ♪ reid gray, husband, father florida, a wealthy community 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 able to completely breathe until this is resolved. >> one thing you have to understand is in the modern-day marketplace of crime kidnapping for ransom is practically an antiq 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 and even caller i.d., now make it just about impossible to pick up ransom money and escape undetected. as a result the kind of kidnap young 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 phone calls in the middle of the night? strange noises around the house or 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 been just an amazing friend and she's active in taking the girls to dance and taking the girls to all of their after-school programs. >> she is a wonderful daughter, yes. >> quinn's mom, gail sykes. >> that's very difficult for a mother to say who has four daughters, but she was absolutely the sweetest of all the children. >> reporter: that night reid called his mother-in-law with the devastating news. >> i was just completely in shock. as a mother, it's your worst nightmare imagining what's happening to your child. >> what do you think quinn was 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. and 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 was now with investigators, finally got a call. it was quinn and reid became emotional. >> what do i need to do. >> i'll call you back. i don't know. i'll call you back, okay? >> i love you. >> she said she'll call me back. >> reporter: investigators wired up the phone so they could record all of the calls. sheriff shoar was surprised to hear quinn's voice. >> historically the kidnappers don't let the victims communicate. >> in this case it was quinn's voice on the phone. >> yes. >> 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. >> get in the car with the money and go down blood and take a left -- >> i have to write this down. >> no, just do it, reid! go to butler boulevard and take a left -- >> 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. >> she said if you go to the cops they're going to kill me. >> she'll probably call back again. >> the first time she was screaming and crying. >> 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 quinn to head to a different location. he was now to go to a chick-fil-a restaurant. >> convertible top down and just wait. >> i want to see you. i want to exchange you for the money. i am not giving that money without you. hello? >> now investigators rushed to get teams in undercover cars in place at the chick-fil-a, but they needed more time so they told reid to play dumb on quinn's next call and say he didn't know which chick-fil-a restaurant to go to. >> which one are you at? >> i told you to be at the chick-fil-a. >> which chick-fil-a. >> by the avenue mall. >> you need to go! >> i want to know you're going to be there. let me talk to them right now.

>> once again, the call was abruptly cut off. quinn sounded frantic. was it possible she had a gun to her head? investigators tried to trace the calls, but they were all so short that an exact location couldn't be pinpointed. and according to detective howard cole, reid gray was becoming unhinged. >> he was scared and he was a nervous wreck. he was worried for himself. he was worried for her. he was worried for his family. >> but before reid left for the chick-fil-a he got 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 instruction. >> were the sheriff's undercover teams spotted at the chick-fil-a and is that what quinn meant by fed cars. moments later cayman 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 they thought about it and they walked in and the minute they pulled in we received a text from the victim. >> reid got another text from his cell phone. wait for instructions. you -- twice already. you involved other people. whose ford is in the driveway? the drive 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 have you watching over your own shoulder. >> exactly right. >> these guys are playing by a different est is rules. >> it was one of the earliest indications to me that this case was not going turn out like a lot of people assumed. coming up, finally, investigators get their first lead only to realize something's gone terribly wrong. >> my hair was on fire. i thought how can something like this happen? when "dateline" continues.

♪ ♪ 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 to 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 pinpointing an exact address where quinn's calls were originating, technicians were tracing pings when the phone was used. those are the electronic connections when the phone hits a particular cell tower and that gives them a general idea where quinn might have been held.

>> fbi agent toni cavit was selected as the lead crisis negotiator for the bureau. >> we've got some leads. >> agents felt they were making progress and 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. >> somebody put the wrong phone number in. >> human error. >> so the phone you were following quanwasn't quinn's ph >> how long did you follow that

phone? >> all day saturday. >> what investigators thought were solid leads from quinn's cell phones simply vanished. >> when you guys realized you were following the wrong cell phone? >> my hair was on fire. my hair was on fire. i thought how could something like this happen? we were back to square one? who were we looking for? we had no idea. >> the rest of saturday went by with no word from quinn and the kidnappers and quinn's mom, gail sykes 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 was the drive? >> seven and a half hours. >> long drive with that kind of information in your brain. >> at around 2:00 a.m. when gail arrived she found an unbelievable scene. >> i walked into like a war zone. >> the s.w.a.t. team hiding inside the house? >> they were everywhere. >> i was told that they were outside in the bushes, that they were on the roof.

it was -- unreal. ♪ ♪ >> early sunday morning, almost 36 hours since quinn gray's abduction and 12 hours sense the last contact from the kidnappers fbi hostage negotiator toni cavity decided to have quinn's mom send text messages to her daughter's home hoping the kidnappers would read them. >> every 20 minutes, every hour we'd send 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 don't trust reid? >> maybe. 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 trying to protect your children. >> despite her nerve, gayle sykes 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. gayle 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 gayle 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 drive north toward

joe's crab shack, got 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 says 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. >> and i drove through, came around the corner and there were bushes sitting on a sidewalk area. i stopped the car and rolled the window down. threw the money toward the bushes. >> did you tell investigators to watch the money carefully? >> absolutely. >> are you guys on to this? >> yeah. >> because, you know, 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 presumably toward where quinn is. >> we knew at their level they would be aware of the tracking device. they knew they would be surveilled so the plan was if someone grabbed that bag, we're taking them down. >> sheriff shoar, and the fbi in charge monitored from the mobile 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 and kicks the bag a little bit and picked up the bag. threw the bag in the back of an suv, jumped into the car and started doing kind of a move around the area. >> they start doing suspicious things. they drive through a little neighborhood and 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 and 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. >> everything went wrong. coming up, on the trail of the men with the mono pep no one could believe where it would lead and then a new demand shakes up investigators. >> we're all thrown for a loop when we hear this. >> when "ransom" continues. [ male announcer ] the miraculous is everywhere.

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♪ ♪ ♪ the ransom drop had been made. sheriff's investigators and fbi agents believe 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 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 and you did. >> right. >> is that standard procedure to ignore kidnappers when they ask for that kind of thing. >> we're in charge, not them and it's to find out where they are. >> then came something no one expected. quinn's mom, gayle sykes. >> quinn called me and said where's the money? they're going to kill me. where is the money? >> and you said i dropped it. >> absolutely. >> oh, 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. certainly not. >> okay. 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, they were three albanians that grabbed her, and a loan shark and we had 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'd done a little bit of 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. >> and you're thinking what? >> we had no idea what was 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 theal gainian men quinn mentioned in her first call to reid? >> we saw the blue bag. one of the guys was joking and said i'm sure 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 some money in that bag and it was that simple, that coincidental and couldn't make it up. >> the college students stumbled on to 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 a lot 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. >> i turned to the fbi and i said what's happening with the money? they 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 warrant sn'te drop location. >> mom is a wreck and mom knows she dropped off the money on. >> everything went wrong with the ransom drop. >> we're back to square one. >> back to square one again. >> you were kind of at the end of your rope. >> absolutely. >> it's not 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. >> yes? >> i'm sick and tired of the [ bleep ], okay? you've been giving me [ bleep ] left and right. >> reid's been giving you [ bleep ]. >> he's going to go to the bank and pick up $50,000 and we'll arrange somewhere else to meet. >> more bad news to 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. we were still being cooperative and we were very clear that we would still pay the ransom. >> i didn't get the money. >> and i tell you, seriously, i think you're lying to me. >> what? >> i think you're lying to me. i think you've got it. >> and then something frightening happened. that aggressive approach might have backfired. >> did you hear that? >> what? >> did you hear that? >> the what? >> did you hear the round i just fired? >> no, my god, i didn't hear the round you just fired. no. >> 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. >> and it was completely unexpected. i was in a situation that i was helpless in, and i thought 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 gun shot? investigators couldn't hear it. what did it mean? and was quinn still alive? coming up, just when things looked darkest, a huge break. an e-mailed photo with a hidden clue. >> they didn't know that a photograph taken on an iphone has gps coordinates on it. >> and then we know exactly when that photograph was taken. >> when "dateline" continues. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey! by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy,

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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 pisseb, and i want to see my girls. the fbi hostage negotiator was toni cavity. >> you think about the kids in a situation like this? >> absolutely. we had made arrangements for them to stay elsewhere so they would be preserved from this. we are preserving life. >> doub you believe quinn isn't alive anymore? >> we don't know. >> investigators are becoming increasingly worried that they hadn't heard quinn's voice since the day before and 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 mono pep.

>> in reid's e-mail there was this photo of quinn. >> what can you tell from that photo? >> it certainly looked to me as though quinn was very distraught and 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 gps coordinates on it? >> yeah. >> i didn't know that. >> we were quickly able to check the photograph and check the gps coordinates and then we know 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 give young 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. >> i'm making the decisions -- >> no. no. i'm sorry, but i agoing to see my daughter and i'm going to have her in my car. i've got your [ bleep ] money and 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. john's county are looking for a ponte vedra woman who didn't return. >> the story of quinn gray's disappearance somehow broke on the local news. a story investigators had been trying to keep out of the press. >> this hits the news. you weren't expecting that? >> i wasn't. we were pretty fortunate to have this go a couple of days without us being on the news and quite frankly, we don't want them to see it either. >> 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. oh, boy. now what are we going 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 turns everything upside down. >> the blood drains from her face and she starts to shake and her knees go weak. >> when "ransom" continues. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles

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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 toni kravitz switched >> we had three drops go bad, but they were still willing to wait until tuesday. they still wanted the money and they wanted a way out and we wanted to give them a way out. >> what was the way out? >> nobody's been hurt, if they will 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 didn't want to deal with him anymore had been ultimately upset and angry as well. detective howard cole spent some time with quinn's husband. >> i think there was times when he wanted to go get the money out of his own bank account and make the money drop. there were times when he felt we didn't know what we were doing. >> what was your sense of reid himself? >> he seemed like a real decent guy? >> genuinely worried about his guy? >> yes. he was helpless, powerless and

dependent on us to fix it and i was empathetic and put myself in his shoes and i thought he dealt with it pretty well considering the circumstances. >> reid waited at his home and everyone waited as minutes became hours hoping for some contact, but there was nothing. ♪ ♪ >> quinn's mom was so stressed that toni kravitz suggested a change of scenery and had her brought to this backcourt yard of the fbi's jacksonville headquarters. it was around 6:00 p.m. >> gail picked up the phone and 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 incoherent at that point and i couldn't understand what she was saying. >> quinn! did they hurt you? >> toni could only hear one side of the conversation.

>> gayle's blood drained from her face and she starts to shake and her knees 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 toni kravitz tried to calm quinn's mom, someone else had heard from quinn, a 911 operator. >> what's your emergency? >> my name is quinn gray, and i was kidnapped and i'm not -- >> it was quinn. >> okay. what's happened. she was free. >> i need you to take a deep breath, okay? i was kidnapped on friday. >> 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. >> i have somebody on the way, okay? okay. thank you. >> sheriff's deputies headed to quinn's location while she stayed on the line with 911. >> i was in a room, i don't know. >> like a warehouse or something and tied up with duct tape and tied. you have no idea what i've been through. >> i cannot imagine and i am so sorry for you. >> deputy trent dot was one of the first to find her. >> she was aking very erratic and 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 and it was 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 and 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. >> mom, quinn was then led alone of the first things she told the agent 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? >> 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 something about reid gray that investigators didn't know? and could he have had anything to do with his own wife's kidnapping? >> coming up, the focus for so long on the mysterious kidnappers falls heavily on quinn's husband and their relationship. >> their marriage, for lack of a

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♪ ♪ ♪ after telling her family she was abducted from her home by

armed kidnappers, days later a florida mom has very suddenly been freed. it's a stunning turn of event, but for everyone who loves her and the investigators who 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. if my husband had just done what he was supposed to do i would have been fine. >> investigators had been suspicious of quinn's husband from the very beginning. >> sheriff david shoar first spoke with reid 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? >> his first comment to him is the media involved? >> that's the first thing he said to you? >> i didn't feel comfortable with that answer. gosh, your wife's kidnapped and that's the first question? >> someone else was suspicious of reid, quinn's mom. >> i thought possibly reid had something to do with it? >> because? >> it seemed like a real conv e convenient way for him to not have to deal with his life anymore. >> detective howard cole said investigator his 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, a business associate, a friend. >> would you mind showing me your hands. >> remember when reid went to the sheriff's office on the day quinn was kidnapped? >> would you go outside in any fashion? >> detectives immediately thought something was suspicious. >> you know how you have mud or

dirt on your shoes there? >> there's not tells me you don't have any leads. >> we're ruling everything out. >> during that interview, investigators learned 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 was an ugly side of our marriage and she went out and didn't come home until 3:00 in the morning and i looked in her purse and found her underwear and i said quinn, it's time to be honest. >> he did explain circumstances in past infidelities on her part and his part. >> the relationship started to deteriorate. >> reid admitted he'd 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, 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. >> even though reid seemed to be upset while his wife with was missing, investigators were keeping an eye on him. >> was there a time when your honor sort of distrustful of him or wondering what was going on? >> i was questioning his motives and how he was, even though he was acting appropriately that in and of itself isn't enough to eliminate somebody. >> did you ask reid about the money he had supposedly borrowed from a loan shark? >> yes. >> and he said? >> he never borrowed any money from the loan shark. >> that evening when they went to her ocean front home investigators sat her down with reid. >> some of this will probably 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 had thought that possibly you could be behind this. you kill quinn and you get rid of all kinds of things. you get rid of a wife. you don't have to fight over custody or give her money. i don't know that, reid. >> you thought he was lying? >> yes. >> 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 pollimrig rafr cleared him from being a suspect. they 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 and i said i am so sorry that i thought that. >> but that still left the question, who had kidnapped quinn? >> i didn't know what was going on. i was crying and i was, just, like, please, just tell me you're not going 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? did they make any threats? what did they say to you? >> yeah. what's the point of getting into? >> i'm sorry, but i'm going over the big stuff. >> i'm not being confrontational with you. >> no, but i think you are. >> no, ma'am, i'm trying to get the details. >> watching from another room was fbi agent in charge james casey? >> how did she seem in the interview? >> she was very disheveled. her story did not make sense. >> immediately investigators were confused, why was quinn so annoyed and where 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. john's 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 brain 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.

>> all of a sudden i thought what was really going on. >> quinn was finally able to tell her story about 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, i almost did. >> when "ransom" continues. ♪ the softest bear on the web... a new bedtime story: added to cart. watching her play with the box instead: priceless. your mastercard makes sure you don't pay for unauthorized purchases, not online, not anywhere. that's credit or debit mastercard. that's priceless.

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♪ ♪ ♪ what was really going on, and i knew. >> 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. john's county sheriff's department was chosen to interview her. >> i asked her to start from the very beginning and act as if she had not told anyone the story before. >> to go back to you wake up friday. >> okay. >> 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 per eddes suv. when she returned home she went up to her bedroom. >> i went up to the closet to change my clothes and 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 he's got yellow rubber gloves on. >> startled by the gunman quinn screamed, but she was the only one home. her husband was at work and her kids at school. >> he has a gun and i'm

screaming bloody murder. >> how did she describe this guy? >> he was a sharp shooter or sniper in the albanian military, that he goes around doing these kind of jobs. she said he had some type of foreign accent. >> 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. >> my husband was in some trouble and i didn't know about it, or he was hiding something. >> and he said how much is this house worth? that's why it would make sense that my husband would borrow $50,000. it didn't add up. >> the kidnapper started to restrain quinn. he came over and tied my hand, just my hands with zip ties. >> and then 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 mechanics 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 left alone in the dingy, dirty warehouse. she said she heard what sounded like a tv on in another room with foreign voices and screaming. >> i started looking around the room and praying for my kids and

for god to get me out of this, and so i was thinking maybe -- maybe this is like a torture room. maybe this is where they hold women to torture them before they killed them. >> quinn gray thought this could be the last day of her life. >> i was praying that whatever this crazy [ bleep ] was going on that i would live and survive. >> after being left in the chair for hours, the kidnapper returned and eventually cut her free. she said at some point he realized he was going to have to let her sleep or let her lay down to try to sleep so he let her lay down and then a few minutes later and he lay down next to her and he begins to kiss her neck and i said what's going through her mind and she said i'm thinking we're going to have sex. we're going to have sex. >> i knew i wasn't with 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?

i don't know what i was thinking. >> it makes sense -- take a couple of deep breaths and hear me out so you can get yourself together. take your time. >> so then sex happens and i asked her to, as best she could, describe that for me because it was important if she remembered anything identifiable about this guy and she described explicit sex. >> we just -- every position all night long. >> quinn said she didn't try to fight off her kidnapper because she thought it might save her life. >> it's really embarrassing. >> i know. >> and i acted like i enjoyed it and i almost did. >> listen, it's not unusual to have weird feelings or weird thoughts going through your head when you're exposed to a massive amount of trauma. >> sheriff david shoar later watched that interview. >> the bottom line is people react differently under stress.

>> it was difficult to hear someone describe a sexual stault assault. >> 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 a decision that we're going go to a hotel for the night. to re-think this whole thing and that's when we ended up at the emerson. >> 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 of the kidnappers' 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 drummettes, you know?

and a paper and drink for us, so we're eating spicy chicken. >> quinn also told police that 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 if there's someone over there waiting for us. >> i'm not going get my stuff. i'm not going back there. >> reid later said he was extremely worried for his family's safety. >> no, sir. we have nobody in custody. >> i need to know that that guy's caught, too. >> investigators also desperately wanted to catch that guy. >> take a good look at the surveillance video taken from a palm valley.

>> and they were about to get some unexpected help. >> it's communications, how can i help you. >> i need to talk to somebody about my picture for some type of woman kidnapping or something like that. >> is that you? >> coming up, the man in the video. the mannequin says abducted her at gunpoint comes forward, but he's not exactly what investigators expect. >> he comes from a very good family, has a college education. >> this guy was no gangster. >> absolutely not. >> when "dateline" continues. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help.

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♪ ♪ ♪ a man hunt was under way for two days after her release quinn remembered something important. >> the big thing that she says during the conversation is on sunday morning we were at publix right there in front of eger. >> quinn remembered he 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 and he boughtic whichen grumettes, you know? >> detectives went to the pub atlantics 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 scammed 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 on the news. >> witnesses describe the man to be in his mid-20s or early 30s and about 5'8" to 6 feet 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 kidnapping or something. >> what is your name, sir? >> jasmin osmanovic and within an hour he ended up here at a sheriff's office. >> he didn't seem to have a care in the world that he was considered the prime suspect in a kidnapping. >> sheriff's detective howard

cole conducted the investigation. >> let's just get this over with. >> okay. >> what did you learn about jasmin osmanovic? >> he is a bosnian immigrant. he comes from a very good family. he was involved in the auto mechanic trade as a college education, was one or two classes away from a degree in criminal justice. >> 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. osmanovic said he had no idea why anyone would be looking for him. 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. >> tell me about stacy. >> well, me and stacy met up after that and we had a two-nightstand, basically. his story had more than a few holes.

osmanovic wasn't sure of stacy's last name. he didn't have her phone number or her address. >> he was a character. what can i tell you? i did none of that and by the end of the day you'll see him walking out of 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 blond chick. >> you didn't look at that picture and say i know this woman? >> sir, she doesn't look like anybody that i know. >> 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 her based on her word. >> and then the detectives 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 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 stay in the same hotel in the same room at the same time and not knowing each other? what are the chances of that, jasmin. >> listen, listen, listen, listen. >> quinn referred back to quinn's photo and taubtingly asked if this was the woman stacy that osmanovic claimed he

was with the night quinn was abducted. >> sure that's not stacy, bud? >> it's her word against mine. >> it's more than that now. >> how is that more? >> because we have independent people that have you together. if there's something more to it and if this woman is not telling the truth, you need to be telling it, buddy and if she is telling the truth you're in a whole lot of trouble. >> osmanovic maintained he did nothing wrong, and not only that, he said, he could prove it. he had a secret recording that was going to clear his name. >> coming up, the battle to get a hold of that recording and then what it reveals. >> when you heard that tape, what did you think? >> i'm a cop of 11 years and been on this planet 40. i blushed when i listened to the tape. >> when "ransom" continues.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ jasmin osmanovic was suspect number one in the abduction of quinn gray. >> you know what? i just have a feeling i'm in a >> i've been feeling that way for the past days. >> he was denying any involvement whatsoever and said he didn't know her. he said he didn't fit quinn's description of a culprit. >> no, she said you were from albania. >> you know what an albanian

looks like? a middle eastern. i mean, come on. that and middle eastern, come on, gimme a break. >> not only that, osmanovic, a mechanic said he was being set up to be a fall guy in this very public case. >> he was concerned that because she had money and he doesn't that shhe would get the end of e stick. >> he expressed a great deal of concern about that. >> it seems that since she's rich it will be my ass. >> i could care less. >> in an interrogation that would last eight hours. he tried to keep osmanovic talking even when he tested cole's patience. >> he wanted to control the interview and truthfully, he drove me craze. >> well, you can search everything that i own, and you're not going to find anything. you got an iq, and i've got one, too.

>> he's walking around the interrogation room talking about his iq. do you hear that from suspects? >> not that overtly. it's kind of them to think it and it's very rare for them to say it. >> i'm smarter that hundred and her [ bleep ] husband. >> no doubt about it. >> and you know what? this is bs. this right here is bull [ bleep ] and it's bull [ bleep ] because the storm is 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. >> 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 to me what you're trying to tell me and then he's like, you cops do videos things like that. i've got my own audio. >> however, for some reason he wasn't willing to share that

secret audiotape with investigators. he claims he has this tape that's exculpatory that gets him off the hook and he wouldn't give it to you. >> no, and it blew my mind and i'm telling him if i don't get this tape and i don't get it now 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 this tape with my voice and her voice on it in front of you. >> sir, 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 of 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 a hold 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 we have something you might be interested in. finally, investigators had the tape. and when they pressed play. >> room 207. >> they couldn't believe what they heard. that recording led sheriff david shoar to call a press conference. he had a major announcement. >> as our investigation has developed, we arrested quinn gray. >> coming up, just what was on

that tape? >> had quinn been the victim everyone thought? when "dateline" continues. oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

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visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. ♪ ♪ ♪ let's see what happens at the hotel. she's been staying at the hotel all night long. >> at last, investigators had 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 her ordeal. >> emerson inn on room 207. >> the recording started on that monday was quinn was still missing. jasmin narrated as he drove alone to the emerson inn. >> she stayed the whole night by herself. she didn't want me to stay with her. so i'm going right back to her. >> the recording continued with jasmin entering room 207 and 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. >> they called the cops and everything. i mean -- but i have a different plan. >> osmanovic next appeared to mock the massive law enforcement man hunt that was under way to find quinn. >> they just knew you were here by yourself. they would have a fit. >> i'm starting to -- i wonder ma my girls think right now. i wonder if they know what's going on. >> we went to the hotel and talked to the people that worked at the hotel and they said she sat in the car when he was checking in and they were hand in hand. in fact, he left the room many times during the weekend. >> remember those bruces and marks quinn said she got from being zip tied to a chair? the recording suggested quinn

made them herself. >> a few more marks to go with the story. >> it's from the ropes. >> you were doing that? >> yeah. a couple of bruises. ♪ >> 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 there 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 of the proof they needed that this was not a kidnapping, but rather an elaborate hoax. the pair's real goal, the sheriff said, was to extort $50,000 from quinn's husband reid. >> we all smelled a rat. i mean, it 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, was there 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 and i'm not going 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. >> 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. >> i'm going to stick to it. >> we're both [ bleep ]. >> osmanovic wasn't convinced quinn would stick to their story. >> 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 her idea.

>> or it was her idea and i just went along for the ride and it was 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 to have. >> yeah. your spouse made this thing up and she had relations with the guy this we know it was consensual and it was crystal clear. how do you process that information. >> one day after osmanovic's arrest quinn gray was blissed 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. >> 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. >> why would people make this up? >> it's not the truth. >> why would he make this up? >> because he's a criminal and he came in and he 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 after this is all over and i think that's going to be the outcome. coming up, 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 pay for her escapade when "ransom" continues. [ male announcer ] rocky had no idea why dawn was gone for so long...

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quinn gray had pleaded not guilty to charges she tried to extort $50,000 from her husband in an elaborate kidnapping hoax, but each though investigators considered reid gray the 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. >> in a roller coaster of emotion from the onset. there are times when you sit in

front of the fbi and they present you evidence that -- 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 my heart she was kidnapped. >> quinn's mom also stood firmly behind her daughter saying jasmin osmanovic was to blame, not quinn. >> i believe she was 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. >> gayle sykes 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 die. you have to remember she was just out of out of hazelden and in a very fragile situation.

>> she had been released from the hazelden clinic where she had undergone treatment for alcohol abuse and once quinn stopped self-medicating with will 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 they know. >> quinn's mother said she had a strong defense. osmanovic said he would release quinn where he sounded like her captor and not her lover. >> i'll release you tonight. and you go home, okay? i promised from day one, right? >> and quinn's mother who has never heard the tape says it was because of quinn's mental condition that her daughter had sex with osmanovic. >> and 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. >> the prosecutor in the case, jennifer dunnton says her office was never shown any proof that quinn really does suffer from a mental illness. >> have you seen anything to indicate that quinn gray was diagnosed as bipolar before that weekend? >> no. her doctor had made the assertion that he believed she was bipolar although back off of that a little bit and said she did not meet all of the criteria. >> in january 2010, four months after the incident, jasmin osmanovic pleaded guilty to extortion. in court appearances, the formerly cocky, perhaps even arrogant mechanic now appeared looking like a man who has been had. >> he's a criminal. >> quinn gray decided to continue her fight as the state of florida prepared its case against the wealthy mom. >> the strengths of our case were all of the times that quinn gray was left alone.

she was left alone several times overnight. she was often left in cars and mr. osmanovic made trips into various businesses. >> all proving that she could have walked away if she wanted to and could have escaped and therefore wasn't a real kidnapping. >> what was the truth? at one point reid grally arrang a private lie detector test for his wife and according to the state, the results were not what he expected. >> i can provide records that she did not pass that polygraph, she was deceptive and at some point he indicated he eventually listened to that tape which he had not listened to it previously. >> does reid get this much action? >> no, he doesn't. >> he is not a dumb man. he's a smart man. he's a successful businessman and he was connecting the dots, too. reid gray eventually changed his mind and with it, his support

for his wife. in august 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 of their hardworking 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 that, 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 my 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 served 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 had worked that weekend trying to find quinn. both declined to be interviewed. both are now free and apparently they're no longer co-conspirators or lovers.

>> what's in this for quinn gray? >> i don't know. >> i mean, if she divorced her husband she'd get more than $50,000. >> was it a call for help? was it psychological call for help? was it a desperate act? i can't tell you that, but 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 this edition of "dateline." we'll be back again next friday at 9:00, 8:00 central. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news. good night.