I'm Craig Malthus. Cheers. Cheers. I've always been a glass half bowl kind of guy.
And now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too. Some really fascinating folks who shared their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges, their stories are funny, and my candy. So I hope you'll join in each week. Who knows?
You might just come away with your own glass half bowl. Search glass half bowl with Craig Malthus from today on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor, host of the podcast The Drink. This month I'm grabbing a matcha latte with comedian Taylor Tonlinson.
The drink is always about someone's journey to the top and Taylor's story is remarkable. She tells us all about her unlikely path from performing in churches, all the way to headlining her own Netflix specials, like her latest prodigal daughter. And she opens up about her religious upbringing, what drew her to stand up, and how she feels when she gets on that stage. Hope you'll listen and follow the drink wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi everybody, it's Josh Makowitz, and we're talking Dateline today with Keith Morrison. Hi, Keith. How you doing, Josh? I'm good.
We're here to talk about Keith's episode called The Ranch, which is about the very frightening kidnapping of a guy named Eduardo Valsica. He's a father and husband. This all happened in a small city in Mexico. He was a really unbelievable fight by his family, by his wife and kids to get him home.
Now, if you have not listened to this broadcast yet, it is the episode right below this one on the list of podcasts that you just chose from. So you can go there and listen to it, or if you want to watch it, stream it on Peacock, and then come back here. In addition to talking about this episode, Keith has a clip that you're going to play for us from your interview with Jane Valsica. And then later we will answer some questions about the broadcast from social media.
So let's talk Dateline. Let's do it. So this is, I'm going to say, an older episode. This was done in, what, 2010, something like that?
Yes, we have done this several times. It remains one of my favorite stories ever, and it's probably the reason why we went back to recheck on it from time to time over the years, and things changed. Things changed in sometimes very dramatic ways. But the original story itself is extremely dramatic, and also romantic, and also terrifying, and also life-affirming, and the people in it.
The people in this story remarkable, remarkable family. Well, and as a story, it's got a couple of twists that you don't see coming. That is very true. So let me ask you this to begin with.
You know, I mean, Jane and Eduardo, their story is sort of fairy tale. I mean, like they meet by chance. Next thing you know, they're going out, next thing you know, she's coming down to Mexico, and then they're living together in this sort of beautiful bubble, as they call it. This kind of kidnapping, for ransom, is unheard of in the United States.
It is absolute antique in terms of crimes in the United States, but not in Mexico, and not in a lot of other countries, too. My question is, were they ever concerned about this when they moved down there? No, they were not. They moved to a lovely town, San Miguel de Allende is, unlike any other place on the planet that I've been able to determine.
It's just, it's an amazing place, full of really beautiful, lovely, friendly people. It's also a extremely popular expatriate community. There are tons and tons of Americans and Canadians and Europeans who have decided just to move there and live there very happily in their retirement. It's a wonderful place.
And Jane and Eduardo, both attracted to this place, found a piece of property at the edge of town, on which they constructed an absolutely magical ranch. And then raised this truly idyllic family. But it was a peaceful place. You know, when they set up the Waldorf School, and the kids came from all around town, and they had this tradition of kind of going off in the morning and bumping down the roads to the school, it was on their own property.
It was phenomenal. And that town, and much of Mexico, in fact, are often thought to be maybe dangerous places, but it wasn't dangerous. It was no more dangerous than it is, you know, in some of the towns in America. Except that people don't get kidnapped for ransom often enough to generate an industry that's there to respond to it the way it exists in Mexico.
Right. Sure. And there was a spate of them that occurred right around the time they happened to live there. And when we went to the very top of the Mexican law enforcement apparatus, and were given an audience with the leaders of the Mexican version of the FBI, and they opened the doors to us to show us what they were doing.
They believed that this was part of a kind of a rebellious group that was committing kidnappings as a way to commit political statements and to finance themselves, et cetera, et cetera. And so that's what they thought this particular kidnapping was too, and that's what the investigation was. And in the end, of course, it turned out it wasn't that at all. It was all the more shocking because it was just such a garden variety thing.
Just a little guy doing a copy of this stuff and kidnapping a couple of people around town. We found, we believe, the kidnapper's house, and we were able to, I mean, he left in a hurry. That was clear. But he lived a, it would appear to be a classic middle-class life where he had a family, and he was, I mean, he sat on the board of the Waldorf School.
They saw each other every day. The kidnapper on a regular basis saw Jane Valsaca, and she was going through hell trying to find her husband, and he was the one who was holding him in the box. It was also instructive and illuminating to crawl into that little, we built the box. We built a box that was according to Eduardo's constructions.
So it was about the same size, about the same kind of material. And that, I have to say, that box, I mean, I don't think of myself as claustrophobic, but that box would have given me some serious issues. Oh, Scott. Yeah.
You'd figure, so there's little boxes, not quite long enough for you to lie down in. Certainly not high enough for you to stand up in. You can't really move around much in it. You're in a crouch all the time.
The inside of it is carpeted with rough, rough carpets so that you move yourself on it. You're going to have bed stores in a matter of a couple hours. There's a light on, 24 hours a day in the top of the box. It's right above your head.
I mean, this is all very, very close to you. So it's bright light, this black carpet, and rap music playing, 24 hours a day. So you can barely hear yourself. And the only thing you're going to have to eat in the course of a day is maybe, you know, half an apple or a slightly rotten egg that they throw in at you.
I'm sort of surprised. I was thinking about this while I was watching the episode. I'm sort of surprised I didn't take better care of him because, I mean, he's their annuity. Like, anything, like, people start to think or has a heart attack or something.
Like, they don't get any money. Yeah. Well, they shot him several times. It's not what they did.
It's not what they survived. No, I mean, I, the only part of what he quoted them as saying, the kidnappers was that, you know, if you hear anything, if you can hear what's going on, that's why we have the music playing. If you hear what's going on, then we got to kill you because you probably hear our voices and you'll know where we are. But there's obviously ways to do that to soundproof a room that doesn't require, you know, deafening music and like starving your, your, your kidnap E to death.
Them strike me as the smartest way of doing that job. If they wanted to be cruel, I could not think of many more ways to do it. And he's half his body weight when he comes back and she barely recognizes him. Right.
First down at Meddwarto, we went for dinner and he was exclaiming on the delightfulness of food and how he loved all food now. So he ordered, remember, he ordered a sardine appetizer. They brought the sardines to the table and normally people will kind of like, it was just a full sardine came to the table, right? You take the fish off the bones and you eat the fish and you leave the bone.
He ate the whole thing. He ordered chicken. He ate the bones of the chicken. He ground him up in his teeth.
He ate the whole thing. He just loved all food. It changed the way he ate. It totally changed his appreciation of those kinds of things about life.
I'm guessing that he should have gotten some significant psychotherapy when, when that period of captivity was over because that's a, that's a hard thing to live with. It's tough and I have to confess to you. I can't be sure. I mean, he seems pretty well adjusted.
He was an only well adjusted all along and just so incredibly grateful to be alive. Does Eduardo think that this was a one man job or that he had, he had help? That there were other people? There was thought to be three or four people in on this.
There had to be other people for the actual snatch. Yeah. Yes. But they have not been charged in connection with Eduardo's case.
I'm aware of anyway. They may be at some point to start to know. Um, when we come back, we're going to have more from Keith's interview with Jane Valseca. Hey guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday sit down podcast.
On this week's episode, I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world, Mumford and Sons, as we get the boys together to talk about their new number one album, Prize Fighter, and the evolution of that irresistible foot stomping sound. You can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts. Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the cart today. Workout's meal plans.
It's your fast track to a healthier you. And now during the Xfinity member celebration, members can get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription. Head to Xfinity.com to learn more. Xfinity, imagine that.
Subscription automatically reduced each year at 65.99 plus taxes and fees until canceled. All brands may 20th, 26th prices subject to change. Visit today.com slash Xfinity for full off returns and details. He was a young Marine.
She didn't care about convention. They made a life together. Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected.
And utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Makers and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all new podcast from Dateline. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts. At the beginning, the way everybody's talking about Eduardo, you think he's dead.
And they're even talking about him sort of in the past tense. And the kids say things like, you know, I knew right then that I would never see my dad again. Right? So I'm thinking like, okay, he doesn't make it back.
How does this, how does this unspool? How does it result? I thought you guys did a great job with that. But so by the time you went down there to do these interviews the first time around, he was already out and obviously Jane was still alive.
That's correct. Jane had had several bouts with breast cancer at that point. And just imagine this, and it's in our story too, but that she was suffering rather horribly with her disease. She should have been getting full-time attention.
But she was concentrated on the effort to find Eduardo and to free Eduardo. And she would travel to the United States to get treatment every once in a while, and then she'd be right back to Mexico. I've interviewed a lot of people over the years, and I will say this about those two. Eduardo Velsica is one of the most upbeat and full of life and interesting men I've ever seen.
You could be in a terrible, terrible funk, and you go see Eduardo and five minutes later, you're dancing and happy. But Jane was, if you were going to write a romance story and you wanted somebody to be the maiden you fall into, the hero falls in love with because of her attributes, her loveliness, her lovingness, her sweetness, her charm, it would be Jane Velsica. She was extraordinary. I think we all, the whole crew was in love with Jane.
And so when she died, it was heartbreaking. I can only imagine how difficult it had to be, sort of reading these ransom letters that Eduardo, he's forced to write, which he's talking to her, clearly not in the way he's normally talked to her. Yeah, he's yelling at her. Why don't you care about me?
I mean, I get it. Your kidnappers are making you do that, but it's going to be a horrible thing. That's right. Early on, you kind of learn.
They kind of learn what I sort of already know from reading about stories like this, which is, this isn't going to come back. This isn't going to be over in a week. This won't be over in a month. This can be a long, hard slog and expensive and filled with, you know, crushing, you know, sort of ups and downs and things you think are going to happen and they don't happen.
And boy, that was true because it just felt like she was disappointed at almost every turn again and again and again. And yet you really get the feeling that like, you know, I mean, as regrettable as it was, she was like the perfect spouse for that. Like she kept the family together and she knew what to say to the kids or at least she figured out what worked and she never lost hope, which is just amazing. Yeah.
Well, you know, again, that's one of the elements that made this a great story. So let's listen to that sound about Jane, in which Jane talks about how she and Eduardo met and you get some sense of this sort of fairytale life they lived. Well, it's kind of like one of these fairytale stories. I just come back from a big trip to Europe when I met Eduardo, my husband at the set in place, Gourmet, which is a Gourmet supermarket in Bethesda, Maryland.
I was there to use the public phone at the entrance of the market. And Eduardo and his older son from previous marriage were in the shop buying chocolates. So I parked my car and I was running to the public phone to make a couple of calls that I needed to make. And he was coming out, thought I was trying to rush in before closing time.
The manager had locked the door behind him. So he very, very friendly as he is. Said to me, oh, I'm starting this. They just closed the door behind us.
They won't be letting you in. And I said, oh, it's okay. I'm just going to use the phone. And that was it.
But I wouldn't say it was love at first sight, but there was definitely initial attraction. He went to his car and I'm making my phone calls. And I hear moments later, a car passing. So because there had been this initial attraction, I went to turn with phone over my right shoulder just to see if it was him.
And it was. It's our eyes met. So he ended up turning around and came back and we struck up a conversation. I asked him where he was from.
He said he was from Mexico and I talked about my love of travel. He said, oh, if you go to Mexico, you have to go to San Diego the other day. And friends had just told me about it as well. So that was the excuse to change business cards and keep in touch, which we did.
We spent the following month with lots of phone calls, letters, sent packages to each other, exchanged photographs and fell in love with the phone really. So he convinced me after about a month to come meet him somewhere. And he rented a beautiful suite in Exapa that had two bedrooms. So it was very much a gentleman and I appreciated that.
And so I went and we fell in love. Did he use the second bedroom? I'm sorry. I'll never tell.
Yeah, we won't go there. But we fell in love completely and after our week together, he had convinced me to go home and put my job and finished the semester at school and come to Mexico, which I did. So it was just a couple of months and we were house shopping in San Diego, LA. That's a very sweet story.
And yeah, good for you for grilling her on that weekend. Of course. Well, you're a savage. I'm trying to get away with anything with me.
No matter what. Yeah. Hey, you know, I met my wife in the TSA security line at LA. So just when it's not stranger things couldn't happen.
Sure. I know. I know. They were busy that day.
I offered a frisker for weapons. And you know, next thing you know, we were married. Okay, that part isn't true. Okay, after a break, we will be back to answer some of your questions from social media.
As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with here's the scoop. But you podcast from NBC News with your host, Gaz and Vesugio. We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News's trusted journalist. It's a fresh take.
It's a dark, thoughtful, and informative. Bring you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world on the front page. The Zeitgeist. Here's the scoop from NBC News.
Listen daily on Amazon Music. Get the best of NBC News with a subscription. Fewer ads, deeper access and exclusive content. And now during the XFINITY member celebration, members can get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription.
Head to XFINITY.COM slash membership to learn more. XFINITY. Imagine that. Subscription automatically renews each year at 6599 plus taxes and fees until cancelled.
Came close. But anyway, yes, so we had to redo the episode several times. Denise Tracy wants to know. She says, I'm glad Eduardo and the ranchan got out alive and the kid never got caught.
But poor Jane. Well, poor Jane definitely. I'm glad they let the ranchan go and didn't just kill it, which is kind of what I thought was going to happen. Well, yeah.
Had they been the true bad guys of the Mexican state police thought that they were, they probably would have killed them. But this was this amateur kidnapper when he realized he wasn't going to get any money. He just said, I'll let him go. Um, Elba North, who's a friend of ours from social media, says, I need a Keith and Eduardo positive vibes podcast.
Um, I think you, I think you may have hit on something there. Yeah. Good idea. I like it.
Jamal 1028 says I love Eduardo and Keith partnering like an 80s cop duo. Yes. I totally see that. Yeah.
Yeah. That's right. The Canadian guy. There's carbon crimes on both sides of the border.
Absolutely. Yeah. Happy something crimes. One's in a great mood all the time.
One's in a terrible mood all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Thomas Percy says Jane Eduardo left a beautiful legacy in their children, such amazing and wise people they have raised and said that Jane did not live to see the abductors arrested and she did not.
Right. Right. Please tell me everybody involved with the obvious exception of Jane is doing okay today. The, uh, yes Eduardo lived for a time in Spain.
He came back to the United States. The children are all there. They're, you know, they picked up a lot from their, um, terrific parents, um, and they're, they are, um, they're living good lives. Okay.
That's nice. That's nice to hear. Uh, that is talking day line for this week, Keith. Thank you.
Oh boy. It was my pleasure. Uh, everybody. Thank you for listening to us.
And, uh, if you have any questions for us about our stories or by anything on Dateline, you can reach out to us on social and at Dateline NBC. See you Fridays on Dateline on NBC Friday night on an all new date line. Can't be her. She can't be gone.
A young law student's murder became a family's fight for justice. The frustration to feeling of helplessness until the truth finally emerges. Liz called me and said we have a name. I was just freaking out and I'm like, everybody get to headquarters.
And all new date line Friday night at nine eight central only on NBC. Thank you.