Unseen - The Real Life Hansel & Gretel Kidnapping | The Case of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither | UNSEEN

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

“I was thinking, is this how I’m gonna die?” On the night of November 2nd, 2014, security cameras capture a disturbing sequence of events after 22 year-old Carlesha Freeland-Gaither misses her bus following a birthday party in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A strange man approaches, asking for directions– but what Carlesha doesn’t know is that this man, Delvin Barnes, is a dangerous kidnapper, rapist and killer from Virginia evading police. However, Carlesha is far smarter than Delvin anticipated, and as he continues his crimes on the run and now with her as hostage, from Germantown to Jessup, Maryland, she will leave a trail of clues for the cops to be able to finally put an end to his reign of terror. - Credits: Directed, written and edited by Justin Chalifoux Researched by Tiffany Loxton Voiceover by William Akana Produced by Alexandra Salois & Salim Sader - Sources: See No Evil - Captured on Camera (Investigation Discovery) Caught on Camera: The Untold Stories (Discovery Plus) Finding Carlesha (NBC 10)Crimes Gone Viral (Lion Television) Abducted off the Street: The Carlesha Gaither Story (Lifetime) ABC-7CBS Philadelphia NBC 10 Philadelphia WBAL TV-11 Baltimore 28/22 News Dwayne Fletcher (Instagram) Top 4 Wildest High-Speed Police Chases with Suspects on the Run.mp4 (Law & Crime Network) Philadelphia Police Department Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pay attention to the woman in this video, as she's about to get kidnapped. On November 2nd, 2014, Philadelphia police receives a call from this man who says he saw a woman being forced into a car. Minutes later, police get their hands on this security footage. The first thing they see is a car turning on Coulter Street. 20 seconds later, a bus stops at the red light, but it's impossible to see if anyone got off. Until 16 seconds later, a dark shape emerges. The young woman is walking alone at night after she missed the bus, but look closer. She has no idea that someone is following her.

As she starts crossing the street, the man engages her in conversation. She turns around to face him, but you can see that she's still backing up. Then they seem to shake hands, but the man doesn't let go, and they disappear behind the street corner. On the ground, police find a pair of glasses, some broken glass, and a phone. They have no idea what happened beyond that corner, until they discover there's another security camera. Detectives queue the footage at 9.39 p.m. just before the bus arrives. Again, they see the car that turned on Coulter Street. It slows down and parks just beside the camera.

Then the bus comes into view. After it stops on Green Street, they expect to see the young woman appear in the top in about 40 seconds, but just 16 seconds later, there's an ominous development. A dark figure emerges from the bottom of the screen. They see him crossing over to the north side. Detectives are convinced this is the same man. The woman is now visible too. The suspect hesitates before he follows her through the intersection. The other camera was ambiguous, but this view is not.

And what happens next may be disturbing for some viewers. What you are watching is the woman being dragged down the sidewalk by the man. Although she's fighting to get away, he completely overpowers her. When they approach the camera, the man forces her into the parked car. At the last minute, it appears she is trying to get away. But look closer. She does something that could save her life. When police review the footage, they see the woman is carrying her cell phone,

while the man forces her down the street. But seconds later, she drops it on the ground. With her cell phone, police can finally identify the kidnapped. woman. Twenty-two-year-old nursing aide, Carlisha Freeland Gaither. As detectives are re-watching the footage, they notice something else in the recording. At the top, there's another dark shape that appears to be walking around in the street. This is Dwayne Fletcher, the same man who called 911. He tells police he saw Carlisha before the attack, and she already looked nervous. At 9.39 p.m., he was walking on Green Street, headed to the nearby convenience store.

when he came up behind her. When I got behind her, she just kept looking back. So I was like, okay, well, let me get on the other side of the street so she could feel a little bit safe. But just one minute later, he hears a scream. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, saying, help, help. Fletcher hurries back down Coulter Street before he sees Carlisha getting shoved into a parked car. He runs over as fast as he can.

The car was like kind of rocking, and the windows just exploded. It was a crazy sound. But I think she probably got shot. Dwayne takes cover, convinced that what he heard was a gunshot. Then, the car drives off. Fletcher can't help but think he could have done more to save her. But his heart drops when police tell him no bullets or shell casings were found at the crime scene, and that the sound he heard was likely the window exploding as the girl was trying to escape.

Fletcher is destroyed. If the girl dies, he might never forgive himself. Monday, November 3rd, 12 hours after Carlisha was abducted, agents have already interviewed every family member, friend, and coworker, but still, police have no leads. Other family members joined the search, printing missing posters, and handing out flyers. Any kind of things you could find and pick up just to give us a clue to which you may be. If anybody knows anything about her, please get in contact with me, my dad, anybody.

Authorities turn to the public for help, broadcasting the footage of the abduction on every news, You are watching the abductor, the kidnapper, forcibly take her. Right now, we're reaching out to the public for any assistance they can give us. The problem is, the quality of the footage makes it impossible to identify the man, a man they should know, because he's already the suspect in another abduction, which took place just one month earlier. His name is Delvin Barnes, and he's an alleged serial killer. A 16-year-old Richmond girl who narrowly escaped with her life.

They said Barnes took her out back, stripped her naked, poured gasoline and bleach all over her, asked her how she wanted to die, and then started digging a grave. When the teenage girl miraculously escaped, she told police that Barnes had shown her pictures of his previous victims. He would hold them captive for two days before disposing of them. When the girl was sent to the hospital, police tried serving an arrest warrant on Barnes, but he was already gone. The clock is ticking before the same thing happened. to Carlisha. Tuesday, November 4th, 36 hours have passed.

A $47,000 reward is announced, and finally, the tips start pouring in. We had a team of agents and task force officers reviewing all of the calls coming in, and then anything of merit, they sent it out to the agents that were on the field. Of the hundreds of calls that come in, one of them stands out. A woman says she found unusual debris on her property, but she's from having to have a Aver de Grace, Maryland, more than 70 miles from more Carlitia was kidnapped. She called us and said that, she said, I don't know if this is going to be abused to you all, but I have a farm, and there's some broken glass and some trash on my lawn.

So we deployed agents out there to investigate. When agents arrive on site, they're stunned. Apart from the broken glass, they find candy wrappers, potato chip bags, a cut zip tie, a receipt, and an earring, all inside. a single plastic bag. The evidence is too clean, almost like it was planted there for someone to find. But what catches their attention is that the receipt is from a supermarket back in Philadelphia, and the timestamps says 150 p.m., just hours before the abduction. So the agents on the ground immediately called and said, can you go there to see if there's any video there that can help

with this case? The agents are hoping they could get a better image of their suspect. At 143 p.m., In walks a man wearing a black hat, a dark hoodie, and pants, just like Carlishe's abductor. He puts his hand up to his face, seemingly trying to hide his identity. The problem is, none of the camera angles gives them a clear view of his face. And while the footage is shared with the public, there's little chance it will help the investigation. But the FBI have worse news. Back at the farm in Maryland, Special Agent Percy Giles makes a disturbing discovery when they find car tracks that lead into a nearby body of water.

We came to the conclusion that if somebody wanted to dispose of a body, they would dispose of it there. The FBI immediately sends out divers to search the entire Cessaguana River all through the night. They also had airplanes up, helicopters up, looking for heat signatures because we believed that we would find a body, her body. It's November 4th, 940 p.m. 48 hours have passed since the abduction, and investigators are losing hope that they will ever find Carlisha alive. At the same moment, just over 30 miles away, Carlisha is trapped inside the trunk of a moving car, wondering what's going to happen next. I wanted to know if he was going to kill me or if he was going to rape me or both.

She doesn't know if she'll ever be saved, but Carleisha has been doing everything she can to leave clues behind for the police. Her story starts on November 2nd, the day of the abduction. At around 9.30 p.m., Kyrleisha is walking home from a birthday party and headed to a bus stop. I can feel like there's another person and it's dark at the time, so being an only female on the street and you feel a guy walking Hajjou, I got scared. He immediately walked right across the street, so I can feel comfortable. Carlisha breathes a sigh of relief, thinking maybe she was worried for nothing. A few seconds later, a man walks up to her, asking for directions. After Kralesha helps him find his way,

he holds out his hand to thank her. I shook his hand. When I tried to let go, realize at that point that he wasn't going to let my hand. As he starts dragging her down the street, she's overtaken by fear. No matter how hard she fights back, he still manages to carry her to his car. But with everything that's happening, she still has the presence of mind to leave a clue behind. After watching so many movies, I realized the first thing they take from you with any way to call somebody. It was like either take it with you and he can throw the phone out somewhere where nobody would find it or keep your phone right here where hopefully people that know you know this is something that you really do and they can find you. The man drags her back into his car and gets into the front seat.

While his back is turned, Carlisha rushes over to try and open the other door, but the child lock is on. Under his seat, I see a hammer. I hit him with the hammer. It was cloned in his head. There was blood everywhere. And then I hit the window with the hammer. I thought, I was safe.

I was free. He turns around and pull me back in. The man then starts the car and drives off. Carlisha is trapped. She doesn't know what his intentions are, and she's terrified. As they drive out of Philadelphia, Carleisha can see her whole world pass by. I can see my home.

I can see my job. It's like my life was passing me for my eyes. The man then gets on Interstate 95 and heads south. Less than 30 minutes after the abduction, he gets off the highway and parks a car in a secluded area. This is where he will rape Carleisha for what will be the first of many times. Tuesday, November 3rd. Carlisha is locked in the trunk of a moving car when she feels it slowing down in a rugged area.

When the man opens the trunk, she finds they're parked in a field, far from any house or passing cars. It's still dark outside, and the man intends to sleep, but he's not about to let Carlisha out of his sight. It was still touching me on top or some part of him was still holding me. I feel like if I nudge or move or try, I just can think of a way to really get out. As she's lying there in the dark, unable to sleep with a monster right next to her, the horrific events keep playing in her mind, and it's all too much to bear. She's thinking of giving up. And then, she thinks of her grandmother, who took her in as a child and took care of her

when her parents couldn't, her grandmother who loves her so much and who would be heartbroken if she were to lose her. Carlisha knows she must do everything she can to stay alive so she can see her grandmother her again. 5.45 a.m. when the man finally wakes up, he asks Carlisha to throw off the trash he has in the car. As she's standing beside the vehicle in the middle of an open field, the idea of running away immediately comes to mind. Maybe I could have ran and try to get to some house, but then again, I know what else he had in the car or what he was going to do. If I ran, I just knew at that moment I was living and I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize.

But as she's stuffing the trash inside a plastic bag, she gets another idea. Among the empty chip bags and candy wrappers, she puts a handful of shattered glass from the floor of the car, the cut zip ties, and one of her earrings inside the bag. Just try to get them as much proof that I'm still here. 6 a.m., the man drives into the parking lot of a PNC bank. He asks Carlisha for her card, and she quickly realizes this is a good thing. I just knew if I give him my car number. and gave him the information,

then that might be helpful to know where I was next from the transaction. November 4th, two days since Carlisha was kidnapped. The FBI gets notified that her card was used, just five miles down the road from where the trash was found. When they view the footage from the ATM booth, the images show the same man from the supermarket walking in. Once again, the quality of the footage makes it impossible to see his face. However, there's one thing the footage tells detective,

Carlisha must have been alive at the time it was recorded. She had to give him her pin code so he could use her card. The agents on site get another idea. Is it possible the man spent some of his money nearby? They start with a convenience store less than a mile away. Finally, they hit Patered. We saw the same person that we believed to be in all the other camera angles. Now, the FBI has a face for their suspect and the footage of him walking.

through the convenience store is aired across the country. But by the end of the day, they still haven't found the identity of their suspect. And after being held captive for more than 48 hours, Carlisha is beginning to lose hope that she will ever be found. I just felt like maybe this may be landed life. On day two, Carlisha is no longer zip tied, and the man leaves the back seat down, while Carlisha is in the trunk. As he's focused on driving, Carlisha tries to engage him in conversation. I kept trying to talk to him and just try to figure out what was going on through his head. And he was willing to talk. I thought let's try to get as much information out.

She uses the training she had from working with high-risk patients at the hospital. Slowly, she disarms him and encourages him to open up. This is how she learns he has a daughter. How much he loves her and good things, like, he's beautiful. I was hoping that I can bring the person he used to be back. But then Delvin Barnes starts talking about his other victims. He gives her details of what he did to each of them, and she quickly understands. She's dealing with a serial killer.

November 5th, three days after the abduction, officials in Richmond, Virginia, see the footage on the news and finally identify the man as 37-year-old Delvin Barnes, a suspect in another kidnapping with a history of violent crimes. The news is horrifying. We were extremely nervous for Carlisha's safety. We thought the worst. They need to act fast. A team is sent to Virginia, to Barnes residents in Richmond.

They interrogate his family, neighbors, ex-partners. One ex-wife confirms Barnes' car was, in fact, a gray Ford Taurus, the same vehicle that was seen driving off with Carlisha. Agents quickly go around the city and locate the dealership where the car was purchased. By a stroke of luck, it just so happens. The dealership had put a tracking device on. Barnes car. If a person who purchased a car there had bad credit, they would often put a GPS device

on that vehicle to make sure if they didn't make their payments that the car company could find the car and repossess it. The dealership is able to pinpoint the exact location of the car. That's when they find out, the vehicle is still in Maryland in a town called Jessup. We had several teams surveilling the area to identify the vehicle. While every unit is being dispatched to the location, Barnes is making. He said that we needed another car because he was running out of a license place to switch. That day, Barnes is parked at a strip mall and plans to hijack another vehicle.

It's 5.15 p.m., ATF Special Agent David Cheplac is one of the closest to Jessup, Maryland. With the description of the vehicle, he heads to a local strip mall parking lot. Searching the parking lot. I came across the grade for tourists. From a distance, he can see there's a black garbage bag covering up a broken window. He knows it's the right vehicle, but they can't see anyone inside the car. We still didn't know if our victim was alive or not. The ATF agents on site are instructed to wait for backup before approaching the vehicle.

Agent Erlalus had essentially decided that if that car starts to move, we're taking it. And then, oh God, he just came from the back seat. We automatically all sprung into action. Agents surround the vehicle in a hurry. While Delvin Barnes is sitting in the driver's seat, the agents point their guns at him and put him under arrest. He had no idea we were coming. He had no idea what was going on. Once I realized that Mr. Barnes was already in custody and that my team had everything under control, I approached the vehicle.

The agents then make their way to the rear door, but the window is blocked by the garbage bag. They still can't see if Carlisha is inside the vehicle. Until finally, they opened the door. I could hear from the agent's cell phone in the backgrounds. Oh my God, she's here. You ask me, what is your name? And I told her, my name's Carlisha. I'm the one you want.

Carlisha Freeland has been rescued. Her abductor has been arrested. Once I realized that I was being rescued, I felt, I felt at peace. Just very happy to know I'm being rescued. going home, to know that I'm going to live, to know I'm going to be safe. Carlisha is taken to the hospital, where finally, she's reunited with her grandmother. When they allowed me to walk into the room and Carlisha saw me, it was too emotional for me. Now that she's safe in her grandmother's arms, Herlisha is finally able to rest, knowing she fulfilled

her promise. When news of her rescue was shared with the public, Dwayne Fletcher, the man who witnessed the abduction, can finally breathe a sigh of relief. And while he blames himself for not doing enough, others see him as a hero in this story. Dwayne Fletcher got a hero's welcome in City Council, credited with helping save the victim's life. When she learned about what Dwayne Fletcher did the night of her abduction, Carlisha wanted to reach out to express her gratitude.

One year after the incident, they finally spoke on the phone. It was so unreal. It was just careful. It's like my growing age. Oh, really. While he maintains that what he did was just the right thing to do, Fletcher sees Corleisha's rescue as a turning point from his troubled past life. Today, Fletcher owns a boxing gym in North Philadelphia,

where he teaches young girls and women how to defend themselves. He says he wants to make sure that what happened to Carleisha never happens again. As for Delvin Barnes, three days after he abducted Carleisha Freeland Gaither, he's interrogated by federal agents. He confessed to abduct her, sexually assaulting her, and he confessed everything. Barnes pleads guilty to one count of federal kidnapping and is sentenced to 35 years in prison. Because of Carlisha, his reign of terror has finally come to an end. I'm still trying to deal with it.

So I have really bad nightmares. And, you know, I get scared to even be in my house. but I just try to take one day at a time and just try to say, hey, this is your second chance. Today, Carlisha is a mom, and she embraces every moment with her son. Just watch a hell. He reminds me of what life is supposed to be. How happy and innocent and free you're supposed to feel.

When she looks back at the events of 2014, Carlisha says she's glad Barnes picked her instead of someone else. It was something that was meant to happen. God, he didn't need to go through it because it was something that I can handle. I'm happy he chose me because when I think about somebody else, I wouldn't want to put them through that. I'm still here and I'm still living and I get to still tell my story and hopefully help somebody else. Carlisha's story tells us that even when the odds are stacked against us, and things seem impossible, we must never give up.