Unseen - The Girl Who Survived 9 Months In The Bunker | The Disturbing Case Of Abby Hernandez | UNSEEN

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

“I’m gonna die tonight, or I’m gonna escape somehow” July 20, 2014. Zenya Hernandez is on the phone, desperately trying to organize the search for her 15-year-old daughter, who has been missing for 9 months. She doesn’t know it yet, but her wait is about to end: miraculously, Abby Hernandez reappears at her front door that night. But to Zenya’s concern and the community’s disbelief, Abby won’t speak about the horrors she went through, nor reveal the name of her kidnapper. She’ll keep these terrifying secrets to herself... until she gathers enough courage to bring this monster to justice.Credits:Directing, writing, & editing by Alexandre GendronResearched by Manon LafosseProduced by Alexandra Salois & Salim SaderVoiceover by William AkanaSources - Documentary:20/20 - What Happened To Abby20/20 Extra - Exclusive Abby Hernandez InterviewSources - Film:Lifetime - Girl In The Shed: The Kidnapping Of Abby Hernandez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These two videos hide a disturbing secret. On October 9, 2013, soon to be missing teenager Abby Hernandez left school at 2.31 p.m. wearing a striped sweater, jeans, and boots. For the longest time, this has been Abby's last known location. Abby, you're a strong young woman. I believe you're alive, and I know that hope speaks louder than fear. A whole year later, she reappeared at her mother's doorstep, wearing the exact same clothes. Missing teen Abigail Hernandez returned to her mom's house but did not give police her alleged kidnapper's name.

The 14-year-old was allegedly strapped to a bed, tortured with a stun gun, and forced to wear a shock collar. But what's even stranger is that, after she returned, the public's reaction wasn't relief, but anger. Was the child held prisoner nine long months? Was that for real? Sounds like Abby's a punk teenager who ran away. Doesn't sound like she's in any danger. She should be forced to pay back the stick. story has been fishy from the very beginning.

Is there anything you'd like to say? Nope. Victims don't act like that. I'm not buying it. We just want to have some answers. There's still lots of questions regarding Abby's disappearance. But as the details of her abduction unraveled, it became clear to the police that they weren't dealing with an ordinary criminal.

Law enforcement says this device is a bomb. We've heard a report that he believed there was a zombie apocalypse. Building firearms at home. She's an older name. I can't tell you because he's going to come and kill us. He's everywhere. With the whole world against her and an armed psychopath on the loose, Abby now has to find the courage to finally reveal the truth. Abby!

It's October 9, 2013. 14-year-old Abby Hernandez is heading home after a long day at Kenneth High School. She walks with a slight limp because her new boots, an early birthday present from her mother Zena, are making her feet sore. But she's looking forward to her party, coming up in only three days. Once she finally reaches the schoolyard, she sees the bus pulling away, with no one to pick her up. starts the long walk home. Two hours later, Zena returns from the hospital where she worked to find her house empty. This was unusual since her youngest daughter never did anything out of the ordinary, without first calling or texting her. Abby always has been very kind, always loved

animals, a little bit of a tomboy, very cheerful, happy. It was worried, but she should be somewhere. You know, she probably is at school with her friends. I was like, okay, I'll go to school. And then Liberian says I saw her leave. That's when I got very worried. She had an injury, broke her leg, appendicitis, who knows, I got hit by a car. I called the hospital at that time. I said, no, they have not seen her. Most people would immediately think that Abby ran away, but Zena knew her daughter and never even considered it.

On the contrary, with Abby's birthday coming up in only three days, it seemed impossible that something like this could happen. She was very enthusiastic about it. We're planning a whole big party to have friends over. She called Abby's best friend, who told her that. Mere minutes before she left, the two snapped a selfie together and that nothing seems wrong with Abby. That was the last known picture of her, was the picture her and I took together in science class. I got to tell you, she faced problems. She didn't run away from them.

Even the police officers then you talked to when she declared her daughter missing, agreed that it didn't seem like she ran away. She was very family oriented, close with her mom. We just didn't see anything that was suggestive to us that something she had done had caused her disappearance. Class of teenage girl. That's what she appeared to be. Within hours, Abby's disappearance made local news and shocked the community. After all, New Hampshire is the second safest state in the country, and the last high-profile abduction there dated back to 1986. We are also following new developments in the search for a missing teenager from Conway tonight. The search ramped up incredibly fast. The Conway police started. The Attorney General's

office got involved. The FBI, state police basically created a dragnet in the North Conway area looking for Abby Hernandez. Following three days of relentless search, Abby's birthday They loomed in, and the Conway community came together to hold a vigil for the missing teenager. Happy right to say to you. We miss you so badly. And Sarah and I think about you all the time. And we want you back with us, please, and we love you. We miss you.

We spoke exclusively with Abby Hernandez's mother last night. She says she sees Abby in her dreams and doesn't want to wake up because that's when this nightmare returns. Padaday presents, in the red corner, the undisputed, undefeated weed whacker guys. Champion of hurling grass and pollen everywhere. And in the blue corner, the challenger, extra strength, Hannity! Eye drops and work all day to prevent the release of histamines that cause itchy allergy eyes. And the winner, by knockout, is Padaday. Padiday, bring it on.

She couldn't have known then, but Zena's words mirrored her daughter's situation all too well. It began three days earlier when Abby was walking home from school. Halfway through, a car stopped beside her. The driver leaned over and pointed at her slight limp before asking her if she'd like a ride home, feeling the blisters on her feet. The young teenager reluctantly accepted. I just feel so bad that I got in the car. You were 14. You were a child.

Yeah. But I tried to tell myself. As soon as they reached town, the driver's short. sharply turned towards an isolated parking lot. I definitely got a gut feeling that something's wrong. So I said, you know what? I actually live really close to here. I think I can walk.

I unbuckled my seatbelt. He kind of straightened his legs and he was digging for something. Then I saw a gun. Under duress, Abby was handcuffed and blindfolded. As they drove off, the man kept shoving her down underneath the dashboard to hide her from any passerby. She tried to push him back, but things escalated quickly. I felt this stammering pain in my leg.

And I thought, oh my God, I've been shot. I did not want to die. Despite her fear, Abby kept fighting back, but each time she pushed him away, the pain in her leg amplified. That's when she realized that she wasn't being shot at, but shocked repeatedly with a stun gun. Powerless, she tried to reason with him instead. I said, I don't judge you for this.

If you let me go, I won't tell anybody. And I asked him, are you going to read me? And he told me, call me master. After a long ride, the kidnapper stopped the car. Abby was dragged into some kind of building and thrown onto a dirty mattress before the man removed her blindfold. Looking around, she noticed metal floors, walls covered in soundproof padding, and padlocked lances on every door. But the worst was the figure standing right in front of her, hiding his face under a golden Halloween mask. Her captor proceeded to chain each of her limbs to metal bars surrounding the mattress.

And then he put like a t-shirt over my head and then a motorist. cycle helmet over that. If you try to scream or try to escape or make any effort to escape, there will be consequences. I can blow your brains out. I can slit your throat right open. The next three days are difficult to describe. Stuck in a constant loop of abuse and torture, Abby had to live through a nightmare surpassing anything she could have ever imagined.

He played heavy metal music really loud and I was gagged and everything. I didn't know if it was day or night. And I remember praying to God. And I remember I never said, you know, like amen in my mind. I never wanted to end my prayers because I didn't want God to leave me. The search for Abby continues again tomorrow morning. He eventually told me that I was on the news. Everybody was looking for me.

He said, I'm going to let you see it. He held his phone around me, and he let me watch the press conference where my mom was looking for me. That's when I really wanted to cry. And we want you back with us, please. I think maybe that's when I did cry for the first time there. And nobody knows where you are. Nobody knows what you're going through.

Great. Abby's horrifying ordeal continued for almost two weeks until her captor asked her to write a letter to her mother, convinced that this was the only way the police would ever stop looking for her. His instructions were to make it look like she had run away, but Abby had other plans. Seeing this as her only opportunity to contact the outside world, the teenager attempted to carve a small message on the back of the page,

using her fingernails. I said, help. I was he kidnapped. I thought, oh my God, I'm going to die. or I'm going to escape somehow. He said, I found your messages, and I just felt my heart sink. It's like, oh my God, he's going to kill me. The kidnapper seemingly had no intention to kill Abby for the time being,

but cruelly punished her nonetheless. He said, you know, I'm thinking of finding something a little more humane for you. He said, I'm thinking of a shot collar. You know, like dogs where he put it on me, and he held a gun gun to my feet, and it was really horrible. I remember I tried not to scream, but ultimately I had to scream. Probably the most pain I've ever experienced. This is torture.

Yeah, it is. I just really wanted to live, though. Still hoping that the police would stop looking for Abby if they thought she had run away, the masked man forced the teenager to write a second letter. This time he made me say, Dear Mom, I'm sorry I did this. The letter would take another week to reach Senya. One month after Abby's disappearance, this was the first of the first time.

This was the first sign that the teenager was still alive. It was really like numbing for the first, maybe four weeks, and then I received the letter. I can't believe it, and I'm happy beyond believe. And I'm also confused about similar language. It's her, but it's not her. As any mother would be able to guess, even though she could recognize Abby's handwriting, Zena couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right with the letter's content. Dear Mom, I miss you and love you more than you can imagine.

I'm sorry I did this. I've seen the newspaper and TV reports. And to answer your questions, yes, I'm alive. I miss you, Mom, but I won't tell you where I am. The police leaned towards Zena's opinion, too. They even prohibited the information from being relayed to the public for Abby's sake. We were able to confirm her DNA profile on the letter. But how she came to write that letter, nobody was sure.

If the victim had somehow been able to sneak a letter out, if she was in fact kidnapped. If her captor knew that, she was at greater risk. Attorney General Jane Young soon realized the letter was their only card. If they hoped to find Abby, they had to risk it, reveal its existence, and ask the public for help once more. We believe that it was, in fact, written by Abby. Someone may now be manipulating her,

and her safety is still absolutely in question. The fact that she had the ability to write to send a letter, does that indicate to you that she's maybe all right? Is this a runaway case and abduction? We are still classifying this as a missing person case. But that press conference had an unanticipated side effect. The public opinion suddenly turned against the missing teenager. There's still lots of questions regarding Abby's disappearance.

We just want to have some honest answers. One of the things that we obviously can't control is what that court of public opinion is. I think people have formed very ardent opinions as to what they think happened. Sounds like Abby's a punk teenager who ran away. It doesn't sound like she's in any danger. She should be forced to pay back the state. This whole story has been fishy from the very beginning. As disinterest grew, so did the rumors, especially at Kenneth's high school,

where Abby, her best friend Miranda, and her boyfriend Jimmy, all attended. Reporters that would say, if it's a runaway, we can't cover it, there's not news. It was definitely a hot topic for gossip. Being in high school, most people want to assume, oh, she was pregnant, that that must be why, that she ran away. But the police had already cleared her boyfriend, Jim. Jimmy as a suspect. The Attorney General had a choice to make. Either she declared Abby a runaway or an abductee. Thankfully for Abby, Jane Young chose the latter. People just don't disappear

off the face of the earth, especially a 14-year-old girl. She didn't drive. We knew that there was money at home that she didn't take. She had only the clothes on her back. No matter where she was, it fit the definition of kidnapping. The lack of media interests slowed the influx of tips from the public to a drag. And quickly, the case went cold. However, Zenya refused to let her daughter's story die. As the months passed by, she continued making public appearances alongside Jane Young. There, she read her desperate pleas out loud in front of the few reporters who still thought her story worthy of the evening news. Dear Abby, I believe you're out there somewhere, watching and listening to me right now.

I miss you and love you so much more than you can imagine. Abby, you're a strong young woman, and I'm still still. and I'm staying strong for you. You are courageous, you are smart, and you are beautiful. Abby, you matter to me. I believe you're alive, and I know that hope speaks louder than fear. Abby, I keep having a dream where you come home, and I give you the biggest hug ever. I know in my heart this dream means something and that it matters.

I pray to God it will come true. Love, Mom. Five months later, in a small town 30 miles north of Conway, 34-year-old firearm machinist Nathaniel Kibby was heading home when a female driver accidentally hit his car. Furious, he got out and knocked the woman down to the ground using the handle of his pistol. Unbeknownst to the police, this seemingly random act of violence had actually been committed by the same man who kidnapped Abby six months earlier. Following the assault, Kibby was arrested in order to surrender his most precious possession, his extensive gun collection. He knew. He's probably going to argue everything you're going to say, and he's going to have some sort of, I know my constitutional rights and argue that point.

He had very strong beliefs about the Constitution and its origins and its meaning. In a move completely inconsistent with his character, Kibi called the police himself ahead of the date of the surrender, asking them to come and come and collect his guns right away. This is the first time for myself that anyone has contacted us ahead of the paperwork getting to us, so that was odd. Once on Kibby's property, police officer Eric Benjamin, who knew him personally, couldn't help but notice the oversized shipping container in the backyard. When asked what was inside, Kibi dismissed the question, citing that the court order required

him to surrender his weapons and nothing else. We didn't have any reason to get closer, and he made sure of that. On top of that, Abbey's disappearance was now far from the headlines. After five months, most of the journalistic community concluded she ran away. Most, but not all. The local news still covered the case and the efforts made by Abby's friends to reach out to the missing teenager. The words, we miss you, Abby, flash across the new video posted on the Bring Abby Home website. It's filled with messages from friends. Dear Abby, I cannot tell you enough how much you are missed. Hi, Abby. I know I haven't seen you in a while. I really

didn't need you back. There's nobody else like you. Letters are also posted on the website. One friend writes, one of the hardest things is knowing that I can't talk to you when I need you the most. Friends share their sadness, confusion, and their hope that these messages will be heard somewhere by Abby. But yeah, we just really, really miss you, Abby. Please be home soon. Following Kibby's clash with the police, the man became increasingly paranoid. This changed the dynamic inside the bunker. Abby was now chained up at all times, and Kibby installed tubes and pumps by the side of her bed so that the teenager could drink on her own while he sometimes stayed out of the bunker for days.

Eventually, Kibby's paranoia reached its climax, and he made an unexpected move. He said, you know too much. He said, so I need to move you. Like, we can't stay here. He put me in the trunk of the car, and we drove for a really long time. He carried me over his shoulder into a room, and he dumped me on a mattress. He made a room for me, which is where I. I lived for months.

I noticed on the door there were screws and then wires. And he told me that he tripped the door so that if for any reason it was busted open, the room would catch on fire. When he tied me up, he said, do you want to know how I know how to do this? He told me about his experiences in juvenile prison and about how they abused them there. Six months into her captivity, this was the first time Kibi opened up to the young teenager and, over the course of the following weeks, their conversation kept growing. Kibby, an atheist and objectivist, would debate with Abby about the existence of God and his libertarian ideals.

As much as she noticed the man enjoyed these exchanges, Abby still saw him as a monster. After all, even though the worst of the torture was behind her, he continued to abuse her almost every day. Did the worst stop? No. No. That happened throughout your captivity. Yeah. But one time, he fell asleep with me. I was facing the door, and I woke up I wasn't wearing a blindfold.

So I remember rolling over and I saw his face and I quickly sat up and I covered my eyes because I was afraid he would kill me now because he said I needed to forget what his face looked like. But as the weeks went by, Abby realized something. The more she befriended Kibby, the less violent and abusive he became. An avid reader, he gave her loads of books to keep her occupied during that period. Amongst them was a cookbook that would later reveal itself to be the key to her kidnapper's demise You know, being there for like nine months, I kind of eventually became weirdly comfortable. And he always told me, he said, you're like the closest thing I'll ever have to a daughter.

I guess he kind of looked at me like he wanted to teach me stuff. So anyway, he had a cookbook, and I would just read the cookbook. But there was a name written in, you know, block letters, and the name was Nate Kibby. I asked him, I said, who's Nate Kibby? He looked a little disappointed, and he just kind of breathed me. said, how do you know my name? Time went on, and Abby learned a lot more about her kidnapper. Not only did he stop wearing his mask around her,

but he also shared more about his disturbing past and beliefs. From Ayn Rand to the signification of the Gadsden flag, Kibby lectured Abby about libertarianism often, and, for that reason, she wasn't surprised when he came up with a scheme to strike back at the government he hated so much. He said, you know, I'm thinking of making counterfeit money, because he said morally, you know, they owe me,

basically. So he said, let's make some fake money. Part of how I gained his trust, I guess, was, you know, I went along with whatever he wanted to do. As Abby and Kibby spent more time together printing money, his interest in her faded. The abuse didn't stop, but he began seeing sex workers instead most of the time. One of them, 27-year-old Lauren Monday from Nashua, had a peculiar encounter with him. I just felt from him like he needed somebody to talk to, and that's all he wanted to do. He said he's done bad things. He said, You know, we all have done bad things in life. The pair rented a hotel room, but, according to Lauren,

Kibby didn't even want her services, only emotional support and reassurance. He rubbed my head and played with my hair and rubbed my face until I fell asleep. When she woke up, Lauren found a pile of $50 bills on the table, but no signs of Kibby. Later that day, she tried to use that money to buy groceries at the local Walmart. The cashier grabbed it. And she said, yeah, just give me one minute. I said, okay, no problem. Minutes later, the cashier returned and informed Lauren

that the police were on their way because the bill she used was a poorly made counterfeit. Furious, Lauren didn't wait a second. I called him immediately, and I swore at him, okay? I said, you could have at least told me. How dare you play with my freedom. Even though Kibby gave her a fake name, she shared his email address and a clear description of his heavily damaged vehicle with the police. I told him, whatever you're fucking making in your damn basement, you better clean it up right now because they are coming for your ass.

Unaware of what happened with Lauren, Abby jumped when Kibby slammed her door open in the bunker, screaming nonsense at the scared teenager. But like she did hundreds of times at this point, Abby kept her cool. She reached out and calmly asked him what was wrong. After nine months in captivity, Abby knew Kibbi knew Kibb. be well, she learned how to act around him, how to prevent his outbursts, and even how to soothe him. Her strategy was twofold, listening and staying calm at all costs, no small feet under her captor's constant abuse and torture. If I were going to write a textbook about

how victims should deal with abductions, the first chapter would be about Abby. Kibby quickly explained what happened before telling Abby to get out. As she stepped outside the room, the teenager realized something shocking. Behind the explosive rigged door was the first room she had been held in, she had never actually left Kibby's bunker. When he made her move four months ago, he had just driven in circles for hours, only to bring her back in the same place, but in a different section of the bunker. Once inside his actual home, Kibi removed Abby's shock collar and handed her a black plastic bag. He gave me back my clothes that I got kidnapped in, said, I need to get you out of here. One could think that Kibi would actually move her to another location

this time, or even kill her and be done with it. But that's what's so unique about Abby's case. By treating her captor like a human being, she'd put him in a real dilemma. Nine months ago, he likely wouldn't have hesitated to get rid of her, but now, the man had grown attached to the young teenager in his own distorted way. This shift came from Abby's incredible resilience and ability to see the good in everyone, even her own tormentor. She also humanized her captor. She essentially played mind games with this guy and was able to gain his trust.

Somehow find a way of seeing the humanity and the person that was treating you with so cruelly and use that as a survival technique. As they got onto the road, she was still unsure of what he would do, maybe drop her in another state or hand her over to someone else. But her heart started racing when she saw a sign along the road reading, Conway ahead. Before long, Kibby stopped the car in the exact spot where he kidnapped her almost a year ago. There were no cars coming either way.

He said, get out. I slammed the door and he drove off. Just like that, that was it. I looked back on my freedom and it was something that I really wanted to experience again and I really longed for. I remember looking up and laughing, just being so happy. Like, oh my God, this actually happened. I'm a free person. I never thought it would happen to me, but I'm free and I just walked home.

In a twist as unbelievable as it is ironic, Abby got to finish her nine-month-long walk home. She was even wearing the same boots that had brought her there in the first place. I remember when I came up to my doorstep, I could hear my mom talking on the phone. I could hear her voice. Open the door and I said, Mom. I remember she said, Abby, and then I remember she ran out. It was almost like, it was a shock. Like, I had this shutter, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

That was such a beautiful moment. I remember just the look on her face. I remember seeing her, and she looked different. She really did. I could see stress, the months of stress, in her face. And it kind of killed me a little bit, but I was just so relieved to see her. But things were far from over for Abby. The last thing Kibby said before releasing her was that, since the civil case against him had been dropped, the police gave him back his guns.

If she ever revealed his identity, she could expect him or one of his libertarian friends to come for her in retaliation, willing to do anything to protect her family. Abby kept Kibby's name a secret. Her captor told her that he would kill police if they came to get him, that he would kill her family. He made all kinds of threats. She doesn't know the name, but I can't tell you because he's going to come and kill us. He's everywhere. He knows I'm telling you this now.

I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I said he doesn't. And, like, we're in a public place. She's like, yeah, he's going to come and shoot us. When this information came to light, the public's outrage was reignited, repeating the same drama surrounding Abby's letter from seven months ago, everyone criticized and blamed the survivor for her silence. Was the child held prisoner nine long months?

Was that for real? Even without Abby's involvement, Lauren Monday's deposition about the counterfeit money should have indirectly led police to the kidnapper. However, at the time, New Hampshire was dealing with the widespread counterfeit money operation tied to groups unrelated to Kibby. Right now, Claremont police are warning people to be on the lookout for counterfeit cash. Is this a larger part of a bigger group of people? is this just an isolated incident?

With her back against the wall, Abby had to make a choice. Thanks to her family's love and reassurance, she gathered her courage and made sure Kibi never harmed anyone else by finally revealing his identity to the FBI. In cooperation with local police, the Bureau organized a large-scale raid of Kibi's property. I heard the radio communication say that he had a pistol in his waistband, and I really felt like the next communication was going to be

we were going to hear that there were shots fired. To the federal agent's surprise, but not the local police, Kibi immediately surrendered. Nate Kibby behaved like Nate Kibby always behaved. He was violent in situations where he had the upper hand. He was never physically confrontational with the police. For the next two and a half years, investigators in tow with Attorney General Jane Young built their case while Kibby awaited judgment in jail,

and the results spoke for themselves. There was enough evidence to charge the 34-year-old with 183 crimes, from kidnapping to hundreds of sexual assaults to the production of counterfeiting. money, the suspect had no choice but to accept a court-mandated plea deal for seven of those charges, guaranteeing him a sentence of 45 to 90 years. Well, initially, Nathaniel Kibby faced 183 charges, but with a plea deal with the state, pled guilty to seven of those charges. Now, Kibi will spend 45 to 90 years behind prison bars.

What this investigation revealed is that every painstaking detail that the victim provided was in fact true, no doubt. Everything supported by evidence, hundreds of pieces of evidence, physical evidence, purchase records, statements of other individuals. Every day, I'm just glad that she got away. She was one who got away, and it's not a cold case file of another innocent child. Since Kibby's sentencing, Abby has achieved many things, from finishing high school to becoming a hairdresser, a goal she had even before the kidnapping. she also became a proud mother and an executive producer on a film based on her case. However, her most profound victory came before all of that. On May 26, 2016, she finally took the stand in court and faced Kibby on her own terms.

A dramatic day in a New Hampshire courtroom, a young woman face-to-face with a 34-year-old man under arrest and now charged with kidnapping her. It seems like forever two years have gone by, but I often think about Kibby. he did affects my life on a day-to-day basis. My name does not mean the same thing anymore that it did before October 9th. But I need to be safe, and so does my family. When you decided to point that gun at me, that was not my choice. It was not my choice to go to your house. It was not my choice for you to fight me. It was not my choice for you to threaten me. You did all that yourself. I'm just telling me the truth. Because something

Sometimes I feel like I wear this whole thing like a millstone around my ankle. Sometimes I still feel like I'm chained and sometimes I don't feel like I'm completely free. There are certain aspects of my freedom that I can never get back. But in the same aspect, I want you to know that I appreciate my frequent because of you, and that I enjoy and appreciate life because of you. And that I never look at sunshine in the same way. Some people might call you a monster, but I've always looked at you as human. And I want you to know that even though life became a lot harder after that,

I still forgive you.