Rotten Mango - #191: 12 Yr Old Held Captive For 181 Days In A Torture Chamber

Episode Date: August 21, 2022

It had been months since Abby had been held captive in the bucker/torture chamber. The cruelest torture had been carried out on her, every single day. She wanted it all to be over. It didn’t matter anymore that she would never graduate the 7th grade. Nothing mattered except making sure her kidnapper paid for this. Abby wrote a note, naming her kidnapper, and what he had done to her before slipping it into the lining of her shoe. She hoped whoever found her would find the note. And then she filled the tiny gross sink in the corner of her cell, one of the only things that filled the tiny space, and prepared herself to end it all. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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in all states or situations. Price is very based on how you buy. Betta Bing Betta Buu Welcome to this week's mini-saud of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue. It had been months that Abby had been held underground in the Spunker, a torture cell. It was more like a dungeon if I'm being honest with you. The most cruel of torture carried out on her

on a daily basis. And she was done. She's freaking over it. She had spent months thinking about ways to escape, how to outsmart her kidnapper. None of it was working. So now it didn't matter if she was never going to finish grade seven.

All that mattered was that she no longer had to feel this type of pain But she couldn't let him get away with it. He forced her to get naked, but never her socks, right? Maybe she could hide a note in her socks But this this 13 year old girl is thinking that would probably disintegrate by the time that I'm dead and they find my body It'll literally disintegrate into my skin. What about my shoes? Abby sat there, weak, opening the lining of her boot and trying to leave a note for anyone who would find

it. Hopefully they would look. Her mom would be so mad at her for destroying a perfectly good boot, but there was no other choice. She wrote, If you find me dead, my killer is Don He. He kidnapped me on the morning of March 10th, and P.S. if I am dead, it was after my 13th birthday. After writing the letter, Abby turned on the cold water in the sink. It was one of the only things inside her tiny little dungeon. She tied a sheet under the drain to tie around her neck to hold her head down while she drowned, because she couldn't take it anymore. As always, full show notes are available

at rottingapodcast.com, but there is a really, really detailed intimate book on this case called Resurrection, the kidnapping of Abby Drover by John Griffiths. The amount of detail, the emotional aspects that are encapsulated in this book, I mean, it was incredible. John Griffith was a journalist for nearly 20 years in UK and Canada.

He actually had firsthand knowledge of this case because of that. He was one of the first reporters at the crime scene. He worked with Abby Drower on this book to share her story. And it's truly a story that sounds stranger than fiction if I'm being honest. It's mind-boggling that this even happened. so please go check out the book. It's incredibly thorough, it's well worth a read, and the book itself starts by asking the very important question. If a child is kidnapped, tortured, in the worst imaginable ways, and finally, let's say they do manage to escape. What even becomes of them? Do they go on living normal lives?

Do they resort to drugs and alcohol to repress the memories? Do they lose their minds? Maybe they're in a psych ward? What are the lasting effects even say, I don't know, 20 years down the road? I think this book is really special in that sense because we get the answers to these questions. Let's start with Ruth Drover. This is Abby's mom. Abby's mom felt like this place was haunted since the moment that they moved in. But when you're a single mom to

three girls, you can't really be choosy. I mean the fact that this house had enough rooms so that each of her three daughters could have their own room, that was enough for Ruth to jump at the chance. The girls were at the age where they wanted their own space. Kathleen the oldest, 17, Robin was 15, and Abby was 12. But the location was interesting at best. That's how the real estate agents would describe it. It's an interesting location. Some might use the word peaceful, but we have hindsight on our side, so we're not going to use that word.

The single family house was at the end of a dead end street. The neighborhood, if you could call it that, didn't have a grand entrance on our side so we're not going to use that word. The single family house was at the end of a dead end street. The neighborhood, if you could call it that, didn't have a grand end trance with some like subdivision name like Windsor Place at the front. It was just a tiny little quiet turn that nobody would even take unless they knew one of the four or five households that lived on the street. It's really remote. There were maybe like five properties at the end of the street.

They were all about one and a half miles from the nearest town. Interestingly enough, the town's name was Port Moody. Why is that interesting? It's just a moody. I don't know. It's very interesting. It gives me like twilight vibes. And the drow-for-house was surrounded by woods. Just thick trees you couldn't even look past.

When the whole family is home and they're cuddling on the couch watching TV, it's cute. It's like one of those TikToks where you're like, wow, I want to live that serene life. But when you're alone or God forbid you're looking for someone, it feels like you're at the end of civilization. Just imagine standing there, looking into the depths of a forest filled with wild animals and secrets, nowhere to start, everywhere to hide, and to add to that, it's the type of town where mist and fog seem to be permanent residents. Just so misty, everything is moist.

You walk outside, your face feels moist, and you're screaming into the woods, hoping that somebody screams back. That's the type of town that the drivers had just moved into. There were some concerns from the get-go. First of all, the real estate deal was too good to be true. Ruth was buying the house with no down payment.

All she had to do was take over the mortgage of the previous owner. I mean, this is a very, not the most common thing in real estate unless you know the previous owner. Maybe it's a friend, but not Ruth, she didn't know the owner. I mean, why would someone want to get rid of a house so nice and so new? It's only been a year and a half since it was built. The previous owners would technically be losing money on the place, and hindsight, that was weird. But it didn't seem too good to be true, because there were issues with the house.

For some reason, the middle and high school in the local area, in Port Moody, would have buses that would come and pick up the students right elementary school didn't. So Abby had to walk half a mile to her elementary school every single day. It was about 30 minutes one way. Another incident that gave Ruth the creeps was when the gas wasn't working. Ruth went to investigate and turns out someone had been siphoning their gas, aka stealing their gas, rerouting their gas somewhere else, but Ruth ended up with this fat bill. So the gas company is like, okay, we think that someone is sneaking into the property at night to siphon your gas.

Let me just think about that. The idea of someone tiptoeing in your grass while you sleep at night is unsettling to say the least. Before some gas? Yeah. But that wasn't even the creepy part. Near the heater, There was a mural. The previous owner had drawn this huge little painting Near the water heater and stuff. It's weird and it looked creepy

Is a peacock Ruth was told a long time ago that peacocks in the house was bad luck I mean, it just spiked her superstitions about the place Then there were the neighbors once Ruth heard gunshots just ringing from her neighbor's house, they were shooting out of their house at God knows what, I mean it was freaking terrifying. Then there were the whispers that another neighbor down the street was strained, she was weird. Apparently he got mad at his kids in his wife one day so he held them all at gunpoint and cut the telephone wires so the family couldn't escape him.

Thankfully nobody was hurt, the police were called, the family is still together surprisingly, and they tried to carry on as usual. But it's fine. The kids were happy, and as a single mom, Ruth was providing everything and more for the girls, and that's all that mattered. Which side note, Ruth is a huge part of this story, and she's just a badass.

Like, I don't know what more I can say about this woman. She was born in a farmhouse. The way that she came into this world is quite the story. Her mom, Ruth's mom, so Abby's grandma was pregnant, but she still had work to do. She's milking the family cow, and I guess the cow was like, you're milking a bit too hard. That's too much milk. Leave my utters alone, and she kicked Ruth's mom in the stomach. And it pretty much knocks Ruth away, and she was like, okay, I know I'm like a couple weeks early but I'm ready to come out. So she was born and everyone at the birth thought Ruth was a stillborn.

She was dead quiet, no screaming on her way out. She's just laying there and Ruth's grandma is thinking, yeah, not on my watch is she going to be a stillborn. So she walked over to this brand new birth baby slapped her across the face. And what do you know? Ruth starts crying. Yeah. So Ruth, the tiny baby gets brought home.

She doesn't even have a crib or a bassinet. She slept inside an empty box of laundry detergent. That was her childhood, okay? Lots of kicking cows and slapping grandmas. And as an adult, Ruth meets C. Souldrover. Who was just smoking hot from the second that she saw him? I mean, this guy was a country singer or trying to be a country singer. But he was hot.

So the two get married, move in together. I mean, they're constantly getting their furniture repossessed. I think the minute that they set their butts down on a new sofa, there's a knock at the door. They failed to pay the payment. They failed to pay for the sofa. We got to take it back. Financially, they're not doing so hot.

But they had each other and there are three kids, Kathleen, Robin, and then Abby. And when Abby was a month old, Cecil's like, yeah, I need a couch! Like, I can't live like this. I need a couch and with these three kids, I'm never going to be able to afford a couch. So I got to go have fun with the kids. He just walked out on roof. So Ruth is sitting there like what am I supposed to do with my life? I mean I'm so angry, I'm shocked, I'm confused but I can't sit here and

dwell on these emotions because my three kids are crying. So from then on Ruth just kind of gave up on guys, her own personal life, just focused on her family. She was the type of single mom that would sit there and draw coloring books for her kids, like the outlines. Because they couldn't afford coloring books. She could barely keep up on their bills. They had this broken down house that they were renting prior to moving into Port Moody. It was so bad. The front porch was falling off the house.

Rats were running up and down the building. Prypes were frozen in the winter. One time someone fell through the rotten plywood of the bathroom floor. The floor just gave out. The wood was all rotted. So that's great. Ruth is complaining to her landlord about these horrid living conditions like I think this is illegal. Landlord's like, yeah, well fix it if you have sex with me. Ruth obviously said no and she tried to fix everything herself on that. They lived there for seven full years. The kids were so embarrassed, they never invited people over.

The family didn't even have a car, they had to walk everywhere. Ruth would wake up, walk the kids to the babysitters, walk them to school, and then walk to work. She walked miles every single fricking day. But once a month, they had a little family outing. Okay, they would go to McDonald's. Everyone would get burgers, fries, and a drink, and it was like their favorite time. The girls got along. The older two girls were very

protective of Abby, even though she didn't really need protection. Here's the thing about Abby. She's the type of girl that wanted to show the boys in the neighborhood that she could play just as hard as them. She would kick the football twice as hard as she could just to show them, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't play football, but she had a soft side. So whenever any of these little peers or any of these little friends are sick, she would go to school and write them these get well soon poems and draw these little colorful cards. She's a cuckit. Finally things are looking up for the family. Ruth gets a better job, working as a bookkeeper for this helicopter company. And on the side she would bake wedding cake after wedding cake after wedding cake.

These weren't even small projects. I'm talking big massive cakes that would weigh over 30 pounds. Most days Ruth was working close to 18 hours a day. But at least when she was baking cakes, her kids were there, right? They'd spend all time with her. They would cut the fruit, wax the pans, and in return, they don't get paid.

But they're allowed to like the cake batter bowls. So with the help of these child-sized cakes, Ruth is finally able to buy a car for the family. And it was an old one, but it worked. And they moved into the house that was just built, what, one and a half years ago. No rats, no worry of falling through the floor while peeing in the bathroom. The place was perfect. But of course, it felt haunted. And Ruth thought the town was moody. That's the word. But she would have never imagined her child would go missing. I mean, what kind of mother would have stayed

if they could have first seen something like that? Ruth came home one day. She had just finished grocery shopping. I mean, her mind was busy. She's got a cook, then she's got to get to the cakes, and then she has to prep dinner, clean the dinner. Oh, it's a lot. And when she finally snaps out of her deep thoughts, she realizes where the hell is Abby? She's not home, she was supposed to be home. What? She's looking at the clock 30 minutes ago. I mean, it's winter

time, it's too cold to be playing out, it's too dark to be having fun. The sun is setting where on earth is Abby. Kathleen. Robin. Have you seen Abby? She's supposed to be having fun. The sun is setting where on earth is Abby. Kathleen! Robin! Have you seen Abby? She's supposed to be home. They're like, uh, no mom, but I'm sure it's no big deal. She's probably out of friends. She's probably lost track of time.

I'll go over and see if she's around the neighborhood. So the two girls look and Ruth is feeling thankful. She's like, okay, thanks. She's just getting home in time for dinner. And she's cooking. Robin comes back. Her head is down. Mom, I checked with all the neighbors.

I even asked all the kids, and none of them have seen Abby since they got home from school. Some of them say that they don't even remember seeing Abby at school. Robin even asked Wendy's family down the street. So Wendy and her siblings, they were technically best friends with the driver kids.

They all got along really well. And it all started with Robin's near death experience.. Yeah a lot is going on in port moody. Robin was hanging out in the neighborhood with her grandma cinnamon buns. She forget loved her grandma cinnamon buns right? They were her favorite. She's eating them at the top of their street near Wendy's house and as Robin was there eating her little dessert a neighborhood neighbor her dog starts walking up, starts sniffing at the food. Robbins one of those kind kids, she's like staring at the cinabun, staring at the dog. When the dog looks well fed, but everybody could use a cinabun, so she breaks off a piece,

tosses it at the dog. And I guess the dog wanted all of it. Because the dog knocks little Robin down onto the ground and starts viciously attacking her. She felt the dog's teeth ripping through her skin, ripping through her boat boots, biting her arm, and Wendy's dad, just in time, was driving up to his house in his pickup truck and he should the animal away. Honestly, Wendy's dad probably saved Robin's life, and having this shared experience of trauma brought her closer to Wendy. But even Wendy and her siblings hadn't seen Abby.

Abby's best friend, that's weird. If anyone was going to be with Abby, it was them. So Ruth rushes to the school and sure enough, the principal is like, oh yeah, Abby was not at school today, I was just about to call you. At 6.30pm that day, Ruth calls the police. Officer Adams was called to the Drover residence to take Ruth's statement. He had been in the department for what? Four years now, this was probably the most serious case he would ever take by a long shot.

Up until this point, he hadn't even investigated an armed robbery. Port Moody was not a crime swamped area. Really, I mean, it wasn't. The officers weren't even allowed back up or partners because there were what? Like, 20 full officers in the police force. Only two squad cars on the road at any given time yeah he's alone so as he's driving there he's thinking okay I gotta I gotta reach back into my

memory about what happened at the police academy I gotta think about what kind of questions to ask because I've this is not routine for me I need to be sympathetic but I gotta ask the hard-pressing questions to the parents I gotta take this seriously this is the most serious case I've ever worked on. But even then, in the back of his mind he's thinking, in a place like Port Moody, the kid is probably just out of friends house, forgetting the time. So Officer Adams drives to the drow-over house. And the word that he can best describe the neighborhood was damn, just damn, and muddy.

He had to, it's not even raining, but there's pockets of that damp soil that's muddy. And if you step in it, your boot is just gonna be covered in that gunk, and then you gotta get into the car. Ooh, he went inside. Sat down with the family to ask questions. And of course he brought up. Maybe she had run away, but Ruth shut it down.

So did her sisters. Yeah, nope, it's not, that's not, it's not right. Even Officer Adams agreed, it didn't sound right. The idea that she lost track of time, didn't make sense either. Officer Adams even wondered out loud if their biological dad had kidnapped Abby. Maybe the system sort of parental kidnapping.

But no, that didn't make sense because Cecil didn't want to be a part of their lives, and that was over a decade ago. Officer Adams decided to treat the case with urgency and even contacted neighboring police departments to check if anyone had seen Abby, as well as reached out to local hospitals make sure she wasn't hurt anywhere. There was going to be a police officer roaming around tonight to make sure if she was out,

they were going to bring her home. I mean, they were taking this a lot more seriously than a lot of other cases that we've covered, but I think deep down, at this point, they still expected Abby to come home, but she wouldn't. And soon that would be very, very clear. That night, that night, okay, we're traveled that Abby was missing. And Port Moody being a smaller community, everyone rallied together, showing up at Ruth's store. Is there anything we can do?

We're just up the street. Let us know if there's anything else. I'm gonna have someone bring over a casserole soon for you Okay, there's a cop outside looking for her Well two sets of eyes are better than one make that three I'll help So all these neighbors started volunteering to help find Abby drover They went to the local K-Mart they had it broadcasted on the speakers Abby drovers needed at the front desk. Please nothing Abby wasn't there

Abby's uncles and aunts came over to support Ruth. Doug, the uncle thought the best way to find Abby was to get the public involved. They rushed to the local news stations with Abby's pictures begging them to run the story even though it hadn't even been 24 hours. The next morning, Abby still wasn't found. Her sisters went to Wendy's before school and asked her dad, do you mind if Wendy and Jackie and Brent come with us to look for Abby before school? It's just a really depressing moment. He looked down tears, welling in his eyes and he tried to urge, like, fight them back so the girls wouldn't see him crying, but it could have been Wendy, you know? Yeah, sure, girls. That's okay. Why don't we all go help? And they all walked in silence to get

the kids ready to go looking for Abby some more. They weren't the only ones though. As more time passed, no signs of Abby, more neighbors, volunteers, strangers, everyone came together to look for her. Of course there was that fear that Abby was met with foul play, but there was also that fear of what if she was attacked? I mean, this place is surrounded by woods. There's incidents of bears, cougars, their cubs.

They could easily feel threatened and molly human to death in like 0.2 seconds. Most cougar attacks in Canada were on children, so that really freaked everybody out, even though it was incredibly rare and only happened like once every few years. But it was a possibility that I had everybody on edge. So 300 people gathered to help look for Abby. Volunteers bought their personal four wheel drive trucks, dirt bikes, ATVs, literally whatever they could to help traverse the difficult terrain to look for Abby.

Two helicopters from the company that Ruth worked at were also being used for search efforts. Boat owners volunteer to help search the nearby harbor. The 300-something volunteers were going to be separated into 18 teams. And hopefully, they could go through the 13 square miles before nightfall. It was like those movies, everyone screaming into the endless trees. Abby!

Abby, where are you? You could hear the worrying of the helicopter above, just chopping away at the air. When it was sundown, you could see the lights shining through the forest from the helicopter. Wendy's parents were there, searching for Abby, but it wasn't looking good. It was nearing the end of the night and no good news at all so far. It's like Abby had just vanished into thin air. Wendy's dad was searching by foot when a fellow volunteer tried to break the silence. You know the family? Yeah, I do. My daughter, Wendy, well, stop talking. It is very close with the drover sisters. Oh, that must be tough. I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully Wendy's holding up during all of this.

But what did you say her name was again? Oh, Don. Don Hey. Remember the letter. Oh my god. Don Hey would be a name that would pull Stabby from then on and any time she ever heard it for the next, probably the rest of her life. If she could curse at him, she probably would, but she lost her voice. She tried screaming at the top of her lungs, nobody could hear her. God knows how long she screamed. I mean, she'd look down at her hand.

There were seven ink lines. She had drawn a line for each day that she spent in this concrete bunker. The bunker was small, about seven feet by eight feet. The ceiling was only six feet seven inches tall. Stuffy, dusty, miserable. It had one tiny little bed in one corner, a sink, a small desk, a shelf is a better word of describing that desk, a portable toilet near the bed,

and the tiniest little bit of walking space. It was about what, five steps. It was so narrow that you're not really walking. You're like inching through things. There, you barely had space to turn around in that little floor space. There was no fresh air ventilation, no windows, just a tiny little blipop for the entire room. And it was filled with dust, spiders,

a moist smelling mattress that she was forced to lay on all day every day. The heavy door that wouldn't budge, there wasn't even a handle on the inside. In a rapist that would come down to torture Abby. Abby said in the beginning she hated herself for trusting him. She thought for sure she would be safe getting a ride to school from him. I mean, she was a close friend's father. Wendy's dad. If she couldn't trust this man, who the hell could she trust? But before they even got into the car,

he dragged her into the dungeon. Yeah, the dungeon. And when she tried to rush out, he slammed her down and said, I don't wanna see you hurt. Don't scream. She said, why are you doing this? What are you doing? He forced her to sit on the dirty mattress and he told her,

I wanna play house. I'm the dad and you're the mom. Abby was 12. She was a virgin, but she knew what that meant. And she froze. He forcibly and dressed her and he attempted to rape her. It didn't work the first time, but he got dressed and yelled, quick, crying. I'm gonna let you go before school gets out anyway today. For a second, she believed him. For a second, she thought, okay, maybe this guy just tried to rape me. It didn't work he's gonna let me go but then he brought out the handcuffs She was handcuffed to the concrete wall above the bed and her foot was chained to the footboard of the bed

Dawn turned to leave and before he slammed the door shut He said it. This is so rich. By the way, I hate this guy He says don't think that you're the only one who's scared here. I'm pretty damn scared myself, okay? Yes poor ground man pedophile Don. He is so scared. That was a week ago. And the only thing that Abby had for the past week to keep her comfort was the radio. She heard about her own disappearance case, how everybody was out there looking for her. She was so angry whenever anyone mentioned the idea that she could be a runaway. I mean she's 12. Okay, she loves her family. Why on earth would she run away? It was dumb.

The whole thing is infuriating. The idea is stupid. She was miserable, but Don didn't care. He had thrown her in there so that he could repart at any time that he wanted. And he did. He didn't care that she was sobbing. In fact, he used the assaults as a time to threaten her. He would tell her, be quiet. Don't you ever dare turn up the volume on that radio. If you do, I'm gonna strangle you. Nobody would find you. I'd put your body in quiet. Don't you ever dare turn up the volume on that radio. If you do, I'm gonna strangle you. Nobody would find you. I'd put your body in the ocean. Do you hear me? Please don't. Why would, how could you even do this to me? I'm just 12. He would pull up his pants and stumble out of the dungeon, slamming the door shut, leaving

Abby in her own soundproof, tortured chamber hell. She realized that with each passing day, the radio hosts seemed to care less and less about her being missing. And that was really sad. And it seemed like Dawn cared less and less too. In the beginning, he visited a lot more frequently. But now, after a few weeks had passed, he would come visit her less. Sometimes, once a week, leaving her with no food for an entire week. Thankfully, she had water from the sink. She could use a face cloth to bathe herself here and there. Well, not really. She said that if she didn't keep up with her own hygiene,

she thought that he wouldn't want to repress much, so she never really washed anywhere. So she's looking at the shelves and she realizes she's down to a few cans of sardines now. And it occurred to her that if he never came down, she would die. And if he came down, she'd be raped. And maybe even die.

So Abby laid in the damp mattress, her whole body is sore, tummy is grumbling, thinking about, what am I going to do with my life? She thought maybe if she'd be friends Don, he would let her go. I mean, that makes sense. And it kind of worked. In the beginning, Abby was handcuffed to the bed. But because of how small and young she was, she was able to slip out. And when Don found her, he was angry, he started yelling at her. He said, I had this all planned out and you've gone and ruined it. But now look, she convinced him to leave her unchained in the room when she was when he was gone.

This is progress. This is how she was going to get him to let her out. One time he even blurred it at her, I love you. Abby was, um, okay, to put it nicely, she was fucking astonished. I'm gonna be honest with you. Like she looked at him and said, I'm just a kid. Yeah, but I want to protect you. I want to keep you here for a while and I'm not going to be able to let you go for a while. Okay? Why? You promised you would and I- I- I'm not gonna tell anyone.

You don't get it. People are starting to look for you, Abby. I- I have to wait till everyone's done looking. Then I'll let you go. Looking back she realized that he lied. You know, every single time he wasn't gonna let her go. So she stood on the bed, pounded on the walls, she could hear voices here and there, but they couldn't hear her. She was screaming, help, help, help me out.

Nobody heard her. So she sat on the bed, dejected, trying not to panic. I mean, it was a roller coaster. Sometimes she wanted Don to die. Other time she was worried that there would be a fire inside, or she would die. Or if he would die, surely she would die. She started taking inventory of the food she had in the room. Sometimes it was one to two cans of sardines.

Sometimes she had some canned peaches and some crackers. Sometimes, days would go by where she wouldn't eat a single piece of food. She had to ration it out. Whether you're doing intense to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us. Wherever we are, whenever we need it, download the free Peloton

app today. Peloton app available through free tier, or paid description starting at 1299 per month. Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No. Who's going to catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them.

I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to want some drug dealers and I know how to do it really well. them. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey originals documentary podcast series available now in the Odyssey app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a big guy man, but I love being that dirty mother f***er. At 12 years old Abby when she was kidnapped she was already very petite just weighing in at 90 pounds.

But now she could see her bones protruding from her body. She just laid in bed. She couldn't even pass the time by sleeping because well Abby was resisting the ribs. She would cry and scream and don't hold her if I ever come in here and I find you sleeping. I'm going to take advantage of you. And since then, Abby did everything to remain awake. She was so scared she didn't want him to take advantage of her. She tried focusing on listening to the radio, listening to the news, the weather broadcast.

She tried to memorize the lyrics to all the new songs. One time he came in and tried to talk to Abby. She sat up defensive and paranoid and scared on the bed. While he came in with a mug smelling strongly of liquor. And he said, you know, this wasn't supposed to be for you. I made it for another girl. I changed my mind when I saw you. Here, why don't you have a drink with me?

Ah, no thank you. I don't drink. I already told you I'm just a kid. Well, what can I get for you, Abby? I just, I can't eat all this canned food and stale crackers, please. I just want some food. Okay. I have to think about it, but only if you do something for me. That was the first time he forced Abby to perform Felicia. She was repulsed, she begged him to stop, and he threatened her, forced her on tourneys, and when he finally finished, Abby said she was about to throw up.

And he laughed in her face and said, don't you like my special cough mixture? And from that point on, Abby thought to herself, every time he comes down, I'm going to shove my finger down my throat, because if I'm actively throwing up, there's no way he would want me to do that ever again, right? Another thing was, if Abby was crying, Don would molest her. But if she was sobbing, he just couldn't seem to perform. He would get frustrated and leave. So it's almost like he wanted Abby to pretend like she was sobbing, he just couldn't seem to perform. He would get frustrated and leave. So it's almost like he wanted Abby to pretend like she was into it. Which is so sick.

So Abby made it her mission to make sure his fantasies, his sick fantasies, never worked out. She never resisted the rapes because any time that she did, he would threaten violence. But it was a passive resistance. After sick events of torture like this, the next time Don would come down, acting like he was just visiting a girlfriend. He would sit next to her and say, you know I still love you, right? I just want to protect you.

And then the next visit, he would come downstairs with some of Abby's missing posters and he would spit in her face. Look what I found. It was in the trash. But your mom and sisters have already given up on you. If only you had some rich relatives to pay me ransom, or maybe your dad. No, I don't have any rich relatives.

Well, if that's the case, you're going to have to start earning your own keep down here. You either work or I'm not bringing you any food. One of the ways, whenever she heard Don coming, he ordered her to strip naked. But Abby refused. He would get mad. He would aggressively scream at her. Take off your clothes. He would get mad. He would aggressively scream at her. Take off your clothes. And Abby would listen.

Again, she never resisted straight out because he threatened violence, but she always kept her socks on. It was another act of defiance. And countless times he forced Abby to perform Felatio, then he would assault her. He would force her to sit naked on the bed while he fondled her, smoking a cigarette and drinking. I mean, he was a her, smoking a cigarette and drinking. I mean, he was a disgusting, vile monster. But when he crawled out of his torture chamber,

adults couldn't see the evil in him. Most kids couldn't either. Donald was a friendly guy at first glance. He's in his 40s, he has this dark hair, kind of balding. But he had these really intense sideburns. He always wore his work clothes. He would forget to shave most of the time.

And yeah, the whole holding his whole family hostage at gunpoint thing, that was him. It was alarming. But people in the neighborhood seemed to see him as an unfrightening character, even after all of that. The kids on the street really grew to like him, especially the drover kids. They were missing a father figure in their lives, and Abby was grateful. Don would do things for her like clean her rock tumbler, assemble things.

He would spend time with her, play fight with her, play wrestle with her. He told the Drover girls, if you guys need to use my workshop, it's always open. So it felt like the kid's very own clubhouse. So when Abby Drover went missing, Don was really worried. His wife Hilda loved that about him.

Just so caring, so concerned a family man. Hilda really loved him when he wasn't drinking. He had stopped recently, on Valentine's Day of All Days. It was his gift to her. It's kind of romantic, I guess. Hilda had three kids, Jackie, Wendy, and Brent. They weren't Don's, but he treated them well, like a real father. The guy was hardworking.

He worked hard to provide for the family, and when things were good, they were great. But then sometimes, the guy would find vodka again, and the whole life would just fall apart. It was almost instant, predictable. One sip would lead to a week of blackouts, loss jobs, angry fights, and really shady behavior. And to add to that, Don said we can't have sex anymore. Tell that. Because all that drinking made me impotent. But this time, it felt like

he was going sober for real for real. He was determined to build a business on his own. So he with the help of Helders kids built this huge wooden shed behind their house. Don was going to help people build recreational campers and really anything that else that they wanted. So they got to work getting the building permits, renting the cement mixers. It was a lot. Within six months, the wooden shed was built to build campers. Stocked it with materials, tools, paints, he extended electricity and water lines,

built a separate oil furnace so that he could work their year round, lined the walls with cabinets for extra storage. And within a few months, they were a profitable business. Hilda was so proud of Don, he was becoming the man that she always thought he could be. And now here he was, in front of grieving, helpless, root-drovert, offering his full support. Hilda thought she was the luckiest woman on the planet. I mean, throughout the whole ordeal, Don would stare off into the wall

in pens of thought. What's wrong, sweetie? I just... I wonder where she is, you know, poor girl. Such a terrible thing to happen to such a nice family. It makes me really appreciate what we have, you know? Hilda was sad. Yeah, I just feel so bad. It's so upsetting. Don was proactive in trying to help the drover family.

He would take his kids to go help searching for Abby. He took his stepkids, he took Abby's sisters, he would leave his wife to comfort Ruth and Hilda would try to break the silence and bring some optimism, she would say, well Ruth, Don and I are very fond of Abby and Wendy's 15th birthday is coming up. We're sure Abby's gonna come, okay? Neither of these women knew that Abby was a lot closer to home. She was less than half a block away.

Ruth had a lot of surprises coming to her. Like the fact that her ex has been seas old drove her, the father of her children, the father of her children that abandoned them over 10 years ago. Well, he only lived like 600 miles away and he was coming to visit. The police had reached out to him and let him know what was going on. They wanted to get his alibi, clear him from the suspect list. So now he wanted to come help find Abby. It was just a really awkward moment. I mean, the guy shows up full suit and tie at Ruth's doorstep. There was awkward silence, Cecil's trying to ramble like Ruth. I wish I could have seen the kids growing up. I can't tell you how bad I feel about this. They hugged. There was no lingering emotions, but the kids were really excited to see their dad.

So they all look to find Abby. 48 hours has gone, and all the local news and newspapers were running with Abby's story. And no matter how painful it was, Ruth kept every single newspaper clipping just in case. The mayor of Port Moody was offering up a $5,000 reward. And this might be the one-time political competition benefited anyone.

So the public, a local businessman, a wealthy businessman businessman wanted to run for mayor and beat the current mayor. So he came out and said, oh my god, our mayor is so freaking cheap. Just $5,000 for our missing portmoodie girl. With my own money, I'm putting up $40,000. More on this businessman later, but just know that he put up a lot of money for a reward. For his own political gain, but it doesn't matter, he put it up for a reward. But that's not even the crazy part. Anyway, a pilot named Bentley had his own plane, and he decided he was going to fly really

low over the neighboring towns of Port Moody and have allowed Speaker Broadcast the message over and over. Anyone with information about Abby Drover, please contact Port Moody Police Department. It was so ominous, people said it sounded like God himself was talking to them. It was like a booming voice from the sky, it was weird. But if there was anyone in the local area that hadn't heard of Abby Drover yet, they heard of it now. It got everyone's attention. Ruth was so thankful, and her life was already so rough with that Abby.

But if that wasn't already traumatic enough, Ruth started getting harassed. One day, she comes home from work. There was a knock on the door. She expected to see maybe another neighbor's favorite casserole recipe, or a familiar face offering their help. But instead it was this strange, scruffy looking dude with this wild-looking eyes. Uh, can I help you? I heard your daughter is missing.

So sad to hear it. The guy's just rambling. I'm working on the case. Ruth's phone goes off inside the house, thinking it could be Abby. She just ditches a mid conversation. Books it to the phone. Hello, hello? Abby?

It wasn't Abby. It was Kathleen. But Kathleen is frantic. What's going on, sweetie? Did something happen? Is it Abby? Mom, watch out. Please be careful.

I was on the way to play tennis with a friend. And a really, really weird looking guy. He looked crazy. And he stopped and asked me if I knew where the drowvers lived. He said he's working on the case. I didn't tell him, but he's asking everyone. So he might know where the house is. Just don't open the door for the guy.

He's weird. Something is wrong with him. Ruth's heart was racing. She put down the phone, turned around. Only to see that man had followed her inside the house. And he was standing in the kitchen behind her. Ruth tried to put up a brave front. What the hell do you want? What do you think you're doing here? I have some water, please. I'm working on the case, ma'am. Just looking to see where Abby

lived. If you don't get out, I'm calling the police. And with that, his eyes got crazier and he sprinted out the door. The police were able to find him and they said and I quote, sorry Ruth, apparently the sky's brains were fried from sniffing glue. We told him to get the hell out of port moody. Ruth's life was a roller coaster. It was rough. Now the police on the other hand, they were going through it too. You know, this is a lot of attention.

A lot of the whole country of Canada is really looking at them. Like, Port Moody Girl is missing, like in a town where nothing happens, where neighbors leave their doors unlocked, are you kidding? So one of the initial steps for the police was to look at all the sex offenders in the area. Don Hey was a person of special interest. The record showed that he had a colorful record, married three times, divorced twice due to his own infidelity, did some time in hospitals for alcohol abuse, I mean the police knew him personally

for him, you know, trying to shoot his wife and kids when he held them hostage that one time. Miraculously, the dude got off on just probation. But 18 years ago, Don apparently had tried to rape a minor, a young girl named Faith. There was a whole trial and everything. Faith testified, but this is wild. The jury found Don and his brother, yeah he raped a girl with his own brother, guilty but only sentenced them to two years in prison. And because of that, Faith committed suicide.

So the police, you know, they show up at Don's little woodwork shack. They knock on the door. Donald Hay, Port Moody Police. He wiped his greasy hands on his pants. Oh yeah, hello. How can I help you? Come in. He seemed cool, nonchalant, unbothered. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about Abbey Drover. Oh yeah, it's terrible what's going on.

She's still coming here and play with our kids. We've been all out looking for her. In fact, I think my kids have gone out every day. I've gone out maybe like twice a day. More than any of the neighbors combined. It's really affected us. I mean, I hope they catch the bastard, you know. Hang him high. The officer said it was interesting. I mean, yeah, a lot of people thought Abby had been kidnapped at this point, but so far there had been nobody and nothing, so everyone was trying to remain optimistic. Maybe Don was just a pessimist. Well done, mind if we look around? No, of course

not. Doing whatever I can't help. The two officers walked around the shed, pointing their flashlight into cabinets, into crevices, into work benches. Nothing was suspicious. There was no attic, nothing really. And Don was cooperative. Maybe they had the wrong guy. Not saying Don's a good guy, maybe it's not the guy on this case. So they think Don and they leave. Abby was just below their feet. How did he hide it? In a cabinet with a false floor. They open one of the cabinets and it just looked like a cabinet where the ground is like the wooden part looks like the cabinet ground where you put stuff, right? So you open the cabinet and it's under that cabinet. Wow.

She could probably hear that, but they couldn't hear her. Hilda didn't know about this, and she didn't connect the dots. But she felt like Abby's disappearance was sending Dawn spiraling. Maybe he was having a midlife crisis of sorts, because Hilda came home one day and found him sprawled out on the floor unconscious with an empty prescription vial next term, which side note,

this is terrifying not because we give a fork about dawn, but because Abby is in a dungeon that nobody but dawn knows about. Hilda rushes into the hospital where his stomach is pumped and he is saved just in time. He had taken a near fatal overdose, and of course later, he's questioned by psychologists and he's like, well, honestly, I just wanted to end my life because my business isn't going well, and I'm depressed. The hospital decided to keep him for 10 days. 10 days Abby would go without food.

After 10 days, he left the hospital, went back to work, and Abby was weak. When he slammed open the door, she felt relief, anger, depression. I don't know, I'm sure there's a lot of complex feelings. She's so weak she could barely get herself to sit up. He opened her up a can of Spaghetti-Os, and she devoured it with a stale piece of bread. She tried to be nice even though I'm sure she was literally on the brink of death and she said, thank you. I ran out of food. Why haven't you been cut coming? Don was it having it? He snapped at her and then yelled at her for not cleaning the place. Yeah, like she had the energy. He said if she keeps this up he's not going to take out her poop

bucket and he stormed out. And Abby fueled by the spaghettios and her pure anger tried to work out a bit, you know, while she's trapped, but she had no energy. I mean all she had the energy was for spending hours laying there thinking of all the ways to escape. She knew Don was getting frustrated with her. She was happy, but she also didn't know what that meant. He kept complaining that she cried too much and that she was too annoying and things weren't going as planned and why couldn't she just go according to his plan? But if she kept it up, what would happen would he let her go or would he kill her? She didn't think that right above her something very scary would soon happen to her own sister. One day, Robin went over to hang out with the Hey children, and she ended up in the shed looking for them. The shed really

wasn't her favorite place anymore, and it's not because she felt like a weird energy or felt like her sister was underneath it. It just was depressing. Don no longer left it open. He put up this beware of dog sign. He did have a doberman, but the energy was just different. Maybe everybody's energy was different. Import Moody. Everybody felt like a predator was on the loose. When Robin opened the door, she found Don standing there, smiling at her. She said it's my birthday. Who said that?

Robin, to birthday. And he grabbed her, pinned her on the ground. And Robin was so shocked she froze, and they stared at each other in silence until Wendy walked in through the door. Without even skipping a beat, Don goes, oh hey Wendy, help give me Robin the birthday bumps, it's a birthday. And the two of them play wrestled Robin.

But ever since then, Robin felt strange. It didn't seem like it was in good fun. And she no longer felt comfortable alone with Don. Don didn't care, he didn't even seem to notice. He was too busy plotting how to get rid of Abby. She just wasn't doing it for him anymore, you know? He always left liquor and hoped she would drink it, but instead she would use it to treat her cuts and scrapes to prevent infection, which is kind of wild and brave. I mean Abby knew the risk of infection was

high there. The entire place was teaming with spiders and other insects, just crawling all over the place. Don had stopped emptying out the portable toilet so the air was thick and putrid, not that there was great air ventilation to begin with. During her captivity, Abby had her first period. And Abby thought, okay, maybe he's a sick peto and he's no longer going to be interested in me because I'm transforming into a woman now, right? But he seemed overly excited about all the changes her body was going through. And then slowly six weeks turned to months and Abby realized it was her 13th birthday. All she wanted was a birthday cake from her own mom. And for the first time since her nightmare, Abby wanted to do something for herself

that didn't involve trying to escape. She grabbed a few pieces of bread, peanut butter, made a makeshift cake, grabbed the paint can in the corner, and painted herself a special greeting on the table. Happy 13th birthday, she wrote. She was genuinely kind of excited to show dawn. Maybe he would be happy that she was trying to make the place a home. I mean, that's what he always wanted, right? But when he came down, he flew into a rage.

He demanded that she paint over the birthday sign right now. Abby soft. Just a week ago, this guy had come down begging her for more assault and more disgusting vile things because it was his birthday. He kept saying, come on, it's my birthday. Abby despised this man. He was completely evil. He even made her work by stitching, and if she didn't do it, he would say that he would

shoot her and dump her in the ocean and fill the cell with cement like she was never here. Abby didn't know what to do. But Dundid, he wanted Abby to die. That was the plan. He was sick of her crying all the time. I mean, did she really have to cry when he raped her? Jesus. So that's why he's scheduled to go on vacation

with his whole family for over a week. He knew at this state, this physical mental emotional state with no food, nothing, for over a week in her already horrible physical state, she would surely die. With his plan in motion, Don was in a good mood again. He's trying to lay off the alcohol, be loving with Hilda. He was trying not to even take a sip of alcohol throughout the entire trip. They were going on a week-long trip to the US, California. It's going to be fantastic. The whole family had fun. Don had fun, the kids.

But right when Don got home, he left. You'd think, oh, he's going to go check on Abby, right? No. The whole trip, all you could think about was Stringett's and Macawhal. So he went to a local hotel, got drunk with a random woman and stayed there for ten full days or something. So not only did he take a week long vacation, but he went and stayed at a hotel, really trying to kill Abby. Finally, when he got back home, he beggedilder to take him back and she did. And when he went to check up on Abby he was

pretty confident she was dead. He brought some food just in case. So he stood outside the bunker door with a bucket of fried chicken preparing to see the dead malnourished body of a 13 year old girl rotting in his dungeon. Abby knew she wasn't doing well. She was all skin and bones. She had been left for close to a month with only two chocolate bars, a can of sardines, some milk and water. She was wasting away, and it felt like her body didn't even need food anymore.

She just laid there staring at the ceiling. The numbing rumble of her stomach didn't even seem to bother her at all. She had lost a quarter of her weight at this point. And for almost five days, Abby was in complete darkness because the light had gone out for a while. It's pitch black, not even a flicker of light. She felt terrified of all the unseen tingles she felt across her body, all the insects that would crawl over her. Her eyes started playing tricks on her, she started seeing things that were never there.

It was really scary. And when the lights did come back on, it felt like it was burning her eyes, like she was looking directly into the sun. So when Dawn finally opens that door with that bucket of fried chicken, he looks shocked. Abby was still alive. She devoured the fried chicken, let just the bones, and she thanked him. Dawn stayed back at her and shocked, and he said, and I quote, honestly, I didn't think it'd be alive. And with that, he ordered her to take off her clothes. She was little more than a moving skeleton that he had left to die.

She couldn't even stand up on her own anymore, and he still wanted to assault her. But both of them suddenly froze. They heard something. So Don, when he goes to visit Abby, he leaves the wooden shed locked and then goes into the cabinet. So even if you were to get into the wooden shed, if you don't hear him because he's in a soundproof room, you would never suspect that he's down there. It's just like an empty locked. She wouldn't shed.

But they heard something. Someone. People. Above them. Maybe it was Hilda. Hilda was becoming more stressed and suspicious of Don recently. You know, he wasn't sleeping through the night. He would go on these benches at these hotels with women. People above them. Maybe it was Hilda. Hilda was becoming more stressed and suspicious of Don recently, you know? He wasn't sleeping through the night, he would go on these benches at these hotels with women. He was spending way more time in the shed with the door locked,

but he wasn't getting much work done. So Hilda thought he was probably in the shed getting drunk, but he wasn't back home until 9.30, like this is weird, he's usually home by 9. So she's thinking, what if, what if he tried to end his life again So she felt panic she said kids we got to go to the shed. They ran out to the shed and it was locked Maybe he's asleep. They're banging on the doors. No answer. Oh my god What if he's lying dead on the floor of his shed right now every second counts? What if he's dying out on the floor? He'll to freaked out. She rushed into the house called the police Now normally like I said the police don't have partners

But when this call came in, they remembered Don from his little hostage situation. So they dispatched two officers together with shotguns loaded and ready to go. They pull into the dark driveway and Hilda was frantic. My husband locked himself inside police. He's been drinking heavily. I can't get him up.

He's already tried to kill himself. He's going to kill himself again. Okay, man. They knock on the doors trying to find a way in. Nothing. Man, I'm sorry there's nothing we can do. We can't just break in without permission. Are you sure he's in there?

I'm certain his truck is still in the driveway. Ugh, you have to. He's recently overdosed, please, you have to save him. He'll be back soon to break in the door. And they did. They kick open the door. They had no idea what they were getting into. The shed lights were on and well there was nothing.

They searched the shed, opened up the cabinets, no dawn in sight. No one in sight really. Hilda was persistent though no he has to be, I know he has to be in here. The police were getting annoyed. Look lady, he's not in here. You saw a search the place. He's probably out there on a bender somewhere. When he gets back home if you feel scared you can call us. The police walk back to their car around 10.43 pm. It was a warm day, and they

thought, you know what, let's just drive with the windows down. Get some fresh air. The chemicals in dawn shed were giving them a headache. So they roll the windows down. They make it out the driveway, and barely onto the road, when they hear. Because right now, all they hear are crickets, the tire crunching against the gravels and frogs, that's it. They hear the most blood-curdling scream that they have ever heard. They knew it was coming from Don Shed. They you turn it back, book it.

They don't even bring their shotgun and they're in that much of a rush. Because when they had left, he'll just kids are remembered. Wait, mom, remember when you made like a bomb shelter or something? Maybe he's in there drinking or something. Oh my gosh.

Meanwhile, Don was certain that whoever it was was gone. But he needed to go into the house ASAP before Hilda made a bigger deal out of it. So he's trying to put on his pants, but not really, he's just pulling them up. He doesn't buckle them, he doesn't button them, nothing. And here's your screen. What?

Because they had opened it. They saw his legs and they thought he had died in there. Oh, what? They didn't see Abby. They just saw his legs from opening the cabinet. Why? So the screen is coming from his kit. Yeah, when they open the cabinet, it's from the whole the hay and the kids.

And so his legs are there. They all run away because they think he's dead. They run off to call the cops again because they think he's dead, right? And he's like, oh, shit, before the cops come, I need to get out of this bunker and close it and act like I was just down there for drinking and passed out for a second. So he's doesn't even put his pants on. Doesn't even buckle them. He just needs to get out of their ASAP because if the police come and he's

seen crawling out of there, they're going to want to investigate, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, Alice sees crawling up. The police are staring at him. They make eye contact. Okay. And Don starts reaching for above the cabinet. The police have no idea what's there. They later find a bunch of guns loaded. And one of the officer's officer Adams, the first one on Abby's case, tackles Dawn. Throws his body onto the ground outside the cabinet, puts him in a headlock. They didn't know what's going on. No. And why are they attacking?

Because the guy is reaching for something. And because Dawn hasn't fastened his pants all the way, they were literally at his ankles, even his underwear were at his ankles, his penis is just out. The police are focused on subduing dawn, and when he was handcuffed and unable to move, they curiously stare at, wait, where did this guy just come out of, because we were just here. They turn, and they said it was a sight that they would forever be seared into their brains for the rest of their lives.

A second little head emerging from the hole. A young, skeletonized face really, pale, barely able to almost claw her way back up flatter. Officer Adams said, oh my god, it's Abby Drover. And they helped drag her out of there. They said she was like a rag doll. So cold and soiled clothes, whimpering and shivering, wearing the same clothes as the day that she went missing.

They got some coats to cover her, she was freezing. Oh, yeah, I will push the dude into that bunk bed and lock it up. Yeah, and close it. And when they look up once more, they see Hilda and her daughters in pain, watching the entire scene unfold. I'm sure Hilda carried a lot of guilt with her. She didn't know. She really didn't know.

This is not one of those situations where it's like, how did she not know? She genuinely didn't know. Hill though was terrified at the fact that her kids were living with a man that posed such a threat to children. She felt guilty that her husband had kidnapped Abby, but she also felt so happy that Abby was alive. I mean, it was so many complex emotions.

Don was arrested. Abby was on the cold ground of the workshop covered in coats, just sobbing uncontrollably in a fetal position. They had a rush to the hospital and now is time for the police to go through the hole. They said the fact that she was less than half a block away from home was so depressing. The police had searched the cabinet, so they noticed a notch on the ground of the cabinet, but it wasn't alarming. It was no one would ever think it was a false bottom. When they were going through the cell, they felt so sad for Abby. It felt so oppressive.

None of the officers could stay down there for more than five minutes at a time. Somehow Abby survived six months. They tested the soundproofness of the place and indeed, even when full grown men gave their full strength to scream as loud as possible, nobody heard a thing from upstairs. Meanwhile, Ruth is on her way to the hospital to see Abby in nearly, I think, 881 days. Nearly 200 days. She said her daughter looked so frail. She disappeared into her own clothes, but she was just so happy to have her daughter back. And that was it. Side note, Abby's uncle and aunt who were very

involved in this case, they were speeding on the highway doing like a hundred to the hospital, a cop pulled them over. The uncle got out of the car and just screamed, hospital, Abby driver. And the police nodded and said, follow us. They put on their lights and rushed them to the hospital. At the hospital Abby said she had an eaten meal in maybe six weeks. She just had two chocolate bars and some milk. Abby saw the number 177 written on Abby's hand. That's how many days I was down there, mom. It was actually 181 days, which is crazy that she was so close because there was no sun, there was no clock, nothing. The police sat through the doctor's questioning

and it was heartbreaking. They asked Abby, have you had intercourse? Yes, all the time. Did he put his penis anywhere else but you're for giant now? My mouth. Were you able to bathe? No, just a face cloth. When is the last time you had intercourse?

Today around, dinner time? It was also revealed that sometimes dawn would try to force his penis up per rectum. When the doctors later said, okay, spread your legs further, please. The police weren't in the room, but they heartbreakingly heard Abbi say. Yeah, I've heard that a lot the past six months. Later, one question by the police, Abbi said she should have known better. She was blaming herself.

She said just a few days before being kidnapped, Don had given her a ride home from school, and it was a fleeting moment, but he had put his hand on her knee. She felt like it was weird. And then another bombshell. Abby told the police, Don told her he originally built the dungeon for Wendy, his own stepdaughter, but decided it would cause too much family complications so he didn't do it. The police concluded Abby was the bravest person that they had ever met. Even a full grown adult would not have survived this or deal with the strength and courage that Abby had. And as further proof, the other officers were dealing with a cowardly kidnapper. Dog was crying, please just let me make a run

for it and then you can shoot me. Please no one will be mad at you and I'll be dead. Isn't that what you guys want? I don't want to go through this. Please just shoot me. What? He wanted the easy way out. He wanted to die. And during the first interrogation, Don continued to surprise them with the audacity that he had. He said, and I quote, that morning when it all started, Abby came over for a ride to school and it just happened,

you know? She came in at the wrong time and we got tangled up. What does that even mean? He said, well, that means she didn't go in the whole voluntarily. But she ended up there. And I didn't mean to keep her down there that long, but once she was down there, I didn't know what to do. Don also claimed, I didn't hurt her or have sex with her, we were on good terms from the start. We had a good relationship together, I didn't think it did her any good mind you to be held captive, but I didn't think it did her any harm.

I was planning on letting her go and committing suicide, but you guys found me first. Anyway, can I get my clothes back? It's so cold in here. Did you make any sexual advances towards her? Oh God no, you can just ask Abby. Well, they did. And when Don realized the police believed Abby over him, he changed his tune.

He's like, yes, I had intercourse with her, but it's because I hadn't had sex for a few months before that. Okay, so because you a full grown man, having had sex for a few months, it's okay to kidnap and rape a 12-year-old girl and hold her captive for six months. The police asked, did Abby ever give you encouragement to make you believe that she wanted to engage in these sexual acts with you? What kind of question is that?

They want to establish that it was against her will. Do what you respond to. What I know, what are you saying? But I think it was better for the courts to hear it. Do which is there even like a debate on this situation? Yeah, it's shocking, but they that's literally what the judges need, I guess. That's what the jury needs because some people really be out here, but like, how would he know that she didn't want it? Because sometimes you don't know means yes, you know, like, no, but like, how do you know don't know means yes, you know, like no,

but like how do you know it's like a no, you know, I hate those people, but he even said no, she never gave me any encouragement. Now, Hilda was devastated and Abby drove her in her entire family. They graciously sympathized with Hilda. You know, she said she had no idea the hiding, the disappearing, the fake excuse for not having sex with her. Hilda's own kid said that they felt weird around Don. Hilda felt so much guilt she should have done something, said something. Her kid said sometimes he would pinch their butts and flick their breasts and say, oh gee, you're getting busty.

I don't know, Hilda gave him the benefit of the doubt. Later Wendy said that there was a point in her life when Don was obsessed with putting his hand down her pants and was frustrating and disgusting, but what could she do? She already told her mom about it, he wouldn't stop. But never in a million years did she imagine that she would have been the target of his sexual fantasies and the bunker that she helped make was meant for her. She definitely had no idea that her good friend Abby was going to end up in there. So now with Abby back home, it was just time to focus on her recovering. She said brushing her teeth for the first time in six months was the best thing she ever tasted.

But she could barely sleep. She would manage a nap here and there, and her stomach had shrunk so much she could barely eat without feeling cramped and pained. Ruth said it was wild. Abby still was able to joke around. But she had lost that enduring confidence that children have in people. What's crazy is that it wasn't all great.

There was still some nasty predators out in the world. For one, a ton of letters poured in to show their support for Abby. Most of them were heartfelt and emotional, like one from Frank Sinatra. His son had been kidnapped for ransom, and he sent drove her a autographed album, a record album, because he felt like the story just really touched with him. And it read, to Abby and family, a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Love, Frank Sinatra.

Most of the letters were happy like that, but there was one letter written by an 80-year-old man who asked her to tell him all about the intimate details of the rips she suffered while being held captive. Immediately Abby could tell that he was sick. She gave it to the police who warned the guy to never make contact with her ever again. And then there was the famous doctor. He was in Toronto requesting to see Abby.

Apparently, he was some hot shot doctor and child sexual abuse cases. So Ruth agreed. Abby would go to his hospital spend a few days, if not a week in his care, and Abby was not enthusiastic. Especially when she realized that the doctor was creepy. He had her remove her clothes and lay on the examination table, and though he never touched her, she just knew his weird. He took too long looking her up and down.

There was something gross about the whole thing. And that during one of the visits, he kept asking her to sit on his lap. She ran out the door and told her mom that she refuses to go back to see him. Ruth was beyond upset. She wanted to go to the police. But Abby told her, no, please, nobody's going to believe me. After everything I went through, they're going to say it's my imagination because I'm paranoid and traumatized.

But later, it would come out that the doctor's young patients accused him of grobbing and doing very inappropriate things. Allegedly, he had molested it up to 22 different children. That was very traumatic. But Abby also had some awkward moments. There was a nice adult who was trying to welcome her back, but instead awkwardly said, I was so happy you're back Abby, you don't miss anything, so don't worry.

The weather was terrible anyway. And Abby just laughed it off. Abby's 13, but she was mature enough to know that how she perceived things and how she took all these weird sayings and awkward moments was the way that she could move on. Please, Officer said that Abby was very different from other 13-year-olds. In one way, she was a normal 13-year-old, but there was this unmistakable aura of maturity and intensity. It was like there were two people in there.

The child she was before and the person that she is now. And maybe she got it from her mom because guess who the family spent Christmas with that year? Hilda Hay and her kids. They too were victims of dawn. They really were. Please find out that in the family bathroom in the heating duct, someone had put an angled mirror

and was using another mirror to watch the two step-daughter shower. What? Yeah. So he put it like a mirror, two mirror. In the vents, yeah. So he would angle it from one angle so that he could see them and then angle the reflection, it's complicated, but. Wow.

So meanwhile in preparation for the trial while in prison, Dawn was a coward. He tried to take his own life multiple times, each time rushed to the hospital and saved. Now the prosecutors and the drowler family were worried that he was going to try to use this to be like, see, I'm not mentally well, don't put me in prison, I need a hospital. So the trial started and the prosecutors argued that for 181 days, Abby had no rights as a human, deprived of all her rights. All the while, Don would go out there pretending to be the kindest, most caring, concerned neighbor, attending all the search parties, I mean, those crules, especially cruel. How do you take Abby's own family to go looking for her knowing it would turn up nothing?

Don's defense? Argued some wild stuff. They argued that Don was just a lonely, lonely man who had a lifelong difficulty in being accepted by women. They said he was depressed, felt social and sexual alienation, and a feeling of general hopelessness in the world. Which is wild, because isn't it like people like Don that make us feel hopelessness in the world, but you freaking feel hopelessness?

You the reason people have no hope in the world. The lawyer had the audacity to argue, in fact, Don felt trapped as much as the girl felt trapped in that situation. The attorney argued that if Don was given a life sentence, he would have no motivation to try and get better and stop being a pedophile. But if you had the chance of leaving prison, I don't know, to the world where kids are, maybe he would feel motivated to change. The attorneys were aiming to get him something closer to eight years in prison. Yeah, just why not? What's the risk anyway? Just a bunch of innocent young children? Nobody

cares about that. The attorney said, so this young girl Abby was taken down into this terrible place because of a fantasy on his part and a sexual dysfunction, but the fantasy disappeared for him. There was, you know, clearly no fantasy for her. It disappeared for him and he was left in a dilemma. I think it's important to note that his dilemma was not an attempt to kill her, but an attempt to kill himself and thereby save her. So they're arguing. No, Don wasn't trying to starve her to death, even though it just looks like that. He was trying to starve her nearly to death and then kill himself and then leave a letter in hopes that someone would read that letter and save her before she died, but she was nearly

dead because he starved her. The attorneys argued that he felt remorse because he tried to take his own life. He did that because he hated himself for what he did to Abby. They said and I quote, I think it's important to note that he had ample opportunity in 181 days to kill Abby, but chose instead to try and kill himself. They also argue that since Abby is recovering so well, I mean, why should we ruin this guy's life when she's doing okay? The judge did not agree, and through the book at dawn. Thank God.

The judge even was like, okay, you're proud that your client did a kill at Abby? Why would he? That's not what she was there for. He's not trying to kill her. He wanted to reap her repeatedly while she was alive, so what's your fricking point? And with that, Don He was sentenced to life in prison. But he would be eligible for parole in seven years. In prison, Don did get therapy to which he responded quite aggressively. He said, yeah, this motherfucker argued that he wasn't trying to attempt to repute people. It was just attempted seductions. And then he said he found God. What's crazy is that some church growers supported Don. They said, scripturally, if we say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Don has certainly given a whole lot of teeth. I believe he wants to change. I believe he can. He knows he can never take back what he did, but serving more time doesn't change that,

does it? Wow. One of them literally said, and I quote, yes, it still bothers Abby. There is no way that anyone should have to grow up with that. But you can't change it. It's done. Is it going to make her life any better by him staying in prison? Yeah.

What are you saying? Do you have no common sense? Done himself complaint. Sure, Abby had her hopes for freedom, ruined over and over again, but so did I for the past 14 years in prison. He said he doesn't understand why Abby is still scared of him. He said, I never felt animosity towards her. Never. I mean, she was a victim. Whatever happened to me was not of her fault.

Yeah. Abby was a good kid. She never gave me a minute of trouble down there. Like, even after the fact. She was just a beautiful child, and I don't know why it happened. I'm really sorry that it happened. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also said, because he's applying for parole and Abby keeps saying, no, I don't want him out on parole. And he said, I was disappointed. Abby still felt that way about me.

You know, I can understand, but I was disappointed. Healing can't take place without forgiveness. Is this guy really criticizing for her on how she wants to heal for the things that he's done? He said, Abby appears to not have any forgiveness. She doesn't have a happy home. I almost thought I was rescuing her, and we would live happily ever after. I felt like a victim after the kidnapping.

I mean, I was trapped. I couldn't let her go back to the normal life, and I couldn't go back to mine. I became suicidal because I wanted it to be over. I thought I was dying. I mean, it wasn't a good situation. I wasn't go back to mine. I became suicidal because I wanted it to be over. I thought I was dying. I mean it wasn't a good situation. I wasn't even attracted to Abby. He said this during his parole hearing. The parole board was not impressed. Yeah. He also said- Very, very, very scary. Yeah. He also said the psychiatrist are wrong for labeling him as a pedophile. He said that they- that he knows himself better than they do, and psychiatrists just want to be original and put these scary words on people. And then he said, he feels sorry

for Abby. Not he's sorry, too, Abby feels sorry for her. So, I mean, I'm glad he showed his true colors because he was denied parole over and over again and eventually died in prison in 2012, as he should. Now, here's where it just gets more depressing. Remember the political opponent of the mayor, the wealthy businessman that put up $40,000 in rewards? Well, really bizarre thing. He lied about being an orphan.

He was not an orphan, but worse than that, he was convicted of sexually assaulting three teenage employees. And more depressing is that, you know, life, there's no limit to how many predators you encounter in your life, especially as a woman. There's no guarantee it's just one. Because when she grew up, Abby was hitching a ride from this older guy, and she was wearing heels, pertinent to the story. The guy was supposed to drive her in one direction, but he was going the other way. So Abby starts getting worried and tells him to pull over and let her out, but he said, no, we're going to

have sex. Abby grabbed her heel, pointed at him, and she said, come any closer and I'll beat you in the face and head. The guy hesitated, but he tried to be tough. He said, you can't fight me. Abby looked him in the eye and said, I will die trying. And she meant it. And he could see that she meant it because she was not going to be a victim again. She would rather die. He let her out. She went to the police and her description of the guy matched with the rapists that had been raping several girls in the area.

I don't know if he was caught, but Abby did move on. She got married, had some kids. She said that she was a crazy protective mom because, you know, after everything she went through, when her son was a teenager, he was so frustrated, like, just let me be other kids are doing it. So one day, she sat him down with a few newspaper clippings and told him what happened. And he cried for his mom. And he said he understood. It would be hard, but he understood. And now I think she is in a family business with her son who is now 40. Ruth stayed friends with Hilda before she passed away in 2007. A lot of healing, a lot of

devastation. That's the crazy story of the kidnapping of Abby Drover. What are your thoughts on this case? I mean, I don't even know what to say. It's just been such an emotionally draining case. So please stay safe out there and I'll see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye. I mean, I don't even know what to say. It's just been such an emotionally draining case. So please stay safe out there and I'll see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye.