02x04 - Ride or Die

[bunniefuu]

[insects chirping]

[tense music playing]

[overlapping voices] My name
is Karen Kummerer.

I've been kidnapped.

-I've been abducted.
-And I have been kidnapped.

I have been kidnapped.

[woman 1] Kidnapping cases in the FBI
usually do not end well.

The statistics will show
most victims do not survive

after a certain amount of time.

[engine revving]

[woman 2] She was scared.

It was terror on her face.

"Somebody please help me."

On a case like this,
time is not our friend.

[woman 3] I was scared for her.

[voice breaking] I was scared for her.

[music intensifies, fades]

[music glitching]

[music stops]

[waves crashing]

[seagulls squawking]

[mellow music playing]

[woman 4] In 2006, I had just separated
from my husband of 17 years.

And I was starting to date again.

I was a finance director
for Bert Fish Medical Center.

I owned my own house.

I just bought a brand-new 2006 GT Mustang.

I was feeling very independent.

And I was feeling really good.

[dramatic sting]

[woman 5] Karen is my aunt
on my mother's side.

We have been really close
ever since I was little.

Karen's personality is very independent,

fun, goofy.

She will speak her mind…

[chuckles]

…when she has something to say.

I was living with her in 2006.

I was 18.

Karen and I were having
a great time together.

I think it helped having me around
after she had gotten a divorce.

Kind of had a shoulder to lean on
in those rough days.

She had been in a marriage for so long,
and now she's single.

Single and dating.

[pensive music playing]

[Karen] One night, my sister and I
went out to the Ocean Deck.

It was just a good place to meet people.

[indistinct conversation]

Scott approached me and asked me to dance.

He was very beefy,
and he had blond hair, blue eyes.

He told me
he was starting to be a personal trainer.

And I found that very interesting

because I was also into working out
at the time.

[ambient sounds]

When I met Scott,
I felt a little bit of a spark.

I called her the next morning to find out,
"How you doing?"

She said, "Oh, it went great.
I really like him."

I met him the end of January,
and Valentine's Day was a real eye-opener.

He gave me flowers. He gave me weights.

He spent a lot of money on me, actually.

We used to go dancing together
at some of the clubs in Daytona Beach.

We would go out to dinner together.

I really enjoyed Scott.

[Brenna] Karen was, like, head over heels.

She was like,
"Oh, there's this guy. He's handsome."

They looked good together.

They were having fun, and they laughed,

and I think Karen had missed that
for so long from her marriage before,

so I think she was really happy

when she started to get
that feeling again.

[music fades]

[leaves rustling]

[Karen] I worked with a woman
that was into tarot cards and crystals.

She had this tarot card reader
in Connecticut

that you could have the tarot card read
over the phone.

So she gave me the number.
She says, "Karen, you want to try it?"

I was really curious about it.

[menacing music playing]

So that's what I did.

She was reading my cards.

All of a sudden, she said,
"You've met this person."

"He's crazy, and you need to get the heck
out of there as soon as possible."

I'm like, "Oh, well, she doesn't know."

[dramatic sting]

"Hell, how would she know?"

Little did I know,
she was actually very truthful.

[dramatic sting]

[unsettling music playing]

[Brenna] I noticed that Scott
started to be around, like, all the time.

Like, he just kind of started,
like, leaving stuff there,

and the next thing I know,
he was there all the time.

[Karen] He actually lived
with his mom and dad.

They were right down the road from me.

I was not really looking
for a committed relationship.

Maybe a dating-type relationship,
but nothing more than that.

And then one day I came home,

and… all of a sudden
Scott had moved into my house.

And he goes, "Yeah, I moved in."

And when I said,
"Well, maybe you need to leave,"

that's when he said, "Well, I've been
getting mail here for almost a month

that you didn't realize."

Because he would check my mailbox
for his mail

before I'd get home from work.

I was not really happy about it,

but I didn't really think
how important it was

that he had been getting the mail there
and whatnot at that time.

[Brenna] Scott started to become
more possessive.

Like, if I wanted to go to the store
with Karen or go shopping together,

it was like, "No,
you guys don't need to be doing that."

He scrutinized everything she did.

Karen came out wearing something that,
like, he didn't like.

He would tell her, like,
"You need to go change."

"People are gonna think you're trash."

Karen definitely changed
after Scott moved in.

[Lisa] My boyfriend and I,
we went over for dinner one night.

And I was putting something in the fridge,
and that's when I saw the syringes.

And that's when my ex looked over at me,
and he goes, "Why are there steroids?"

"Do you know that's ill*gal?"

There was no prescription for those.

And that's when I went in,
and I pulled Karen aside,

and I said, "What's that?
Why do you have those in the fridge?"

And that's when she told me
that Scott used them for working out.

And I'm like, "Karen, that's not good."

I said, "Working out and doing that,
roid rage is a really bad thing."

So, um, that's kind of threw red flags up.

[Karen] March of 2006,

Scott and I had been dating
a couple months.

Scott would say, "Well, why doesn't Brenna
go out and find a place of her own?"

"She's old enough to go
and live with her friends or whatever."

[Brenna] I definitely got the feeling
that Scott did not like me.

I think I was an obstacle in his way
of the control that he had with Karen.

Karen and I were at such a good place
before she met Scott.

And then all of a sudden,

he's living there,
and you're asking me to move out.

It wasn't her talking.

[music intensifies, fades]

[Karen] When Scott
suggested Brenna move out,

that's when
the real domestic violence started.

[barks weakly]

[whimpering]

He would hold me down
and scream at me all night.

[inaudible]

He was a very big person.
He weighed about 220 pounds.

[menacing music playing]

I would have my phone,

and he would rip it out of my hand
and break it,

so I couldn't call the police.

[voice breaking] I could not
get away from him.

[music fades]

[rustling]

[suspenseful music playing]

[waves crashing]

[Brenna] If I ever spoke to Karen
after I moved out,

it was usually when she was at work,

because that's the only time
I really could talk to her.

I'm like, "What's going on?"
Like, "Tell me what's going on."

"No, I can't talk about it."

"I can't talk about it.
I can't talk about it."

Had I known how bad it was going to be,
I would have never left.

[Lisa] Karen really withdrew,
and I didn't see her that much.

Didn't want to go out anymore.
Was always doing something with Scott.

Scott was able to control Karen

because of her lack of self-confidence
at the time.

Coming out of that divorce
was demoralizing.

I myself had been a victim
of domestic abuse in the past,

so I knew the signs.

Everybody handles these situations
differently, but the fear paralyzed her.

[music intensifies]

[Karen] Scott told me
because he moved in with me,

I could evict him,
but it had to go through the courts.

I thought, you know, how can this be
happening to me, to be honest with you.

I was embarrassed that I managed
to get myself in this kind of relationship

because, you know, here I was
independent, financially successful.

Then I realized that
I was in over my head at that point.

I started to fear for my safety,
but I also had had enough.

I was gonna try to do anything
to get him out of there,

even if I had to get an eviction notice.

[dramatic sting]

[indistinct shouting]

The tipping point for me was when
he held me down all night screaming at me.

Um, he was just screaming
and screaming and screaming.

So that morning, after he let me up,
I got dressed and I went to work.

In the meantime, he had started calling me
on my cell phone.

[cell phone ringing]

And as I walked into the office that day,
I had him on speakerphone.

I said to one of my co-workers,
"You need to hear this."

He was yelling, "If you don't come back,
I'm gonna k*ll you."

At that point, I had witnesses.
I said, "You need to leave."

And a friend of mine from work
took me back home.

Got my dog. I got some stuff.

He pulled up behind the car.

My friend was a big woman.

She got out, and she said to him,
she goes, "You need to leave."

[dog whimpers]

I get in the car with Rocky
and some clothes.

I stayed at her apartment for the weekend
until he moved out.

[music intensifies, fades]

After Scott left, he still thought
he had possession of me.

He would threaten to k*ll my dog
if I didn't spend time with him.

And he parked his car right behind my car,
so I couldn't get out.

[Rocky barking]

[menacing music playing]

It progressively got worse.

He started stalking.

I didn't feel safe anymore by myself.

So in the beginning of October,

I asked Brenna to move in with me again
for my safety.

I turned 19 in October of 2006,

and I started living with Karen again.

I didn't like when Brenna really
moved back in with Karen.

Brenna, being a kid,
thought she could protect Karen,

which, like, no.

You're a kid.

[menacing music continues]

[Karen] One day, Brenna was at the house,

and my nieces were over,

and they were sitting in the living room.

Scott just came in,
opened the door like he owned the place.

[door opens]

Said "shh" to the nieces.

He walked by them.

He came into my bedroom.

-[Rocky whimpering]
-I screamed, "Brenna, he's here."

And I heard Karen telling him,
"You need to leave."

"You need to get out of my house.
I don't want you here."

"I told you I'm done with this."

And he's not listening to Karen.

Brenna comes running out of the room.
I said, "Call the police."

She was dialing on her phone

when he runs out,
he gets in his car and takes off.

[door slams shut]

[Brenna] I wanted Karen
to call the police,

but I also understood
that Karen was very scared.

Like, I remember her telling me, like,
"You don't understand. Like, he's crazy."

Like, "He will k*ll me
if I do the wrong thing."

[line ringing]

[voicemail beeps]

[Karen] He left 27 voicemails
on my phone that day.

"Where are you?
How come you're not answering your phone?"

It was all the time like this.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Karen] Monday, November 13th,
I get in my car,

I was going to work.

I got to the stop sign,

and I looked one way.

And then all of a sudden,
my front passenger door was yanked open.

[Brenna] He was in a bush waiting for her

because she takes the same way
to work every day.

Scott jumped out of the bushes.

-[car opens]
-Unlocked the car from the key fob.

Jumped in the car, had a knife,

told her, "Drive."

[car engine roaring]

[Karen] He was screaming like a crazy man.

He said, "I'm gonna cut you right here."

"You can't hide."

"I've got your social security number,
and I need to see you."

It was the first time that Scott
had ever held a knife or a weapon to me.

[car engine roaring]

And my actions before,

when Scott got into an expl*sive attitude
or a violent situation,

was if I stayed calm and submissive,
it would make the situation better.

I finally calmed him down enough

by saying,
"Okay, well, I will still see you."

"I promise I'll see you tonight."

He allowed me to drop him off
where his Jeep was parked down my street.

I told a friend of mine.

Then she said, "I'll meet you
at the Daytona Beach Police Department."

We filed for an emergency
restraining order.

They said, "Once it's reviewed,
we will serve it tonight."

[music continues]

In the meantime, Lisa brought me home.

I left my car at work.

I didn't want Scott to know
I was even at my house

in case he was served with
a temporary restraining order that night.

Brenna and I spent the night in the dark.

We did not want anybody to know
we were there.

We were afraid he was gonna come in
and k*ll both of us.

[music intensifies]

[Brenna] I remember her just being,
like, terrified.

[pensive music playing]

Like, "How did he get my key fob?"

Because that's the only way
he could have gotten in the car.

She's like, "This man is capable of doing
so many more things than what we thought."

[Karen] I had changed
my phone number immediately.

And then the next day,
I also had my car rekeyed.

I did not have them change the trunk.

Between myself and the dealership,
we didn't think that was necessary.

[alarm beeping]

[unsettling music playing]

Monday morning,

[door creaks]

I went to work.

[door creaks shut]

[unsettling music playing]

I get probably 150 feet down my road,
and the trunk ajar light comes on.

[trunk ajar alarm beeping]

I probably left it open from shopping.

Didn't shut it tight.

Get out of the car.

[beeping continues]

I went to shut it.

And…

[dramatic sting]

Scott jumps out of the trunk
dressed in black.

[dramatic sting]

Grabs me, puts the knife to my throat.
I started screaming.

He goes, "If you do that again,
I'm gonna cut you here."

Throws me into the passenger seat.

[car door slams shut]

-Takes off in the car.
-[tires screeching]

Brings me to where his Jeep was parked.

He goes, "If you're gonna behave yourself,
you can sit up front."

We get into his Jeep, and he takes off.

[dramatic music playing]

His comment to me was,

"You're making me do this 'cause you
got a restraining order. It's your fault."

He had gloves in the center console,
and I said, "What are those for?"

He said, "So I don't get blood
on my hands."

[music continues]

I said to him,
"What are you doing with me?"

And he goes, "I'm just driving."

And then he says,
"You better call in sick to work."

And that's when I called in sick to work.

[line ringing]

I think I was in a state of shock.

[car engine roaring]

[Brenna] I remember
I needed to call her for something,

[line ringing]

and she didn't answer.

-So I call again.
-[line ringing]

No answer. I'm like, "Okay."

Now I'm starting to get
a little concerned.

Because at this point,
Karen and I had an understanding,

if one of us calls each other,

you know, try to get back to each other
as soon as possible.

[Karen] When Brenna tried calling me,

I said to him,
"Well, I'm gonna have to answer it."

And he said, "You need to tell this story
that I'm gonna commit suicide,

and you're trying to get me to stop."

[line ringing]

So when I talked to Brenna,
I said, "I'm with Scott,

and he's threatening to commit suicide."

[Brenna] She's telling me on the phone,
"Don't call the police."

And in my mind, I'm like,
he's, like, sitting right next to her.

I know he is,
because I can hear in her voice.

And I said to her,

I said,
"If you want me to call the police,

say 'don't call the police' again."

And then she said,
"Brenna, don't call the police."

That's when I called the police.

And I told them, "I believe
my Aunt Karen's been abducted."

[music intensifies, fades]

[man] There's going to be nothing else
of a higher priority

than working a kidnapping.

So it's pretty much gonna be
all hands on deck.

Let's do our best to locate the victim
before this turns into a homicide.

I was a detective
at the Daytona Beach Police Department

in the Criminal Investigations Division.

[indistinct radio chatter]

We put out a BOLO, you know,
to be on the lookout.

We gave the description of Scott,
of Karen, description of his vehicle.

We let them know
there is a warrant for his arrest,

so if you come into contact with him,
hold on to him,

and that Karen Kummerer is a victim.

Now what we're trying to do
is find a trail.

What direction? Where are they going?

We flagged Karen and Scott's credit cards
and bank cards,

which means let us know
if there's any activity on those cards,

and they'll let you know
where it happened.

Now we're standing.
We're waiting for activity.

[music fades]

One thing you have to keep in mind
as we're sitting here today,

in 2006, the technology that we had
is not what the technology is today.

[sirens wailing]

In today's world, you know every move.

There's videos. There's surveillance.

There's red light cameras.
There's cameras in every crosswalk.

That wasn't the situation in 2006.

[Brenna] I was scared, for sure.

I don't know where she is at this point,
and then I'm wondering if Karen's alive.

[dramatic sting]

[Karen] When Scott took me,
I don't think he had a plan.

I just think he thought he could take me
anywhere and no one would do anything.

[tense music playing]

The first night we stayed
at the Sunrise Inn in St. Augustine.

I had to wait out in the car.

I no longer had my cell phone.

He took the keys with him.

He kept an eye on the car
the whole time while he was checking in.

[coin clinking]

[keypad beeping]

He called his mother and he told her
we were on vacation together.

[music continues]

When we got in the room,

he gave me sleeping pills.

Um… I was forced to have sex with him.

I knew that complacency and submission
was the way I was going to try to survive.

So if I thought about yelling
or screaming or whatever, he had a knife.

If someone didn't act quick enough,
I was dead.

I was trying to survive
the way I thought I could.

[dramatic sting]

The next day, Scott didn't have any money,

so he wanted to stop at a bank

so I could take some money
out of my checking account.

We stopped at a Wachovia Bank.

He had me withdraw by check $500.

He was right there beside me
with a knife in his pocket.

I didn't think I had a choice.

Even if I said, "Hey, he's kidnapped me,"
what do you think's gonna happen to me?

He's gonna slit my throat
right then and there.

Banks have security people,

I realize that,

but by the time someone's going to react,

I'm going to be dead.

[music intensifies, fades]

We receive a notification
that Karen had withdrew $500

from a bank in St. Augustine.

Once we got the hit on the bank account,
now we know that they're northbound.

Law enforcement responded to the bank,

where they learned
that it was Scott and Karen together.

[Janet] In reviewing the tape,
it looked like she was terrified.

Scott has a violent history,

and we had also come across the fact
that he had been using drugs.

So now he has money in his pocket.

Now we're really concerned.
Okay, which way did he go?

So we're going through his history,
looking through his paperwork,

see who he knows, who can we contact,

who could tell us something about him.

[woman] My brother was a Daytona Beach
police officer.

And he called me up one day,
out of the blue, and said,

"You're not gonna believe this."

"Scott Freeman kidnapped a woman."

[dramatic sting]

Early 1990s,

my girlfriend had worked
at a bowling alley that had a bar

that everyone would go to,

and that's where I met Scott Freeman.

My first impression was he was handsome.

He said he was a firefighter.

I thought he had good potential.

I feel like Scott love-bombed me.

Now, mind you, I was a young girl of 22.

He was six years older.

Scott came on really strong,

and was crazy about me.

[enigmatic music playing]

Scott was very charming,
and we did begin seeing each other.

When I first met Scott,
he was a Ocala firefighter.

But that did not last long.

Soon after we started dating,

Scott told me he got fired
from the fire department.

Scott had still lived at home
with his mother and father.

And it became apparent to me

that Scott's mother paid for everything

because Scott did not have a job
for a long time.

Scott definitely had control
over me emotionally,

and he liked me to wear certain things,

did not like me to wear certain things.

He was very controlling and manipulative.

[waves crashing]

[seagulls calling]

My father had passed away,

and I had gone to a medium,

hoping I would hear something from my dad.

The woman had tarot cards,

and the first card she turned over
was a devil card.

And she told me,

"I see a very disturbed person
around you."

This person is on drugs,

and she sees jail.

[ominous music playing]

Scott would have these bouts

where he would disappear for days on end
with no explanation.

I definitely know that Scott
was addicted to crack cocaine,

and that would contribute
to his binges and disappearances.

[pensive music playing]

Two years into the relationship,

a friend of his and his girlfriend
had come down

from North Carolina to visit.

[indistinct chatter]

And the four of us went out
for the night to the clubs,

and drinking and having a good time.

And then upon coming back to the house
that evening,

we were talking about ordering pizza.

And Scott just freaked out,

and pinned me against the wall
with his hands around my neck.

I was so scared.

I was like, "What the heck got into him?"

[sirens wailing]

The police came.

And at that point,

I said I did not want to press charges.

Being the young girl I was,

I said, "Well, he didn't mean it,
and he drank too much," and made excuses.

My head was saying,
"No, get out. This is not good."

But my 20-something-year-old heart
was saying, "But I love him."

[dramatic sting]

I had come home from work,

and Scott was there, intoxicated,

and wanted me to go out with him to a bar.

And I said, "No, you're drunk."

His behavior was erratic.

He was filled with rage.

I got suspicious of what was going on
and what he was doing.

[door creaks]

So I went in the closet, and I started
looking through duffel bags and whatnot,

and I had picked up a box
that you would keep checks in.

When I picked it up, it rattled.

[rattling]

So I opened it, and they were syringes.

And I thought, "Oh boy."

He was sh**ting up steroids,

and that was leading
to his crazy, erratic behavior.

I approached him about
what I found in the closet,

and that's when he got really pissed.

[perilous music playing]

Scott smacked me in the face
and attempted to take all my stuff,

and he put his hands around my neck
and had me up against the wall

and tried to choke me.

I was so scared.

[music continues]

[sirens wailing]

The police came, and they had asked me
if everything was okay,

and then with that,
Scott had come down the hall just,

"What the F are you doing here?"

And "Get the F out of here.
Everything's fine."

Just really, really being belligerent.

And he resisted arrest,

and it took pepper spray
to finally get him handcuffed.

[handcuffs clinking]

That was my breaking point,

and I knew I couldn't stay
in a situation like that.

[dramatic music playing]

As soon as my brother got wind of Scott,

he called me, and he was freaking out,
like, "You're not going to believe this."

"Scott kidnapped a woman."

I seriously thought,
"Holy sh*t, that could have been me."

And he said, "He's on the run.
They're heading north."

"Do you have any ideas
where he might be heading?"

And I said, "Yeah."

My brother asked
if I would meet with Detective Hawkins,

and I agreed to it.

I shared with Janet Hawkins
places that I had been to with Scott

that maybe I thought
he would bring Karen back to.

I know Scott had a very good friend
that lived up in North Carolina,

and I thought, "Well, for sure,
he's probably going to go there."

And then it was on the TV
and in the newspaper.

I was scared for her.

I was. I was scared for her.

[Karen] We left St. Augustine,
and we're driving north,

and we stayed at the Days Inn
in North Carolina.

It was the same situation
as in St. Augustine.

He gave me pills.

[music intensifies]

[dramatic sting]

He kept the knife with him.

[suspenseful music playing]

When I got up the next morning,
we were getting ready to leave,

and I looked down and I saw the notepad.

I grabbed it and stuffed it in my pocket.

I don't know why I did that.

I don't know. I have no idea why I did it.
To this day, I don't know.

From Charlotte, we went to Bryson City.

We stopped to eat.

[woman] I worked at the Bar-B-Que Wagon
in Bryson City

as a head chef for 11 years.

[chuckles] It was a typical day
at the Bar-B-Que Wagon.

Me being the main cook,

I had a little break after the lunch rush,

and so I walked outside out the back door,

which is against the parking lot,

to take me a quick smoke break.

And, um, that's where I was
when I saw a vehicle pull in.

[dramatic music playing]

It was a dark black Jeep.

There was a lady
who got out the passenger side

and just kind of stood there.

And so, you know,
I gave her a friendly smile,

and, well, she didn't give me
a friendly smile back.

And honestly, I thought,
"What's wrong with her?"

She had this,
I don't know, this blank look.

The gentleman got out
and took her by the arm.

They went in the front door,

and I just went back to work,
just like I normally would.

[Karen] I went in to use the bathroom.

I looked in my purse,
and I took the pen.

I wrote out the note, and it said,

"My name is Karen Kummerer.
I've been abducted."

Um, "Please call the Daytona Beach
Police Department."

"This is not a joke, and please be quiet."

I was hoping that
no one would say anything

while we were in there eating.

I was afraid that I was gonna die
if he found out.

We left the barbecue place,
we stopped at a gas station,

and I went in to use the bathroom.

I was terrified at this point.

'Cause he would stand outside
the bathroom door while I was in there.

And he would make sure
that no one else was coming or going.

But I left another note.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Dana] I don't know.
It must have been 20 minutes or so,

and I needed to go to the restroom.

When I turned around to flush the toilet,

there was something sticking out.

It wasn't supposed to be there,
so I was going to clean it up.

The moment I touched that paper,

I had chills… immediately go all over me.

And I started reading it,

and knew at that moment
exactly who wrote that note.

I went straight out of that bathroom

and straight, as fast as I could,
to that phone.

And I called 911.

They asked if they were still there.

But I told the police
that they were already gone.

When I think back
to when they pulled into the parking lot,

[dramatic whoosh]

I realized she wasn't being a,
you know, "B."

She was scared.

She was terrified.

It was terror on her face.

Like, "Somebody please help me."

[suspenseful music playing]

[Janet] We received a call
that a note had been found

that was left by Karen
in a restaurant in North Carolina.

At this point,
we're elated because Karen is still alive,

and she has enough presence of mind
to leave us a note.

"This is where I am. Here's a breadcrumb."

[Brenna] When we got that first note,
I was relieved.

She's still alive,
so there's some hope there.

[Jakari] Once this note was found
in North Carolina,

we now realized that
he's crossed several state lines,

which is way out of our jurisdiction,

so we needed to bring in the FBI.

[woman] Kidnapping cases in the FBI
usually do not end well.

The statistics will show
most victims do not survive

after a certain amount of time.

I thought that Karen's decision
to leave behind notes

was extremely smart.

I don't know that a lot of people
would have thought of that

because you are so instilled
with a fear of being harmed

that you would not do anything
to jeopardize taking another breath.

She figured out at some point that,
"I've got to do something."

"They're never gonna find me."

I believe that Scott Freeman
was a very dangerous individual,

and that he was a ticking time b*mb.

[Karen] The hotels we were staying at
did not require an ID,

and they only took cash,

because, of course, he didn't want
to show an ID at that point.

Multiple times
during this whole experience,

I told Scott, I said,
"Just let me out here."

"Just leave me on the side of the road."

"Just let me go."

And he refused to do that.

[dramatic sting]

On Friday, we left Pigeon Forge.

We went to Trenton, Georgia,

where I left another note
in a gas station.

The same note as before.

"My name is Karen Kummerer.
I've been kidnapped."

"Please call Daytona Beach
Police Department."

"This is not a joke."

So after that, we continued on 100 miles
to Snead, Alabama,

where I left another note
in a gas station.

We stayed at a hotel

which was right across the street
from a Wachovia bank,

and at this point,
we were getting low on cash.

And I said, "Why don't we go over
and take cash out of the bank?"

And he got really upset.

[door slams shut]

He took the knife. He slammed it down.

[loud thud]

Then he said,
"Don't forget I always have this."

[Jakari] Getting the notes
was confirmation that she's still alive,

but it was a little frustrating

because it seems like we were
still consistently one step behind.

Time is not our friend.

So the more time passes,
the more concerned we are

that we're not gonna find Karen
in time to save her life.

[buzzing softly]

At this point in time, I did not know
that they were seeing the notes.

When we were in a hotel room,
I tried to make sure

the TV didn't turn on to the news
because I was afraid it'd be on the news,

and I was afraid of what he'd do
at that point.

[dramatic sting]

On Monday, we drove from New Albany,
Mississippi, to Greenville, Mississippi.

Cash was getting very low.

We stopped at a gas station,

and as we got ready to leave,

he said, "I got to make a phone call."

He went to the back of the car,
and I could hear him yelling.

Couldn't understand what he was saying.

I wasn't sure who he was talking to.

He was really angry.

[car approaching]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Jackie] Law enforcement was monitoring
Scott's parents' phone,

and they were able to intercept
a phone call

from Scott to his mom demanding money.

[phone ringing]

[dramatic music playing]

[Jackie] The way Scott
was speaking to his mother,

it was more than just angry.

The vitriol was palpable.

It was awful.

When he called,

he was on there long enough
for the FBI to get a trace on the call

to pinpoint where he was calling from.

He's in Greenville, Mississippi.

We knew that
we had to get the money in the bank.

[Karen] We went to an ATM.

[ATM keypad beeping]

We got the $150.

He attempts to withdraw the money.
Law enforcement's monitoring it.

They immediately send the FBI
and local law enforcement

to the location of the ATM.

[sirens wailing]

[Karen] We left the ATM.

He went to a neighborhood
and bought crack.

-[horn hoking]
-Then we took off down the highway.

[music intensifies]

[music fades]

I had driven home for lunch,
which I sometimes did,

and was sitting at the kitchen table
eating a sandwich when my phone rang.

And it was my supervisor.

He asked that I stop whatever I was doing

and to immediately get on the road

and head towards a small town
called Leland, Mississippi.

[intriguing music playing]

I am on the telephone
with Mississippi Highway Patrol,

Washington County Sheriff's Office,

Cleveland PD as well.

And within five minutes
of being on Highway 61,

I knew the description of the vehicle.

I knew exactly what Karen looked like.

I knew exactly
what Scott Freeman looked like.

And literally two minutes later,

I recognize a vehicle
that matches the description,

and I slowly catch up.

It was obvious to me
that it was Karen in the vehicle.

I'll never forget the look on her face.

I could see fear.

She didn't look my way.
She was staring dead ahead.

And there was no talking.

And Mr. Freeman
was also staring dead ahead.

At that point, my supervisor had contacted
Mississippi Highway Patrol,

and there were several units in the area.

[Karen] We're on the highway,
and all of a sudden he goes,

"They're following us."
I said, "What are you talking about?"

[police sirens wailing]

I looked up, and it seemed like
a million police were following us.

The lights were going.

And he started yelling.

He said, "Give me a minute.
Give me a minute."

We were going really fast.
I was screaming.

And he went off the exit to the highway.

[tires screeching]

[Anne] As soon as Mr. Freeman saw
the highway unit,

he knew that they knew who he was.

[Jackie] She knew he had the knife.

She believed at any point,
he could reach over and just take her out.

She was so close to being saved,

but probably in the most danger
that she'd been in through the whole trip.

[tires screeching]

[Karen] Then all of a sudden,
they boxed us in.

Like, 25 police officers got out
of their cruisers and held g*ns.

I was like, "Oh my God, oh my God,
I'm going to die."

And then they just grabbed him out
of the truck and threw him on the ground.

[loud thud]

And then a beautiful deputy came
and grabbed me.

[somber music playing]

And I said to him, "Do you have a g*n?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Don't let me go."

[siren blaring]

-He brought me over to the EMS.
-[indistinct radio chatter]

And they took my blood pressure.
It was at 250 over 150.

And I would not go to the hospital.

I said, "I'm not leaving.
He's got a g*n. I'm staying with him."

And so then what he did was
he calmed me down.

He brought me to Anne LaHaye's truck,
the FBI agent, and he put me in there.

He goes, "You're gonna be safe here."
And that's how it ended.

[Brenna] I remember I got a phone call.
The FBI called and said, "We got Karen."

"We have her, and Scott's in custody."

And I was just like, "Thank God."
It was, like, a surreal feeling.

When they got him, you know,
everybody was so excited.

It was, like, a relief.

So much so, it was very emotional.

There were tears shed.

Law enforcement searched Scott's Jeep
after he was in custody.

They found a switchblade knife
in the open position

that was in the driver's side door pocket.

They found rope. They found blankets.

They found a can
used to smoke crack cocaine.

That really gave an indication
to law enforcement

that Scott, and Scott alone, planned this.

Once he was arrested,
my captain and lieutenant decided that

because she had been traumatized so much,

they made a decision
to not put her on the airplane,

but for myself and Jakari to drive up
to pick her up and bring her back.

Karen appeared to be worn out and tired,

so we just made her comfortable
and drove her back to Daytona.

[birds chirping]

[Brenna] The first moment I saw Karen,
I gave her, like, the biggest hug.

I'm like, I didn't want to let her go.

It's definitely, uh, an emotional moment.

[pensive music playing]

[Brenna] Karen was traumatized.

Everything scared her.

Like, she would hear a sound,
it scared her.

You know,
you couldn't talk really loud around her.

She wanted people around her all the time.

[Lisa] Karen's had to put up with a lot.

Why didn't she fight back? She couldn't.
She was paralyzed.

That's what the fear did.

And people don't realize that.

For what Karen's been through,
I admire how strong she is as a person.

[Karen] When I was dating Scott,

and some of the signs
that he was exhibiting at the time,

I was not aware of them being signs
of potential domestic violence.

It was not as prevalent back then,

as well as discussed and open,
as it is currently.

Since that time, I've done work on myself.

So it became quite clear

that this was a situation that was gonna
become violent in the very beginning,

and I just did not even see
the warning signs.

I'm doing great today.

I'm very blessed.

Um, I approach life a lot differently.

I feel so lucky to be alive,
you have no idea.

I tell everybody,
I said, "Life's too short." [chuckles]

[birds chirping]

[music fades]

[unsettling music playing]

[music fades]