Kidnapped on Highway 1
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What happened during the Hall family's trip in Mexico?
When I was a kid, I had a strange fear of being kidnapped. That always scared me. It always freaked me out that there might be somebody that wanted to take me and I'd never see my family again. We were headed home from a family vacation in Mexico. Family trips to Mexico have always been wonderful, and we've been going for as long as I can remember.
Davini and Tyler were asleep in the back seat. For some reason, Tyler always sits behind his mom, and Davini always sits behind me. They've done it their whole life. I don't know why. We were on the toll road headed north. We could see the lights of San Diego.
How did the kidnapping unfold?
The police car turned on their lights, the red and blue lights and siren, and I looked back and I said, crap, Deb, we're getting pulled over.
I heard sirens at the same time I felt the truck kind of jerk over to the side, and I asked him, were you speeding? What have you done? He said, no, I wasn't speeding. At that point, we were probably a mile and a half as a crow flies from the border. We were so close to being home.
We'd been pulled over by police before. It's never really been a big deal. So he pulled over.
The policeman walked up to the window. He didn't even get a chance to really talk to him.
And he put a gun straight to my forehead right here. Told me to get back in the truck.
At that same exact second, another car came around and blocked us in. It happened so incredibly fast.
So at that point, there was nowhere we could go. They really trapped us in.
I looked in the mirror and could see probably eight, 10 guys.
There were eight to 10 gunmen. There's men surrounding our truck.
They were all dressed the same in a kind of a military type.
Very precise in their movements. All the other guys, except for that first one, had their faces covered. They just had this portion of their eyes showing.
What was the family's immediate reaction to the kidnapping?
They all had guns with silencers on them. They told us to put our heads down and shut up. I remember my brother saying, oh God no, please no. After being told for I don't know how many times that you're gonna die, there's not a lot of other options to think.
In the truck, Chris had a radio that is specifically made for off-road racing. Right before they were opening the door, I grabbed the mic and I said, is anyone out there? We need help. And no one came back on the race radio.
There was nobody to turn to, nobody to call, nowhere to go.
Once they realized that the race radio was there, they ripped it off the mount. They ripped out the wires.
When all this was happening, a guy climbed into the truck on my brother's side.
There were guys in the back seat with the kids with guns on them as well.
And another man jumped in the driver's seat.
tried to reach back behind me and touch them and pat their legs or rub their legs and I just kept telling them I love you and it's gonna be okay. The whole time I'm doing this, there's this guy with a gun in my side yelling at me to shut up and keep my head down.
This took place in November of 2007. We went down for the Baja 1000. It was Tyler's, it was gonna be his 16th birthday.
Chris and Tyler were working as part of a pit crew for the Baja 1000. Tyler started racing motorcycles when he was five.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What happened during the Hall family's trip in Mexico?
1:09–2:03
2
How did the kidnapping unfold?
2:03–3:57
3
What was the family's immediate reaction to the kidnapping?
3:57–8:32
4
How did the gunmen treat the Hall family?
8:32–11:52
5
What were the Hall family's thoughts and fears during the ordeal?
11:52–21:27
6
How did the kidnapping incident conclude?
21:27–28:38
7
What broader context contributed to the danger in Mexico?
28:38–44:47