Replies

No need to apologize for being wordy. You have an important story to tell. I am sorry that you had to endure such an ordeal and at such a young age. This story must bring back a flood of unpleasant memories for you.

I hope that your mother's health improves. You are lucky to have a sister to share the burden of looking after her. Aren't families wonderful?

Thanks for your kind words. The Elizabeth Smart story does indeed bring back some unpleasant memories for me, but the circumstances were so different for me. I don't know what I would have done if the bank robber hadn't let me go. I can only say that I was fully prepared to take him all the way to Chicago if that's what he wanted me to do. There's no way for me to know, but Elizabeth's kidnapper could have threatened her or her family in any number of ways. For example, he could have strapped a few batteries to her back and told her that he would blow her up if she told anyone her true identity. Or he could have threatened to return to her home and kill her family. The guy who kidnapped me was so savvy that he told me that if he was caught, he wouldn't serve more than a few years and then he would come back and kill me. Can you imagine what a 14-year-old child would have thought if he had told her something like that?