WEBVTT - Paradise Prison: Chapter 1 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:11.600 When an American hunter got caught with forgotten ammunition in 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.680 a Caribbean airport, authorities told him it was a simple 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.319 matter of the law. He'd broken it and there would 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:21.960 be consequences, no exceptions. But it wasn't simple, and it 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:25.360 wasn't just the law. What he didn't know, what he 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.080 couldn't have known, standing in that terminal with his wife 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.040 and friends, was that he'd stumbled into something much bigger 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.960 than a few forgotten cartridges. There was corruption on that island. 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.040 There was a prison the Humanitarian Commission said shouldn't exist, 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.600 and when he started talking, there were consequences that had 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:46.720 nothing to do with any courtroom. Some of those consequences 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:51.080 echoed around the world, but others, the assaults, the cruelty, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:56.200 the extortion, and the violence were hidden, forgotten, were ignored 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:02.080 until now. This is Paradise Prison, a three part Blood 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.600 Trails mini series that follows American hunters and gun owners 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.640 who were trapped in Turks and Caicos in twenty twenty four. 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.600 The story received international media attention. And you might think 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.279 you know what happened, but trust me when I say 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.520 you don't know the half of it. That's next on 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:31.240 Blood trails. Even the most dedicated hunters need a tropical 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.800 vacation every once in a while. In April of twenty 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.039 twenty four, Ryan Watson was planning exactly that, a relaxing 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:40.560 getaway in the Caribbean with his wife and a few 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:41.320 close friends. 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.080 I two fraternity brothers from college. We were all turning 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.040 forty within a couple weeks of one another, and we 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.800 had long talked about putting together a fortieth birthday trip 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.040 for like a couple's trip for us and our wives. 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.640 At some point, one of our buddies had been to 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.400 Turks and Caicos in he was really lobbying for us 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:03.840 to all go to Turks and Caicos, and we finally 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:05.680 conceded just to make the trip happen. 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:09.160 Ryan and his wife Valerie, packed their bags, left their 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.240 two young children with grandparents, and boarded a plane for 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:16.800 the picturesque Archipelago, six hundred miles southeast of Miami. When 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.840 they arrived, everything went as smoothly as could be expected. 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.920 Ryan even noticed that their bags had already been taken 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.440 off the plane and were waiting for them on the carousel. 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.280 I thought, Man, it's like a first country I've ever 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.760 flown into where they don't inspect your bags or do 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.640 anything like that. And my buddy Trey makes a passing 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:37.560 comment and he said, hey man, it's the Caribbean, Watson. 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.480 Everybody's carefree here, and those wards would continue to echo 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:42.000 in my head. 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.640 Airport officials didn't check those bags on the way in, 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.640 but they did check them on the way out. After 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.440 what Ryan says was a fun and yes, care free vacation, 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:56.240 he Valerie, and their friends made their way to the 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:58.600 airport to board their flight back to Oklahoma. 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.400 When we pulled up to the airport, kind of panic 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.520 sets in because the airport is a tiny airport and 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.079 the airport is just in chaos. I mean, there had 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.119 apparently been several flights before us that had been delayed, 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.240 and it was everybody was pushing and shoving and screaming 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:16.920 at one another. 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.200 The panic Ryan describes wasn't anything more than what you'd 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.519 expect at a hot, crowded airport on a tiny island nation. 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.280 But that was about to change. Brian made it through 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.560 the security line first, and as he turned to watch 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.240 his wife and friends, he noticed that Valerie had been 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.200 stopped by airport security. They were looking at one of 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.760 their Duffel bags, a bag they'd packed at the last 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.840 minute to keep another suitcase from going over the weight limit. 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.560 So they go through tearing through this bag. They're looking 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.920 for something. Clearly. They take all my wife's items out 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.560 of the Duffel bag. They run all the items through 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:57.000 the scanner individually. They're not satisfied, and we're all joking 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.600 at this point. We think it's funny. I mean, you're 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:04.360 with ends. Anytime TSA or the airport security is going 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.880 through somebody's bag, everybody starts ribbing each other and oh, 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:08.080 what are they going to find? 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.960 Eventually they found something, but Ryan says they took it 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.120 out of the bag so quickly it was hard to 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:15.200 tell exactly what. 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.000 And the lady just spun on a heel and walked 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.840 right back over to the other security guards there and 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.120 she's showing it to him and they're whispering, and my 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:27.839 mom was like, did you see what they got? And 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.599 I said, I didn't see it. The lady then walks 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.160 over and holds it up and I recognize it immediately. 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:41.000 It is a small package of six point five creedmore reloads. 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.160 Ryan had purchased that ammunition from a local gun shop 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.240 in Oklahoma City. It isn't uncommon for local shops to 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.080 sell reloaded ammunition, and Ryan had been using it to 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.720 hunt deer for several seasons. Loose AMMO in a small 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.359 plastic bag isn't a great look for going through airport security, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.000 but Ryan expected to surrender it and get on his floor. 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:02.800 If you're a hunter or a sports shooter, you've likely 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.440 found yourself in the same position. You get a stern 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.560 talking to and lose your ammo. But that's the extent 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:09.320 of the penalty. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:13.279 So I'm negotiating, asking, Hey, you know, can we just 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.480 throw it in the trash. I'm so sorry. I just 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:21.280 a genuine, honest, freak accident. We had no idea what 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:21.800 was in there. 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.039 Ryan tried to play it cool, but Valerie had a 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.840 sinking feeling. She couldn't quite explain. 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.680 I look immediately looked at Ryan. I was like, what 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.719 is that? I mean, it looked scary to me. They're 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.400 big bullets, they're gold, and I am panicking. I mean, 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.960 my heart sinked my stomach because I was like, I 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.120 know you can't travel with ammunition. We know that, and 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.360 I don't know how it got through multiple airports. 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.919 Ryan says the airport officials weren't aggressive or accusatory, but 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.000 they did say that Ryan and Valerie would have to 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.920 talk to the police. And then they did something else. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:05.440 The first little like weird sign that something might be 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.840 askew was she takes it over and the two other 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.120 ladies that are watching the X ray screen, they all 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:15.040 three take a selfie to hold it up and take 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:17.599 a selfie with it. It was like a gripping grin. 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:18.960 I was like, what is going on? 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:24.320 Twenty minutes later, that uneasy feeling escalated to heart pounding concern. 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.760 A guy walks up to me, no word spoken, nothing, 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:29.880 He just rips the boarding pass out of my hand 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:31.800 and he looks at it. He hands it back to 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:32.919 him and he says, I just want you to know 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:34.000 you're not going to make that fly. 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.080 Ryan still expected to be on the next flight, so 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:38.960 he told his friends to go ahead and get on 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:39.400 the plane. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.760 My wife and I are escorted out of the airport, 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:48.840 and about that time, a silver STV comes screeching up 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:51.920 to the curve. I mean the bumpers hanging off of it, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.960 no markings, nothing on this car. And the man and 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:02.400 a woman get out plane close, no badges, nothing right. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.320 They'd walk up to us and they start deterrogating us 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:10.360 on the corner. Why do you have this? Are you licensed? 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.920 I I was like, we don't have to have a 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.720 license to possess ammunition back in the States. Like it 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:21.080 was an accident. I'm a hunter. And next thing you know, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.680 they opened the door to the car and they shove 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:25.440 us in and they say we're taking you with us, 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.280 and then we're like where to and no badges have 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.960 been shown. At this point, We're in the back of 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.520 some beat up suv and I'm like, this doesn't seem Ryan. 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.640 Thirty minutes earlier, Ryan and Valerie were expecting to beat 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:42.640 in the air on the way back to their kids. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.640 Now they were stuck in the back of an unmarked 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.679 suv being driven away from the airport in a foreign 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.720 country by two people who, for all they knew, could 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:56.800 be gang members, extortionists, or something worse. All Ryan could 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:59.360 think about was whether he should take matters into his 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.480 own hands. I'm looking for when do I start fighting? 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.000 Do I start grabbing somebody or grabbing the wheel or 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.280 hitting the emergency brake? And I'm talking to them, They're 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.440 not responding to me. So Val starts to share our 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.600 location with the Dyers, who are now boarding their plane, 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.040 and they say, okay, we're tracking you. We're going to 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:23.920 keep an eye on you. We're getting on the plane now. 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.160 As the Dyers took off, the Watsons lost the only 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.240 allies they had on Turks and Caicos. They didn't know 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.560 where they were being taken, what would happen when they 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.240 got there, or even if they'd been officially arrested. All 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.880 they knew was from the moment that security guard pulled 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.760 those four cartridges from their bag, their lives had been 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:42.880 turned upside down. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:46.400 First thing I think of as our kids, because you know, 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.679 our kids are expecting us home, and I'm sitting here 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.160 thinking this cannot this can't be real. There's no way 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:54.760 that our kids are going to have to grow up 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.520 without both parents. This is not happening. 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:02.120 But it was Happeningson's weren't the only ones. Turks and 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:06.200 Kikos had recently passed new restrictions ostensibly aimed at curbing 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.640 gun related crime on the crime ridden islands, but along 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.800 with drug runners and gun traffickers, these laws had also 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.920 been used to target tourists, sportsmen, gun owners, and Ryan 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.920 and Valerie would later learn almost exclusively Americans. 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.959 It was so innocent, and I think the airport security there, 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.880 I think they probably knew that it was an innocent thing. 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.680 But there was a lot revealed while we were there 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:33.960 that made it seem like this was something that they 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.880 were targeting. So we were caught in the bool of 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:37.720 something much bigger. 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.360 In this special Blood Trails miniseriies We're going on vacation, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:49.680 but not the fun kind. This is a tale of corruption, extortion, 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.800 bomb threats, and assassination attempts just a few hundred miles 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:59.640 from the American border. But it's also a story about perseverance, faith, sacrifice, 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.160 and the kindness of strangers in a foreign land. At 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.240 times it sounds like a movie or the most surreal 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:09.920 nightmare you've ever had, But it's all true, and the 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.280 truth is could have happened to any of us. None 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.080 of these Americans were gun smugglers, none of them even 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.800 had criminal records, and yet each of them faced decades 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.680 behind bars in a prison that officials had deemed a 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.160 human rights violation. How they got caught in that web 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.800 of corruption and incompetence and how they tried to escape 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.360 is what the next three episodes are all about. To 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.080 find your passports and buckle your seat belts. Things only 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:41.760 get crazier from here. I'm Jordan Siller's and this is 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:55.160 Blood Trails Paradise Prison, Chapter one, Part one, Hunting m O. 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.760 When I asked Ryan where those four cartridges came from, 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.760 he didn't hesitate. He'd been using the rounds in that 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.160 bag to hunt a ranch owned by the family of 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.800 his friend Tanner Dyer. Over twenty years earlier. Tanner had 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.280 reached out to Ryan and offered to bring him hunting 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.760 during an especially dark period in Ryan's life. 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.040 You know, my dad was unfortunately killed in a car 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.559 accident when I was nineteen years old in the fall 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:27.960 of that year, and he, you know, just being a 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.840 good friend, he had reached out to me and said, hey, man, 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.839 I want you to come to our family's ranch. We're 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:35.440 gonna go hunt. I want you to get your mind 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.760 off things. And so went out there. They have an 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:42.880 incredible ranch out in West Texas, and then they just 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.559 allowed me to go out there and sit with him, 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.719 and I enjoyed that. 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.960 That first bittersweet trip turned into an annual tradition, and 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.360 over the last few years, Ryan has had the chance 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.199 to take his son to the same ranch. 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:02.560 So probably my best time ever in the field was 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.920 a hunt probably two weeks before I was arrested. 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:08.200 His son was nine years old at the time and 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.480 he was excited to chase his first gobbler. Ryan took 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.439 him to a creek he knew that was lined with 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:14.480 cottonwood trees. 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:20.960 I finally I let loose on an alcohol, and man, 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.960 you can just hear those cottonwood shaken and they're vibrating 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.920 because there's so many toms that are shot gobbling up 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.920 in the trees. And I look over and my son 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.800 was his eyeballs were about this big round. And to 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.960 watch that morning come alive. Some of those sunrises in 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:44.040 West Texas are the most vivid shades of like pink 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:49.319 and orange. Watching that come up and watching those turkeys 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.720 flat out of the roost and just put on a 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:56.199 show and watch my son just in awe of it 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.440 was hands down the coolest moment I've ever had in 0:12:59.480 --> 0:12:59.880 the field. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.920 Very few hunters have ever said this, but Ryan told 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.360 me there were almost too many turkeys that morning, you know. 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.000 Bless his heart. He couldn't look in one direction and 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:15.559 her focus on one direction. I'd called a tom and 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.920 there's probably two or three toms in, but one of 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.680 them was dang near in his lap and I was like, 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:22.880 all right, buddy, like are you gonna pull the trigger? 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.160 And he's like, I don't know which one to aid, 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:26.960 I don't know where to aim. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:28.679 I was like, buddy, if you pull a trigger right now, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:34.680 like we're harvesting something. I wrob that Ryan's son wasn't 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.079 able to pull the trigger on those gobblers. But later 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.240 that morning, Ryan called in two jakes that were strutting 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.240 along a fence line. They were clearly on the alert, 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.880 so Ryan decided to draw their attention in a different 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:48.960 direction while he instructed his son to sneak up on them. 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.360 I take off and I'm watching out over my shoulder 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.880 the corner of my eye, and I hear his little 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:03.160 four ten ring out and i'd turn around. He's nervous 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.079 and shook in and I kind of go running over 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.760 there and he's like, did I did I get Did 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:10.640 I get one? And I was like, get one? I 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:13.880 was like, you just smoked two jakes with one shot, buddy. 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.120 For the Watsons, hunting has always been a family affair. 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.600 Ryan's father trained duck dogs and pointers, and the younger 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.480 Watson recalls walking the fields at an early age. 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.680 I'd go out with them, walk fields, get to go 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.920 on the annual pheasant hunt. I mean, as long as 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.400 I could keep up, and then you know, by lunch, 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:33.760 I was probably sleeping in the truck. 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:36.720 Ryan started hunting deer when he was ten or eleven, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.360 and he's hunted every year since. He said there were 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:41.920 twenty cartridges in that bag when he bought it from 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.440 the local shop, which means he fired sixteen. At least 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.840 a few of them were used on a crazy, non 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.680 typical white tail that, in Ryan's words, had stories to tell. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.000 I'm I'm assuming this is the deer that I shot. 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.680 Oh wow, when those rules got left? But the coolest 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.880 brown times on a year that I'd ever seen, dude, 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:07.560 that's crazy. Yeah, he had some he had some character. 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.360 Yeah that is so cool man. I've never seen anything 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:11.040 like that before. 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.920 Yeah, I had neither. I knew he was. I could 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.960 see a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, And when 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.720 I got him on the ground, I got up to 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:25.880 him and I was like, holy crap. I was like 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.120 this this year has like some stories to tell. 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.720 As it turned out, Ryan ended up with some stories 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.320 of his own. But before we get to those, I 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.760 know what you're thinking, how did those six or five 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.560 creed More cartridges end up in Ryan's bag? 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.120 That bag which my wife and I had had for 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.840 over thirteen years. It was a wedding gift. It was 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.480 a rolling duffel, so I had a hard bottom to 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:59.080 the bag, But the lining of that bag, due to 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.040 the where and hair over the years, had begun to separate. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.760 Brian told me that was the only bag they took 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.080 to Turks and Caicos that had also been to the 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.080 Dyer's ranch. He thinks the bag of cartridges fell through 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.760 the lining and wedged itself between the cushion of the 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.920 bag and the hard plastic bottom, so you could. 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.320 Shake the bag all you wanted. It made no audible sounds, 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.200 and so when they finally disassembled the bag and took 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.720 the lining out and took the padding out, then they 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:27.760 found the ammunition. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.520 Ran freely admits that he made a mistake and should 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.640 have checked his bag more carefully. Still, it's hard to 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.360 blame the guy for not noticing something. It took airport 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.200 officials multiple attempts to find with the help of an 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:44.320 X ray machine. The problem was the same circumstances that 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:48.760 made Ryan's mistake more understandable also made it more suspicious. 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.040 It looked like Ryan had hit in questionably packaged rifle 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.240 cartridges in the lining of his bag. That didn't sit 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.720 well with officials, which became terrifyingly obvious during the Watson's 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:09.840 first interrogation Part two. Weekend bail, Ryan and Valerie didn't 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:11.679 have to wait long to find out where they were 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.840 being taken, but that knowledge was small comfort. 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.919 I bet it was a ten minute car ride to 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.080 where they took us. We pull up. It's an empty 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.359 white building. It's a two story building. I'm like, I 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.680 don't see a police station sign anywhere here. 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.120 The Watsons weren't in handcuffs, but they still hadn't seen 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.040 a badge, a crest, or any indication that they were 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:39.040 being detained or kidnapped by legitimate authorities. Even the vehicle 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.880 they were riding in didn't seem official. As they pulled 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.280 up to the unmarked building, Ryan tried to let himself out. 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.040 I go to reach for the handle and I grab 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.000 a hold of the handle in the interior because I 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.600 was gonna let myself out, and the officer, who's a 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.760 bigger guy, he grabs a hold of the handle from 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.239 the outside and jerks it open. When that happens, I 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.600 snapped the handle from the inside of the car off, 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.320 and so now this guy, who already doesn't want to 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.399 be my friend, is like pissed. He grabs a handle, 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.840 throws it in there, starts pushing me. The female officer 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:18.520 gets val out and we get pushed upstairs opened the door. 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:22.640 They opened the door to this office building and it's empty, 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:27.120 like there's not a soul and there's not a poster 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.680 on the wall. There's nothing. And I'm like, we're gonna 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.760 get robbed here, like we're murdered, or they're going to 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:34.959 do something to Valerie. 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.800 The Americans were hustled into a small room and told 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.879 to sit down. Ryan told me he was still carrying 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.119 the luggage with the four cartridges inside, and both he 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:45.920 and Valerie had their cell phones. 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.719 About that time, the dyers start texting us and they 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.200 were like, are you sure that these are police officers 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:55.800 because we tracked your location to this random building in 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.640 the middle of nowhere, and I was like, I'm not sure. 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.159 This is sketchy at best. 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.040 A few minutes later, the man and woman who had 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.080 detained them walked into the room, but this time they 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.959 were carrying badges. They introduced themselves as Sergeant Charles and 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.960 Officer Markland. This helped ease Ryan's mind, but as it 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.200 turned out, kidnappers may have been easier to deal with. 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.440 And then the interrogation starts and they lay into us heavy, 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.439 like what were we doing? What criminal activities were we 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.320 up to? How long have we been on the island? 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.800 Who had we dealt with the whole time. I'm like, guys, 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:37.200 we were here to celebrate my fortieth birthday. They were 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:41.200 convinced that we were drug runners or arms dealers of 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:45.480 some sort. I'm like, guys, I'm a I'm a medical salesperson. 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.480 My wife's a Christian school teacher. I'm a hunter. This 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:53.040 is a just a terrible accident. I'm so sorry. They 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:59.199 aren't They're not backing down for nothing. And the interrogation 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.200 at this point has gone on for probably an hour 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:05.399 and a half, and they're getting pretty heated and getting 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.600 up and putting, you know, pushing fingers in my face. 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.800 The absurdity of these accusations should have been obvious. The 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.560 Watsons were clearly not gun smugglers, and more importantly, they 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.560 hadn't been caught trying to take ammunition into the country. 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.760 They'd been caught trying to take it out. If officials 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:27.480 were so concerned about American tourists illegally importing ammunition, you'd 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.240 think they'd check the bags on the way in. But 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:32.640 when Ryan tried to argue this point to the officers 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:34.160 across the table, it. 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.440 Didn't even register to them. I mean, I might as 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:39.840 well have been speaking Mandarin because they I mean, it 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:43.560 did not have any impact or influence in our situation. 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:47.240 Something else was going on here, something that went beyond 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.080 regulating the possession of ammunition. These thoughts tickle the back 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.080 of Ryan's brain, but in that moment, he had more 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:55.119 pressing concerns. 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.680 I say, hey, guys, you promised me that I could 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:04.520 phone my mother whenever we got to this station. And 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:09.840 they said, well, yes, but we're not going to allow 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:11.920 you to call her yet. I said, well, I need 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.080 to let her know, like she has my children at 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:19.320 the house, she's watching our children at home, and she 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:21.840 needs to know that we're delayed and we're gonna be 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:26.320 late getting home. And that's whenever Officer Charles or Sergeant 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:30.119 Charles leans back in his chair and just with the biggest, 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:34.119 you know, shit eating grin ever starts laughing. He says, 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.399 you two don't get it. You're both going to prison 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:38.040 for twelve years, and it starts today. 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.119 Brian guessed that this was an intimidation tactic, but the 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.240 officers were clear that the couple was headed to jail 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:47.919 to await their first hearing. 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.520 When they told us that they were gonna take us 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:56.080 to jail, that, I mean, I couldn't even fathom. I'm 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:59.600 sitting here thinking, Okay, I'm in a foreign country and 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:02.520 I am about to be arrested and put in a jail. 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:04.520 I mean, I have no idea other than the tourist 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:08.440 areas of this country, like what I'm getting into, and 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:13.080 so I start crying. I'm very emotional. I'm thinking about 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:15.760 our kids back home. I'm thinking about what in the 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:17.359 world am I about to embark upon. 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:21.960 Val is trying to collect yourself, and I'm trying my 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:28.600 best to consoler. At some point, Valerie makes the statement, 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:31.359 neither one of us have been in any type of 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:37.399 trouble before is what I'm wearing. Okay to go to 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:44.200 jail in will I be cold? And as a husband man, 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:48.399