I recently graduated from Flagstaff High School, and I got accepted in to the University of Phoenix. I was thrilled that I was going to be able to attend college with my close friends Amanda, and Joslin. We were joined at the hip, we did everything together. It’s was a week before the fall semester started, and we packed up and headed to Phoenix so we could settle in to an apartment we rented together. After we unpacked and settled in we decided to hit up a local club called Club Central. We put on our finest club clothes and jewelry. We hoped to meet some guys and have some fun.
We called a taxi, and headed to the club around nine pm, hoping that the club would be hoppin when we arrived. When we walked in the door we caught the eyes of every man in the club. We started receiving free drinks from the most eager of the guys; even though they knew that we weren’t old enough to drink. After a few hours of dancing and drinking we decided that it would be best to leave before we got in trouble. We walked out the main door to catch a cab.
We climbed in and told the cabbie where to go. We were drunk and laughing about some of the pickup lines we heard that evening, and we didn’t even realize that we were heading south towards Mexico. When we realized that we were on the free way we started to yell at the driver telling him that he is going the wrong way. The driver stared straight ahead, and did not say a word. We started to get scared and banged on the glass between us and the driver. Still we did not get a response. I decided to try to jump from the car, but the door would not open. I tried the window, but it did nothing. By this time we were hysterical, we were screaming at the top of our lungs trying to get the attention of other cars on the road. The windows on the cab were tinted jet black, so no one could see us inside. After a long ride the cab stopped on a back dirt road near the border of Mexico.
As the cab stopped the driver flashed his lights. At that moment another vehicle facing the cab turned on its lights and started driving towards the cab. It was a cube van, white in color and dusty from the sand. The van stopped with the back of it near the rear passenger door of the cab. Three men wearing black ski masks jumped out and approached the cab. One of the men popped open the door and grabbed Joslin. He tossed her to the ground where a second man hog tied her, gagged her, and put a black cloth sack over her head. Amanda was next to be dragged from the car. She kicked at the man with everything she had, but it was not enough. The man grabbed her ankle, and dragged her from the car as well. After they tied her up the same way they processed Joslin, they reached in for me. I tried kicking and pleading for them to not do this, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. As the man dragged me from the cab and hurled me to the ground I tried to get up and run, but me threw himself on top of me. I was still kicking until my legs and arms were bound. I tried screaming, and then the gag was placed in my mouth than tied behind my head. It went black as they placed the sack over my head. I was picked up and thrown into the back of the van.
The door was pulled closed and the van started to move. I could tell that it was moving across country as it bounced and rattled. I noticed the van smoothed out when we hit a paved road. Soon after we got on this road we slowed to a stop and I tried to scream, but the second I made a sound I got kicked in the ribs. Joslin, and Amanda didn’t even try to make a sound after I was kick. I could not blame them because I did not want to get kicked again. I could hear two people talking faintly than the van started to move again. The van drove for what felt like an eternity. When we stopped they opened the door and dragged us into a building, and put us in a room. The floor was damp and made out of concrete. They removed the bags from our heads and told us that if we behaved we would see our families again. Then they left the room and locked the big steel door behind them. There were no windows in this room, and it was hard to see my friend’s faces.
The steel door creaked as it was opened by our captors. Two men entered, and closed the door behind them. They had our hand bags, and they pulled out our bank cards. They looked at the I.D. and asked Amanda what her pin code is. Amanda refused to answer, so the one of the men kicked her so hard that she slid on the floor. They cut the rope that tied her ankles to her wrists, and sat her up against the wall. They asked her again, but she still refused to give up the pin number. One of the men reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of pliers as the other man grabbed Amanda by her hair and pried her mouth open. He asked again, so she told him the four digit number. The man with the pliers grabbed a lower tooth. They asked again, and she replied the same numbers. With one quick motion the man pulled her tooth from her mouth. He asked another question. Do your parents live at the address that’s on your I.D.? Amanda replied “yes” and the men let her go. She fell to her side and was spitting out blood.
(Ending Adams writing, beginning Jenny’s writing)
(Ending Adams writing, beginning Jenny’s writing)
The men moved on to extracting Joslin's bank information next. She was placed into a chair still restrained with the braided white nylon rope. They held her left index finger between the blades of a bolt cutter. I thought it was just for intimidation but the men must have spawned straight from the devils loins. Even though she gave them her bank account information promptly, knowing what they had done to Amanda, the man holding the handles to the bolt cutter quickly slammed them closed. Her finger fell to the cement floor and rolled a short ways leaving a small trail of blood behind it. The blood from the stub of her index finger squirted all over the floor. It reminded me of something out of a cheap horror movie. The cement was reminiscent of a canvas and the puddles of blood created Joslin's needless abstract masterpiece. She screamed so loud that her voice quickly cracked and went silence. She sat against the wall sobbing clutching her left fist with her right hand. There was blood streaming out from between her fingers and running down her arm.
After investigating my purse the two men left me alone. I can only assume because they didn’t have any opportunity to extract money from me. My strict use of cash served me well. My wallet held around 200$, my insurance card, drivers license and my student Id. that I had gotten earlier in the day. I didn’t have any credit or debit cards. My father always told me if you can’t pay cash for it now then you can’t afford it. I never thought following his old fashioned advice would have saved one of my body parts or possibly my life.
They held us for three days in that room. Before they left the short one said said “I hope your parents are willing to pay for you otherwise you will be the king of the jungles dinner!” His English was very broken and he almost seemed to stutter when he spoke. His appearance reminded me of a fat Hitler except with little eyes like a rat. We combined what remnants of food we had in our purses which didn’t amount to much. A pack of wintergreen gum, the kind I hate but it was Amanda’s favorite. A roll of fruit flavored Mentos, a bag of Reese’s Pieces and some Altoids. There was a latrine in the room that we used for a source of water. We took the cover off of the tank and ladled water out with our hands. I helped Joslin because of her finger. It was so hard to keep track of the time. The only reason I knew that the sun had fallen and the moon had risen was by watching the change of light in a small slit under the door. On the third day the two men came back. They took Amanda and Joslin. The tall fellow was yelling at the short Hitler look alike about pulling out Amanda’s tooth. Saying they could have gotten paid double for her. All I could make out was something about selling her as a whore. I guess that is what they had planned for me. They left me in the room alone. I was more horrified now than I had ever been because I was alone. I was alone with all of the horrible thoughts circulating in my head. What are they going to do to me? Are they going to kill me? Rape me? Will they just forget about me and leave me here to starve to death? And I was stuck with the question of what was happening to my friends, my sisters. What happened to them!?! God why? How could this Happen? We were at a club in Phoenix! It’s not like we went out looking for trouble.
“Let’s take a break for a moment”. says the Sherriff.
The deputy tries to comfort Jenny saying,
“I promise we are going to do everything we can to find out what happened to your friends and try to bring them home safely”.
