Abigail Part 6
We felt it was time to schedule a family meeting with the grandparents, aunts, and uncles. In my experience, the victim may cut off communication with the parents, but they often will pick the weakest family member to stay connected with. I honestly believe that the bad guys instruct or manipulate them to do this in order to first divide the family. But most importantly through this familial connection they can keep gathering information about the parents and who is helping them. I asked Abigail’s parents if we could have a family meeting. They were feeling quite relieved to finally have an action plan in place and significantly to have help telling the family what was happening. They set it up right away!
At that meeting, Abigail’s parents and I directly but delicately told the family members what dangers surrounded Abigail. We left out any details that would embarrass Abigail but were truthful about the bad guys and their motives. This ended up being a very lengthy meeting as Abigail has a large family. I spent time with them as a group and then individually with each one who had further questions. We asked for their help, letting them know that we needed any knowledge they had, especially if Abigail had contacted them. Furthermore, we requested their patience regarding our withholding certain info from them. We explained that it was not that we distrusted them, it was a matter of information control being a monitor of how we would know if we were making progress.
Abigail’s grandfather informed us he was scheduled to have lunch with her the next afternoon. But he said that she often canceled or just did not show up to previous planned meetings. I thought we should put surveillance on them. Thanks to R.J. we had two wonderful investigators with two tasks. Watch and record the meeting, and make sure no harm comes to the grandfather.
I prayed all night that Abigail would keep her appointment with her grandfather. Surveillance is expensive, even for a family with means. Our team arrived very early, drove around, and observed the location, then were in place an hour before the meeting so they could see who arrived to observe Abigail while she met her grandfather.
We engaged her grandfather’s help. We asked him to record his conversation. They were in a state where that is legal. We also asked if he would take a selfie with her. He has a new iPhone, so he was happy to do so. We also asked the grandfather and the rest of the family to consider not giving Abigail anything of value: such as money, heirlooms, phones, etc.
We predicted that she would soon begin asking for things like this. The reason we advised against doing so, is because it is another way how the bad guys monetize their victims by creating a cash flow from the family members. They instruct them to get money and things of value. Creating this money stream from the family is another reason why they target the family members.
This is often an exceedingly difficult decision to make as you don’t want to upset a victim by not giving them what they ask for. If you give money, she may continue to visit and stay in touch. To combat this, we advise family members to postpone an answer, but we don't want to increase the pressure from the bad guys to cause her to cause harm to the family. If you give, they will want more and more and more. They will never get enough.
From there, we can strategize about how to give her what she asked for in a way that helps us get her free rather than keeps her captive. Bad guys rarely let go of a money stream. We did not want to compound their efforts to keep her.
The surveillance team was in place when Abigail came. She was genuinely glad to see her grandfather and he told us that she did not seem to be the victim of the circumstances that we described. She did ask for money, not directly, but just mentioned that her car needed some repairs. While they were eating, a “friend” stopped by the table as if he just saw Abigail as he was walking by. Abigail introduced him to her grandfather as Rex, a friend. Rex smiled and left. Abigail seemed a bit subdued when Rex spoke but nothing overtly showing fear, according to her grandfather. She had to leave after about 30 minutes and said she would call her grandfather soon. She left him alone at the table.
The surveillance team followed Abigail and reported back about 45 minutes later. Abigail was not alone after she left the restaurant. Rex escorted her to his car. Obviously, this was a demonstration of control as Abigail had her own car which her parents had given her. When they left, Abigail was driven to the same home spotted from the previous intel that RJ gathered. This was the place where only men came and left from the house and the women stayed behind. As noted previously, once Abigail went in, she did not come out for two more days. Another unidentified man was observed driving Abigail’s car.
RJ’s investigators interviewed the neighbors. The three neighbors they interviewed believed the house was a brothel. They reported a lot of men coming and going, loud music, and the women rarely left. If they did, they were escorted and driven by the men who managed the “house”.
One neighbor was on the HOA board and said they had many complaints and were trying to get them out of the neighborhood. They appeared to be renters, but the homeowner was not cooperative with the HOA. The investigator asked the neighbor on the HOA to call us if he heard they were evicted.
Surveillance is extremely expensive and very labor intensive. It takes a minimum of three people per 24-hour period. They need to have incredibly good equipment to photograph or record anything that happens. They also need a full tank of fuel, disguises like hats and other tools to be effective at blending into the neighborhood without being detected. They also cannot just take a lunch break or bathroom break at will. In addition to all of this, they need to know what to look for and what to do if they see something. Quite frankly, this is the part I LOVE.
I get to bring this team of parents, family members, private investigator data, private investigators, and surveillance all together with my training and experience to create a useful result to get Abigail a small window of opportunity to get free!!!
Abigail Part 7 is coming soon… Stay tuned!