Latest / Legally Brunette / Killer Thriller: Nancy Travis: Taken from Their Bed by Someone They Knew And Hidden Where No One Would Find Them

Transcript

Killer Thriller: Nancy Travis: Taken from Their Bed by Someone They Knew And Hidden Where No One Would Find Them · Legally Brunette

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Amy Roboc and TJ.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Holmes present Killer Thriller with your host Elisa Donovan.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Hey everyone, Elisa Donovan here and this is Killer Thriller.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Today's story starts in a place that feels completely safe,
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: a quiet town, a close community. A couple who knew
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: all the people around them, They went to church, lived
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: their lives, and never imagined they were being watched until
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: one night they wake up to a masked gunman.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Standing at the foot of their bed.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: They are taken from their home, locked in a hidden room,
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: and told that if they don't do exactly what he says,
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: they and their family will be killed. This isn't a
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: random crime. This is someone who knew them, someone who
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: had been planning this for over a year, and what
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: unfolds is a fight for survival. Today I am joined
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: by Nancy Travis, who stars as Connie van Houstin in
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Rescued by Faith, The Connie and Larry Van Euston Story.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Nancy, thank you so much for being here today with me.
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: Oh my pleasure. I'm so happy to chat with you.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: So I just watched this movie and first of all,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: you're terrific in it, and you know, we obviously cover
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: on this podcast a lot of very traumatic, difficult cases
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: and situations, and oftentimes they're very long lead, like they
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: go on for a long time. So sort of at
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: first glance, this feels like because it's such a shorter
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: amount of time these people were terrorized, that it's like, oh,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: it's not so bad, but it's really awful. Like these people,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: it's an incredibly violent, emotionally violent thing to go through.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: So what because it's you know, you're in your own home,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: So what aspect of it really struck you the most
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: initially when you read about this case.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I think, I mean, the thing that struck me the
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: most is that these two people lived in a very
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: rural place and were just going about their business, and
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: they weren't terribly wealthy people. They weren't they were good people.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, they were elders in a church community and
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: somebody came into their home and fairly violently abducted them,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: pulled them out of their beds. This woman, Connie, her
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: husband Larry, was tased with a taser and handcuffed, put
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: into the trunk of a car, driven to a blindfolded
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: driven to some undisclosed place, and put in a dungeon.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: Basically and held there.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: And it's it's interesting that it was that you bring
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: you know you Star was saying that it wasn't really
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: for an extended period of time.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: I think it was two days.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Or something held, but they were in in a there
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: were no windows, there was no clock, there was no
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: way for them to know how long they were there,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: and it felt interminable. And I think the most shocking
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: thing to me about this whole story is that it
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: could have been you, it could have been me, it
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: could have been any of us.
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: And also at the end of the day, the the
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: lengths that someone will go to a desperate person to
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: get money for a ransom, and and we're not even
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: talking about a lot of money here.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it really does speak to how extreme this person
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: felt his circumstances were.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: And you know, like it's so.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Just speaking like culturally and how do you take care
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: of your family? And is it like this idea that
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: if you don't have X, Y, and Z, you.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Aren't a successful human.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Like it's just so complicated to me that somebody could
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: go to that extreme of desperation.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's so premeditated as well. And there's there's
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I think an element of vindictiveness to it as well.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that he was apparently.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Sort of pitching they which they show in the in
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: the film, that he is pitching to them his new
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: business of uh, you know, his financial business. So he
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: is relative and so he was privy to some of
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: their financial records, which again is like, you know, these
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: people lived their entire lives feeling safe and as if
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: they were kind of exempt from anything like this.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Right, And I think it is.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, it ends up being someone that they they knew,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: And it just also harkened back to I thought, I thought, yeah,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: abuse also just ends up being someone that you know,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: or somebody in the home or somebody. It's not necessarily
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: the stranger. And we live our lives so afraid of
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the stranger. What stranger is lurking? That sometimes it's somebody
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: you know very very well.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Oh that's the part that to me is particularly disturbing
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: that it was so methodical and so premeditated that and
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: that the moment when it's essentially the voice, the alter
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: modulator thing that yes, that falls off and and she
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: recognizes his voice. I mean that what do you think
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: psychologically that does to a person, to this woman, Like
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: I don't know how you go back to feeling safe,
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Right, I mean, I think And it's interesting because that
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: was a hard moment to play in this movie, because
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I think it's a confluence of emotions that the shock,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: the realization and the utter shock that somebody that you
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: know this well would do something so barbaric to you,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: so so so inherently evil that that And I think,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: particularly for this woman who is a religious woman, just
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: the notion that this is the face of evil.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: And at the same time, there is a.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I mean comfort is the wrong word, but there there
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: is a lessening of her fear because she she knows
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: who this person is. I mean this she's been told
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: that this couple, Connie and Larry, have been told that
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: it's part of a bigger thing, that it's a cartel,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: that that their whole family is going to get killed.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's it's a whole thing that they
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: are trying to parse and reckon with.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: And uh.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: And then when she realizes who it is, it it
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: sort of levels the playing field in a way. So
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: again it's you and me, and this is what you're
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: after and and that's what this is. And and I
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: know you from church. I know you from my faith
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: based community, and you're working, you're you're you're messing with
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: me using my God right right, And I know that
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: that is the seed of where you live too, so
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: in an interesting way now and I don't know that
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: it's that overt. She can use that as her strength,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: as a weapon to try to you know, maybe maybe
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: get out of the situation.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it felt almost like in that that scene it
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: is it was you played it beautifully and it is
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: so complicated, but you can see that she has this
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: moment of almost like a motherly feeling like what you know,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: it's very uh, just familial in some way. And that
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: is a complex, you know, a complex thing to play
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: for sure.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: I want to say one more thing too, I think
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: and I think this is the the reason why this
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: story is called Rescued by Faith, and certainly the message
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: that these two people want the world to know is
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: that when you when you have a deep rooted faith,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: whether it's God or whatever, then you're really never alone.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: There is a comfort in that and a solace.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And I think for these two people it wasn't necessarily
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: that they were rescued.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: I mean, they were rescued literally.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: But but even if they were to die, they would
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: not have died alone, if that makes sense. Y had
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: this conviction and this faith that carried them and sustained them.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And part of that, that sort of sympathy and weapon
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: that she uses against him, is that you don't I
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: have this, So whatever becomes of me, I'm okay with it,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: and I am part of a bigger plan and I
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: am in the in the arms of this greater power.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: But you have nothing. You're the one who's lost.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And that is a much more frightening position to be in.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, and my position right.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: That is a very powerful moment in the film where
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: she is very brave to say that.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, I suppose I'm saying.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: It's brave, but I you know, she is to your point.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: So she has such a belief and such a faith
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: that it doesn't it doesn't matter what happens.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I think she said, you say something.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Like I like, I hate you for doing this, but
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: I'll forgive you something to that effect.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I can't remember if they kept it in
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: that she'll try to forgive him, Yes, And it's also
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: an interest revelatory thing because a lot of Christianity is
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: about forgiveness, you know, forgive the people that do you wrong,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: forgive and and that's a big thing. But she she
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: it's so evil what he's done to them.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: That she she she's not sure she can forgive him.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: And for him, I think he's counting on forgiveness because
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: that's his salvation. And and what plays out after this
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: movie ends, that that goes on is I mean, this
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: man goes to jail, and he's still in jail, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: he he impersonates somebody to communicate with them to try
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: to get them to forgive him.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: You're kidding, Wait what?
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he has. He pretends to be somebody else.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: He pretends to be some woman that is just a
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: good Samaritan that that is part of a church that
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: goes to visit him. He pretends all this, Oh my gosh, yes,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: writes these letters to this couple to try to get
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: them to forgive him and then he could get out
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: on a lesser sentence.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, I mean the level of depravity is confounding.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: Really, do you think that's why I read that he
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: was convicted for a sentence to sixty years or something,
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: which comparison some.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Of the cases that we've talked about on this show.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: Like they've been extremely extremely abusive and violent and like
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: I said, for a longer length, and they've gotten such
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: a lesser sentence. So I wonder is that a part
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: of it that they knew he was even I don't know.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's got to be I don't know what
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: the law is in terms of if you kidnap somebody
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: and hold them for ransom and threaten their lives, like
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: what the know what what it is? I mean there
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: must be a premeditation element.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: To yes, Oh for sure.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Worse, I do this whole thing.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, Savannah Guthrie's mother was was We don't know
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: what happened to her, And I couldn't stop thinking about that.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: When were you guys shooting us?
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: We filmed it in the beginning of December?
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Oh wow, right, okay, and.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I think that happened after that and we don't know
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: what's happened. But I couldn't help but recognize parallels.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Right of course.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, in the.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: Film they they it seems that it keeps coming back
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: to this dynamic between Connie and Larry. Were Larry's always
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: protecting her, like that's kind of the dynamic of the
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: two of them. What did you make of that? And
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: why do you think they kept coming back to that?
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: Because ultimately she's the one that makes the choice, she
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: makes the move that actually leads to their right, you know,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: being rescued.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I think that that, I mean, you're right, that's the
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: dynamic of their relationship. But it it wasn't the thing.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: It wasn't the thing that was going to save them,
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: and it it wasn't even I think Connie would say
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: it wasn't even her ingenuity. She would say that it
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: was divine inspiration that that led her to drop the
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: clues that she left. So I guess it was also
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: uh And and Larry, her husband, is a man who
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: has asthma, so as he's this strong guy, and he
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: was also the person because he was such a big,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: strong guy that was intimidating to the kidnapper because if
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: he released his handcuffs or let him near him, then
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: he knew that he would be found out and he
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: could be overwhelmed and overtaken by Larry the husband.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: So it's interesting because he starts as this formidable man,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Larry the husband, and then his illness kind of diminishes
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: him and doesn't really make it a factor in any
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: of it, in any of the kidnapping. So I guess
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: in terms of story, what you are led to believe
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: in the very beginning ends up being not not what it.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Is at all, right, doesn't wind up helping at all? Yeah, yeah,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: or just isn't.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, they think that it's some organized terrorist cartel
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: that's kidnapped them for all of their money, which ends up.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: Being a couple hundred, a couple hundred. It's like, what
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: are we talking about?
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: It's just it's just insane.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Well, it does seem so bizarre also that he is
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: asking for a check, Like I couldn't get past that
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: as an idea that.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's the most traceable thing, right, just right.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: It's so the the the And I guess it also
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: for as much as it was planned and organized, I
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: mean I think it was, uh that the work of
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: a desperate person who's just grabbing, grabbing its straws, truly
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: a lost person who's trying to craft something and and
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: you know, full of holes.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, and it's still you know, how do you
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: it's such a you know, how do you come back
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: to being in your house and feeling.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Safe again.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Like that piece of it to me is so disturbing
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: because like to your point you said in the beginning
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: that how you know it could happen to anyone? Quite literally,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: it's uh, it's really I don't know.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: And they and the Vaniston stayed in their home. They
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: went back and they stayed. They did, Yeah, they did.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: I don't know that.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: It's like with any trauma in life. There's probably not
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: a day they don't think about it, and there's probably
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: not a day that Connie doesn't look over her shoulder.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: And uh, they they live with that.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Were you able to speak with either of them or
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: did you did?
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I spoke with Connie Yeah, and she was extremely great
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: and forthcoming, and and they you know, I think a
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: lot of their solace and their healing comes from telling
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: their story.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's so true and so much of
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: we I talk about that with people on this podcast.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: How it's you know, there's this a very clear line
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: to me between sensationalizing things and actually telling stories that heal.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: People like Elizabeth Smart has said that the reason that
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: she has that she made that movie I'm Elizabeth Smart,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: is you people can understand things and have empathy through
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: story more so than they can through you know, statistics
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: or an article about something. You know.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: So I do think the healing is important at the.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: End of the day, as we move into this age of.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: AI and we're all afraid of what what does that mean?
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: And what happens to humanness? What we have, what we're
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: left with are our stories. And that's why, you know,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Lifetime does such a great job of just telling these
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: real life stories, and people are glued to them because
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: it's it's human experience and it is that it is
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: it's not the magnificent, it's it's this could be you
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: or me. And and people watch that and they think,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: oh my god, and how would I.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: What would I do? What if it? How would I
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: deal with that?
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And uh and and I've watched them, I've watched you
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: know youtubes of their their lecture and their story. It's
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: like a it's like a ted talk. And they don't
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: they don't prosthetize. They just say, this is what happened
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: to us, and this is what we learned from it,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: and and this is what we want to share.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: And they they tell it in a very kind of.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Just sort of step by step, this is what we knew,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: this is what we didn't know, this is this is
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: what we drew from it.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: And they they uh, he talks about his family? What
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: is do we know? What is? What are the the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: what's the situation with his family? Is he married? Kids?
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: So I think we had to sort of legally dance
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: around that. Yeah, know that he was married and had kids,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: and that's that's really.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: All we know, Okay.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: And I know in the filmmaking we couldn't.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Use names, we couldn't show depict you know, with an actor,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: right or children?
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Is that because of his case ongoing or something?
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: Or I think so? I think it was maybe it's
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: a protection thing.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: I don't know, right right, I mean, oh my gosh,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I can't imagine the other side of that, if you're
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: finding out your husband has been doing that.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah. But again, I think it just cat and it
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: banks the question like what where's the threshold? I mean,
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: here's this.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Guy was a family man, kids and ran out of money,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: like was in trouble financially. So what is the threshold
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: that makes you go from being a church going family
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: guy to somebody who is basically.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: A monster right right over?
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: A couple hundred thousand dollars, right.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Right, So this is I'm so curious about these things,
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: like is this how do we get from A to
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: Z like that?
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: And is it what does it say about human nature?
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Or what does it say about body?
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: Snap? Yeah?
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Mm hm and it and again it's it was a
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: premeditated snap. It wasn't even like that. This guy said
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: this is going to be the answer to my problems.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: This isn't It's going to be okay, it'll be smooth
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: and easy. They'll never know it's me, and I'll.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: Just boom boom boom. This will be over in a
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: couple hours.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: And I mean, it's crazy.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: It's crazy.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: If somebody is watching this and thinking, you know, uh, oh,
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: this could never happen to me, what would you say
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: to them?
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: I think that we're all walking through life and uh
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: and we're all human beings. Nobody's immune to anything. Not
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: that not that one would wish this on anybody.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: But but I think the point of what.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Connie and Larry try to say, and they're in their
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: talks is that we all have hardship and this happened
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: to be our you know, no pun intended, but cross
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: to bear.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: This was our hardship.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: But but they even say in the story like they
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: had other hardships, like they I think Larry had cancer
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: and h or maybe you know, they had things, and
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: it's they just look at it like that this was
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: something that just happened to us, and it's no more,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: no less than somebody else going through a dark time
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: like the loss of a loved one or you know,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: dealing with an illness or or financial ruin or losing
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: your how or whatever. It is right right, and it's
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: all in how you deal with it. And again they
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: would say that the best way for them to deal
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: with it is to just double down on your faith
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: and know that even even though maybe the darkest of times,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: you'll be delivered when we're another regardless of the outcome.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Right, I mean, that's a pretty beautiful message, to be clear.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I'm sure they or I hope. Do you know what
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: they think of the movie? Have they seen it?
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Have they? I?
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the producer told me they saw it and they
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: liked it.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: They really liked it. And it does you.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Know, there are certain storytelling liberties that we take.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, do you know what I read that they the
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: one thing that I knew that they were actually when
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: they were.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Sequestered down there, that there was duct tape over their eyes?
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Is that right? But they chose not to do that
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: in the movie. Do you know why?
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Makeup?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I knew it was something.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I was like, you know, or it's that lifetime needs
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: to see Nancy's face.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Like a certain percentage of the time.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Because Mike Connie wears fake lashes and rip those things
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: right up right off.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Makeup was like, no way.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I also think they never they didn't find out who
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: it was until after the fact, until after they were rescued,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: So that whole moment.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: Of realizing it's him. Oh yeah, wait.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: So she didn't that didn't happen. That was artistic license.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: Oh wow.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's a big one.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: That's a big one. That's a big one.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't I don't think it changes how
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: they behaved or what they believed, or how they tried
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: to let the outside.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: World know what was happening.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think she still went into the bank
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: and left a message and that kind of thing. But
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: but I know, for me as an actress, once my
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: character realizes it's him there, it's a turning point.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, a story.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean it changes how you it changes everything. Yes,
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: I mean that really is so you You couldn't even
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: ask her like what did you feel when you had
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: like you really had to do a last.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: For things like if you so for example, also I said,
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: if you know now in retrospect, if you could have
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: said anything to him? And she did tell me, Connie
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: told me the most chilling part of the whole experience
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: for her was when he looked at them and looked
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: at her and said, where.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: Is your God now?
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: And she knew at that moment that she was looking
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: into the face of evil, into the eyes of evil,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: like that was the most chilling thing to her. And
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: and in our conversation, I said, well, what if you
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: could have said anything to him, what would it be?
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: And it and so that a lot of that one
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: scene where she's talking to him and she said, you're
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: really you're purely evil and where is your God now?
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Came out of that conversation.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Oh I did.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: And also in the in the moment with grandchild Emma
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: at the end, yes, yes, I said, if you could
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: say anything to her, what what would it be?
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: What would what is what is.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: The message that you would give to her and and
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: it was that she said, it's that, it's that you're
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: not alone no matter what.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: And uh and.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: She Connie maintains, she says, we're not special this, We're
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: not this because this happened to us.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: We're not special. We're just like anybody else.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, that is a great it's a great message
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: all around for sure. Well, this has been such a pleasure.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: You're just such a lovely person. And I've always been
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: a big fan. And I also I'm curious you're such
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: a You're just known for so many amazing comedies. So
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: do you feel like the opposite that you know, a
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: lot of people who do dark projects are always like
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: so I needed to do a sitcom, you know, But
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: do you feel.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: The reverse like I needed to get in there?
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: And you know, honestly, I feel like it's all the
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: same thing. So it's not comedy versus darkness. I mean,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: I think it's all just in the storytelling and trying
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: to be as truthful as you can in the storytelling,
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: whether it's a comedy or a drama or a suspense
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: or or whatever it is, and just keep you know,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: burrowing down and you know, and then also, I mean
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: not to be too It is also still entertainment, so
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: you're still trying to figure out how to entertain.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what I do.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Yep. Well you're excelling at it.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you. Yeah, but if you have a comedy,
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: send it.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: I will.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: So rescued by faith.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: The Connie and Larry van Ustin story is on Lifetime
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: and you can watch it now. And thank you so much, Nancy,
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: it was really a pleasure talking with you.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: Likewise,