Debra Hall
Appearances
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
As a parent in that situation, I felt like the most horrible person there is. because there wasn't anything we could do to help the kids.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
Where they took us, really dark. Like pitch black, not be able to see your hand in front of your face, pitch black out.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
He's still breathing really heavily. And I looked over and they were putting him into a ditch on his knees, pointed away from me. And there were two men with guns, one on each side, and Tyler in the middle. And I thought, oh my god, they're going to shoot my baby. This is it. And I just didn't want to see that happen. Just, I'm just scared. Our friend George had driven down with Chris and Tyler.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
The second day we were in Cabo, George said when he woke up that he'd had a bad dream, he dreamt that there were guns and somebody was killed, and he just couldn't shake this bad feeling. He said, I just need to leave. In retrospect, I think George had this dream. It was a premonition. We should have all left. When the hotel gave away our rooms, that was a sign.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
And we had two signs, and we ignored them both. And now look what happened. When they put Tyler in the ditch, I was physically ill. One of the gunmen placed me in the same ditch about eight feet from him. and he kind of shoved me down into the dirt, and I crawled over to where Tyler was, and the guy yelled something at me, and I'm like, told me to stop. I'm like, you know what? No.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
You're throwing us in a ditch. If he's going to kill us in a ditch, I'm not going to be eight feet from my baby. He threw a sleeping bag over Tyler and I, and I thought... They're going to shoot us. This is it. They're putting the sleeping bag on us so that when they shoot us, they don't get blood on them.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
The last thing that I remember seeing before they threw the sleeping bag over Tyler and I is Tyler's head. I crawled over and I just put my hand over his head and kind of held his head. And I was whispering to him that I loved him and I was so very sorry that we got us into this. And he was like, it's OK, Mom. It's OK. I love you. It's OK.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
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.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
Tyler was sick, and we were all just so cold from being out exposed to that cold fog and air for so long. So we wrapped the sleeping bags around Tyler, and Chris just said, come on, we're walking. We're getting out of here.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
There were cactus, there were trees, there were bushes, there were barbed wire fences everywhere. The rocks were wearing flip-flops and we're trying to go down steep goat trail type, no trail terrain. I mean, just not something that you would ever walk on if you were wearing hiking boots. I mean, it was just bad.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
God's supposed to take care of you and give you only what you can handle, and now we've got some other yahoo shooting us. It was crazy.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
The policeman walked up to the window. He didn't even get a chance to really talk to him.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
She was in the ninth grade when they had the shooting at the high school. Fourteen.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I didn't know she was okay until I actually saw her. I was never so glad to see her in my life. She was shaking.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
At that same exact second, another car came around and blocked us in. It happened so incredibly fast.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
And she came out, and she said, get in here right now. And she pulled us in, and she took us into her home. And she was a lifesaver, literally. An amazing woman. She gave me her jacket. She said, what can I do for you? I said, can we use your bathroom when we're all just, do you have water? And she gave us her water. And she said, you can use my bathroom.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
She said, it doesn't flush, but I'll carry the buckets of water to flush the toilet for you.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
And we all said, no, don't call the police. The police are who had us. Don't call the police. She said, no, no, I'm going to call. I know the men in my department. It's going to be OK. And she called the police department in her little Colonia, and two men came in a pickup truck. And they put Davinia and I in front with the driver and put Chris and Tyler in the back with the other policemen.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
The San Diego Police Department has like a little satellite trailer thing right at the border. We talked to the police. They would only take the stolen purses and wallets report. And I said, well, what about the brand new truck that doesn't have 8,000 miles on it and the three month old camping trailer? and, oh, I don't know, being kidnapped at gunpoint by the Mexican police.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
And they said, we don't, that's not our issue. We don't care about that. We're here to take the stolen property report.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
When we were pulled over, in my heart, I honestly believe that it was the Mexican police or possibly the federales.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
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.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
After we got home from Mexico, we had four people sleeping in our bed for a while.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I absolutely have nightmares. I honestly think that the men with the guns are in our house and I will wake up screaming and I don't even know what's happening.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I would like to talk to Tyler about it. He's not comfortable with it.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I think that Tyler is trying the hardest to ignore what happened. If you ignore it, maybe it'll just go away.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I think that Davinia was able to deal with the Mexico incident much better due to the shooting at Santana. She knows that she can be exposed to something that traumatic and come through okay on the other side. I think that it's really hard on Chris.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
When he and I do discuss what happened, I say, had you been, you know, Mr. I'm macho dad, you know, rescuing my family, they probably would have killed you and killed us.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
We're all home and we're all together and we're all safe and I really credit him with that. I'm at work, this person is obviously, you know, an official with the State Department calling me. He said, I regret to inform you that we found Chris's body in Tijuana. Your first reaction is to go, oh my God. They were sure it was Chris because this man had his driver's license in his pocket.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I hadn't talked to him in probably two and a half hours. I had to get a hold of Chris, and I called him at home. And he was actually meeting with someone. He said, I'm in a meeting, can I call you right back? Well, absolutely, call me back, don't call me back. I just needed to hear your voice.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I called him back, leave a message, you have the wrong person, this is not my husband, please don't call me back. The next day, I get a call from someone else within the State Department. They left me a voicemail, and they said, Mrs. Hall, we're so sorry for your loss. We'd really like to help you make arrangements to get your husband's body back across the border.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I'm like, are you freaking kidding me with this? Don't they talk to each other? Third day, I get another call from the same person. Mrs. Hall, we understand that this is a stressful time. Can we help you make arrangements to get him back? And I was just, by this point, I'm not even frustrated anymore. I'm beyond that. And I called and left her a message. I said, you know what? I never liked him.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
Keep him. I don't care what you do with the body. They never called me back. I think things are getting better. It's getting back to normal. I don't know if it'll ever be normal, but it's absolutely getting better.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I think as a family we're definitely adventurers. We like to get out and see what there is to see.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
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.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
Once they realized that the race radio was there, they ripped it off the mount. They ripped out the wires.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
There were guys in the back seat with the kids with guns on them as well.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
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.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
Chris and Tyler were working as part of a pit crew for the Baja 1000. Tyler started racing motorcycles when he was five.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
Cabo San Lucas is the very south tip of the Baja Peninsula. It's amazing. The day before we came back, we had stopped along a little spit of beach coming up the peninsula. And probably 35 people met up with us in this deserted beach. And we all barbecued and drank beers on the beach and camped out overnight. And that was probably the most perfect day we've ever had down there. It was awesome.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
The plan was to stop in another city and sleep. I'm using the cell phone and calling the hotel and confirming, yes, we're going to check in late. We still want that room. Please hold the room. No problem, Mrs. Hall. Keep coming. We've got your room. When we get there, the room's gone. I really think that was the turning point.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
just go forwards five hours and sleep in our own bed. At the time, it seemed like an okay idea.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I could hear Chris breathing really heavily like in through his nose and kind of shuddering out through his mouth. I could hear Tyler breathing really really heavily and I never heard a peep out of Davinia.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
It's all right. Chris is the even-keeled one in our family. He kind of sets the tone for things. If he turned white, gray, he looked like he was going to be sick. If he's scared, I'm scared.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
These are my babies. They don't need this. Just let them walk away. We're out in the middle of nowhere. My kids are not going to hurt you. They're not going to call anyone. Just let them go. And they didn't care.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I think the gunmen were nervous once they discovered it was an entire family in the truck and that scared me in itself because the dynamics have changed. They're nervous too.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
And then they made a right hand turn off the toll road but not at an exit or anything. And then drove up into the hills.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
When we were traveling, it was November of 2007, we weren't aware of any issues that were happening across the border that would make us question traveling on the road at night or traveling on the road alone.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
They kept asking us, who are you? What's your name? What do you do for a living? Where's the race car?
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
I told them, you know, this is all the cash we have on us. This is our name. We're not anyone. I mean, we're just somebody's family.
48 Hours
Kidnapped on Highway 1
You've got eight to ten guys with guns. I just did not want them touching my daughter. I was scared to death of that.