All language subtitles for episode_2_peru_krista_and_jennifer_s_storyperuvian_prison_nightmare

And we'd be going on the vacation of our
lives.

The beaches are beautiful. The water is
blue.

Not understanding why they were going to
pay for us in Peru.

What?

And they said, a little bit of cocaine.

I just got asked by a Peruvian custom
agent to follow him to a back room when

have cocaine in my bag.

Scared to death.

I'm pretty much born and raised right on
the beach.

California.

I was a straight -A student.

I hated missing school.

I was active in sports.

I was good.

Jennifer and I met through a mutual
friend who used to run a modeling

And so she introduced us, and
immediately we clicked. We hit it off.

We had a connection.

From then on out, we started hanging out
as often as we could.

As promoters, I mean, we basically...

Got paid to go mingle, pass out flyers,
let people know what was going on at our

parties.

It was kind of glamorous because
Jennifer and I were known as the girls.

Yes, it was exciting.

We were partying with famous people.

Out partying until 7, 8 in the morning,
getting home at 10 in the morning,

living kind of a really fast Hollywood
lifestyle.

Didn't really know where my life was
going.

It wasn't something that we could do
forever.

I was just getting ready to go to work,
and I get this phone call.

Hello? And it was Jose.

Who?

She had a friend, Jose, who was actually
a friend of the family for many years.

And I hadn't heard from Jose in a year
and a half, two years.

Oh, my God! How are you doing?

He was a surfer. He was Peruvian.

You know, just kind of laid back.

I was excited to hear from him. When he
called, I was excited, you know.

We had, I had nothing but fond memories.

I told him to swing by the pizzeria that
I was working in, and he did.

Oh, my God. How are you?

My God, it's so good to see you.

Are you looking great?

I'd asked where he had been and what he
had been up to. Just in school, busy,

you know, and surfing, surfing a lot. He
was very vague.

He had just said, yo, I've been around,
you know.

You want to catch a movie later or
something?

Yeah, no, that sounds good. Definitely a
proper catch up, yeah. Excellent.

Yeah, call myself, call myself.

So good to see you.

It's weird how he just kind of
disappeared and then so abruptly just

my life.

It's crazy.

Oh, it seemed like Jose had a lot of
money, yeah. He had jet skis. You know,

had a nice car.

He had a house in Mexico.

Not to mention the house that he was
living in was pretty fantastic.

It was very nice.

Very, very nice.

I questioned it, you know, like, hmm,
what's going on here?

And I asked him, and he said his father
sent him money from Miami.

Because he didn't have a job. Jose went
to school full -time and surfed.

Full time.

And I believed it, of course.

And he was like, no, I have an extra
room. Why don't you girls move in?

And we were like, oh.

The room that we were given literally
opened up onto the ocean. It was

And you woke up every morning and you
could hear the seals and the waves.

We were living a pretty nice lifestyle.

Probably too good to be true.

Probably think about it.

Anytime is always a good time for me.

Here we go. Yeah, now.

Hey!

Que onda?

La vuelta.

A couple of childhood friends come to
visit Angelo and Lucio.

This is Krista.

Hey. Angela, Lucio. Nice to meet you.
How are you? Hey, good to meet you.

They seemed nice, you know, they were
Peruvian, spoke broken English, but they

did, you know, speak a little bit of
English, so we were able to, you know,

speak with them.

They always hung around the house.

Anytime we left, they were there.
Anytime we came home, they were there.

Hey, can we talk to you for a second?

Yeah, what's up? So one day, Angelo and
Lucho called us into the living room.

Huh, so you guys had fun last night.

Yeah.

They asked us how our night was and what
time we'd gotten in, and we had fun,

and we're like, okay, what is this small
talk, you know? So we were just talking

about it, and we want to give you guys
the opportunity to go to Peru,

included for a few weeks.

All expense paid trip to Peru.

You know, we wanted to travel. It was
Peru. We'd never been there.

We were like, wow.

You go over there.

You hang out with our friends.

They'll take you. You want to go
shopping? You'll go shopping. You'll do

whatever you want.

They made it sound like it was Rio de
Janeiro or something. We'd be going on

vacation of our lives.

The beaches are beautiful. The water is
blue.

A little hesitant because not
understanding why they're going to pay

go to Peru.

No, well, you just have to bring
something a little bit extra.

We'll get your plane tickets, we'll get
your passport.

You just have to bring something a
little extra back in your bag.

We're like, okay.

What?

And they said, a little bit of cocaine.

Just a little small amount.

No big deal.

Like bringing a pair of tennis shoes in
our bag. It was nothing.

And they told us that the bags were, you
know, everything was professional.

Everything was professional.

They spent thousands of dollars on
making these bags.

We would not even be able to see the
drugs. You know, they have a way of

it where it's put in the seam of your
bag.

And, you know, basically, we wouldn't
even be able to tell that it was there.

I asked.

What if we would get caught? What if we
do get caught?

And I remember them specifically saying,
this is something that did stick in my

mind. They said, there's no way that you
will get caught. There's no way.

Trust me.

We'll pay $5 ,000 each.

Cash?

You have a couple of days to think about
it. We'll meet Thursday.

Okay.

The most attractive thing about the
offer was the traveling.

You know, I've always wanted to travel
my whole life.

It was Peru. We'd never been there.

And also, obviously, the money.

$5 ,000 was a lot at the time compared
to what we had.

We planned we were going to take $5 ,000
and put it in the bank, and the other

$5 ,000 we were going to go visit our
family.

I'm from the Midwest, so, I mean...

pretty far from California, and Chris's
mom lived in Michigan at the time. And I

also remember we were going to buy
makeup.

We had nothing to lose. That's what we
thought.

We were ready to go.

Let's do it.

Angelo and Lucha said that we would meet
in a couple days outside, and we met on

the pier in Redondo, and they just told
us the only thing we couldn't do was

tell Jose.

He can't know.

Okay.

I said, okay.

Not really understanding why or not
really questioning it.

The ticket?

Yes. I got it.

Everything's set.

Everything is ready to go.

It was really happening.

You know, this was it. It was really
happening. We were going to do it.

I was 19.

You know, I felt like I was invincible.

I mean, for me, it was just the
experience of kind of leaving the

I wasn't happy living.

Even though it was a glamorous
lifestyle, this is kind of like an

get out and start over, I guess.

I mean, I think that there was a point
when I did get a little apprehensive and

worried about it.

I should have followed my gut instinct
at the time. I don't know.

You guys just told us pack nice clothes
and pack like you're going on vacation.

We've never really been on a vacation in
our lifetime, so we're going to

paradise for nine days.

I'll just let that whole denial kick in
and kind of look at the other part of

it, the vacation and the money.

We had like a few hours to kill. Then we
met this gentleman who I believe is

American.

And he goes, why are you guys going to
Peru? And we're like, oh, we're just

going on vacation. He goes, you're not
going to smuggle drugs, are you?

What?

And I were kind of like, ha, ha, ha, you
know, kind of laughed it off or

whatever.

Because we honestly thought we were like
the first ones doing this.

I think that was the first time we
thought maybe, okay, so.

People are actually aware that people do
this, if that makes any sense, you

know?

When we were descending to land in Peru,
we were just like, ooh.

It was gray.

It looked cold outside.

It was ugly. It was dirty.

It was not the palm trees and beautiful
place that I had envisioned at

all.

And we got off the plane.

And I remember just kind of looking to
see, you know, who it was that was going

to be waiting for us and picking us up.

They didn't have a sign or anything.
They just kind of like, like they knew

only two white girls there.

They knew we were probably those girls.

They were very friendly. You know, they
helped us with our luggage.

They walked us to their car and
basically told us that they would be

to, you know, the hotel where we would
be staying.

As soon as we get in the car, we take
off, like, skidding.

We were, like, immediately, like,
holding hands.

Jennifer and I just look at each other
going, oh, my God.

They were, like, smoking Blitz in the
car.

We look down, and there's, like, a gun.

I don't know if that was a tactic to
scare us.

You know, I was still kind of hoping,
though, that maybe they just carry guns

around and it wasn't going to turn out
all bad like it did.

Can you give me the passport?

I remember that. That was odd, too.

Passport? I questioned the fact that why
they felt like they needed to take our

passports.

They've now got our passports.

They've shown us that they have guns.

What's next?

The hotel was far, far away.

There was nothing around.

Oh, is this it?

I know. What are we going to do?

It was just a dirt road and farmland.

The place was empty. It was completely
empty.

We were not on vacation. We were
basically being held prisoners already

hotel room that they took us to, you
know, 40 miles out of the city with no

contact with anyone except for them.

Okay, we need your bags.

Now? Yes, now. They took the bags,
because those were obviously the bags

they were going to do the job with.

Quickly. All right.

I could have done that.

More like.

So from that point on, we never saw the
bags. We never saw anything.

Up until the morning we left.

Where are you going?

They didn't leave us any way of
contacting them.

You know, it's basically, we'll get back
to you when we're ready. Have fun.

We'll pick up tomorrow.

Don't leave the hotel.

They left us in the hotel for like two
days.

Didn't even hear from them, didn't even
see them.

It's like that, and then... Hey.

We walked.

We braided each other's hair.

We watched Spanish TV.

I remember they had a nice pool.

Drained. Oh, my God.

We were bored out of our minds.

I mean, we didn't even know how to call
a taxi. We couldn't speak Spanish. We

didn't know anything.

It can't get worse than this. Tomorrow's
going to be better.

Renzo and Fabrizio finally called us
after a couple days and they said, oh,

we're going to come pick you up, we're
going to take you to the beach. And

like, okay, great.

Tomorrow it will be blue skies and we'll
go to the beaches and it will be, you

know, laying on the sand and sitting in
our bikinis.

This is the beach.

It was beach, there was sand and the
ocean, but... It wasn't summertime there

and I think basically during the winter
everything kind of closes down.

I mean,

we're ready to leave the beach.

Dead crap everywhere.

Just driving with friends and Fabrizio
to the beaches. They never mentioned the

drugs. We never talked about it. We
didn't talk about the bags.

We didn't talk about anything.

Ever.

I believe it was the third day in. They
said, oh, we set up a tour of the city.

Well, the city was definitely prettier.

You know, there were old buildings, and
the architect was interesting. Kind of

took our minds off of our negative moods
of being stuck in the hotel room and

not doing anything.

There was an interpreter, and her name
was Tessie.

And she spoke perfect English, and it
was wonderful to be able to actually

to someone.

And Jennifer was like, yes, because
Jennifer's a huge dancer.

We're thinking, thank God, finally
someone is really going to tell us

where to go and what to do.

After the tour we get back and the guys
pick us up and and we're really excited

They

automatically

got mad

We never got to see Tessie. We never got
to go dancing.

We had no passports. We had no money.
And we knew the guys had guns, and we

didn't know them well enough to know
that they would or would not hurt us.

And it was just kind of a dead end.

No turning back. We have to go through
it. We have two more days.

The day before we were leaving, they
came by to pick up all of our clothes.

The guys, they were going to take our
clothes and all

of our stuff and pack it into the
original suitcases with the cocaine in

It felt good because we weren't going to
have to see the bags. We weren't going

to have to wonder where the cocaine was.

I mean, that helped in the process of
our denial, absolutely.

I said, okay, well, we're not going to
see you tomorrow.

There's going to be a guy, a friend of
ours, that's going to get you a cab and

drop the bags off to you tomorrow
morning and give us some sleeping pills,

something to calm us down in case we
were nervous. I think I was definitely

than willing to take it to help me
sleep, yes.

The guys said in case we were questioned
by customs, just relax and remember you

went to Machu Picchu and Cusco.

Machu Picchu and Cusco. Cusco.

Yeah, Cusco. Cusco. Okay, it's very
important.

Like I said, I think at that point I was
ready to go home. I would just take the

bag, let's get this over with, tomorrow
we're getting on the plane.

We woke up the next morning to a knock
on the door.

The minute I saw the bag,

my heart started pounding.

That's when the real fear kicked in.

I wanted to know what was in there, how
much was in there.

I wanted to make sure that there was no
evidence of it being there.

And there was not. Not that I could see
to my eye.

And the whole way to the airport was
probably the longest ride ever.

Very long.

I think that we were both very scared at
that point.

If we would have tried to back out, I
think we feared what could happen to us.

No one knew that we were there. I mean,
they could have killed us and no one

would know.

We didn't know there was an American
embassy in Peru that we could have

We didn't speak the language.

Our parents didn't know where we were.

We didn't even know how to use the
phone, like, if we had to call home, you

know? Not to mention we didn't have
money to call.

You know, we were screwed.

I remember just, you know, kind of going
through my head. We were, you know,

there just to visit our students, and,
you know, we went to see Cusco.

We get to the airport, and I'm starting
to get nervous.

Don't get nervous.

Don't let anything show on your face.

Just do it.

Get on that plane.

Do it.

We were dropped off, and the guy asked
if we wanted help with our luggage.

We're like, no, no, no, we've got it.

Honestly,

we're told very clearly to never let go
of our luggage.

We walk inside.

And there are drug dogs walking back and
forth and police officers and machine

guns.

We head towards the ticket counter.

And there was a customs agent at the
ticket counter already.

I don't necessarily think that I was
extremely alarmed to see him, but I was

also just kind of like, okay, this is
the first step. We have to get through

this.

The customs agent asked us for our
passport.

Okay.

Heart's starting to pound a little more.

Just remember thinking, okay, this is
it.

How long in Peru?

Nine days.

Nine days. Nine days.

Donde? Oh, Maripichu.

In school? Machu Picchu? Yeah. Machu
Picchu. Okay.

Which was, I mean, really.

So unlikely at that time. The weather
was bad.

You know what I mean? It was just not
the time for vacation in Peru.

I thought we did everything right. We
did everything we were supposed to.

And they asked us to walk where we
originally put our bags.

Words cannot express what I felt at that
moment.

You just don't walk on the scales.

I was floored.

I just got asked by a proven custom
agent to follow him to a back room when

have cocaine in my bag.

Scared to death.

I just got asked by a proven custom
agent to follow him to a back room when

have cocaine in my bag.

Scared to death.

The custom agent takes us to this room.

My heart was racing.

I just remember there was drug dogs
there.

Do you have drugs into your baggage?

No.

We are police officers of drugs.

Okay?

And there's a guy hunched over our bag
with this pin type of thing

and like a metal hook.

And he had poked our bag,

pulled it out, and coke came out of it.

I think I went into shock, honestly.

Jennifer and I just kind of looked at
each other and we just like, you know,

kind of put our hands in the air and
shrugged our shoulders.

What is he talking about? This isn't
ours. Those are our bags. But no, this

isn't ours. And we don't know how it got
there.

And, you know, the only thing we could
say was that it wasn't our bag. But, you

know, I mean, we brought him in the
airport.

It took them a good 45 minutes to an
hour to tear the bag apart.

They were taking our clothes out.

They opened the bag, the bottom of the
bag. It was like in a big, flat, almost

plastic -looking type cover, and they
pulled that out.

The whole entire bottom of the bag was
just full of blocks of cocaine.

And at that point, I still didn't know
how much a kilo was, but I knew that it

was more than what I was told I was
going to be bringing back home.

It was there, and it was wrapped in,
like, black tape, and it was blocked,

there was a lot.

That amount of coke would have been
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It was pure cocaine, not cut, pure
cocaine.

I mean, we were completely ignorant
about it, and it was just, it was

overwhelming. It was absolutely
overwhelming.

We get to this little room.

I have no doubt in my mind, I'm going
home. We were still there on vacation.

Okay, didn't work, but we're still going
home. It's not ours.

Okay.

And then he opened the curtain.

And we saw our plane.

And then he made us watch it take off.

And the plane took

off and we weren't on it.

And that's when we broke down and
realized we're not going out.

We left the airport handcuffed, and
we're driving, not talking,

not really realizing what's going on.

I could not look at Krista.

We were taken out, and we entered this
building.

All the people are staring at you.

We didn't know what was going on. We
didn't know what was going to happen. We

didn't know.

I remember seeing a couple of cells off
to the right.

And we're saying, no, no.

At this point, we're crying.

We don't believe they're going to really
put us here.

and we were put into a room.

We had a plastic bag with what little
belongings we had, and we just held each

other and cried the whole night.

I'm the crybaby of the two of us, but,
yeah, she cried.

There were times where Jennifer would
not stop crying and I would just look at

her and be like, you need to stop
crying.

And she would look at me and just put
her hands in the air and just tell me,

what do you want me to do?

And then I would start crying. It was
like for a while it was just we're

to keep each other strong, you know.
When she was weak, I was strong and vice

versa. But it got to a point where there
was no strength left, you know.

Nothing but tears. There was no words,
no comforting, nothing.

Nothing was going to make it okay.

We contemplated ending our lives, but we
couldn't figure out how to do it at the

same time.

I think Chris and I even discussed a
couple different ways that we could do

Yeah. We were there for 15 days.

We weren't given food. We weren't given
water.

We weren't allowed to shower.

We didn't know what day it was. We
didn't know what time it was.

We were so excited because we're like,
finally we may know what's going to

happen to us.

It wasn't like that at all.

I don't really remember her being very
concerned. I think it was just straight

to the point visit that she had to do.

I said, here, this paper, we're going to
fax these to your parents.

I looked at them in disbelief, like,
really?

You want us to write down on a piece of
paper that you're going to fax to our

parents that we're in prison in Peru?

Who could do that on paper, you know?

They thought we were in San Francisco.
My stepmom was calling morgue because

thought I was dead because she hadn't
heard from me.

My dad was a police officer for 20
years.

So I was told when he found out, he sat
down on the couch in front of the TV,

didn't shower, didn't eat, didn't do
anything for three days. He didn't move,

didn't sleep.

We had the first contact with our
parents over a cell phone.

I just remember crying and just saying,
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, you know.

And just, you know, hearing them say,
it's going to be okay, it's going to be

okay.

My dad always said that if any of us
ever got arrested or in trouble, that he

wouldn't cross the street to help us,
that we would be on our own.

He was a correctional officer.

I remember him saying, I don't want to
know what you did.

I don't care.

I just want you to promise me that
you're going to make it.

And from that point on, I knew I had to
just...

Go through with it and deal with it.

Kaya was a male prison.

And that was probably one of the worst
memories.

The matter of having to squat and
urinate in front of six male guards.

There was one specific night where they
started to come into our cell.

in the middle of the night the previous
night we'd heard people having

intercourse or being raped or something
we had like some sort of crackers and i

think maybe a bottle of pop or something
and i completely woke up in a haze and

just threw it at the cell door and it
went all over and he scurried off and

never came back honestly i think we
probably could have been raped

I just was looking around, just going,
this doesn't look like a prison.

This was, like, dirty, and there was
clothes hanging out, like the bars of

windows, and it looked like a bomb
shelter. I don't know how else

to explain it.

It was kind of scary, very scary,
actually.

I remember asking if we would finally be
allowed to take a shower.

And she kind of looked at me and she's
like, you won't be taking a shower for

the rest of your time here. She said,
you'll be using a bucket.

And we're walking down this corridor.

All of these bunk beds were like next to
each other and they had sheets draped

over ropes to make their own little
rooms or to create privacy.

I think probably about 30 other women in
there at least in one room.

We didn't know what to expect. We didn't
know if it was violence, you know, if

the prison was violent or if it was full
of violent offenders.

You're going to wake up in the middle of
the night and have some knife sticking

to your throat or, you know, you just,
we didn't know what to expect.

We were so different. We were white, we
were blonde, or I was blonde. I don't

know what it was, but I just remember
everyone waking up and everyone just

staring at me.

I don't think I ever had a real night's
sleep there.

The whole time I was there.

The food, they called paila.

I think a rat tail was found once and it
was very inedible.

And half the time in the food there
would be cockroaches.

Yeah, cockroaches were everywhere.

Wake up in the morning and they'll run
down your leg when you're taking your

pajama bottoms off.

It was hot. You had to be outside.

There wasn't very much shade available.

You couldn't drink the water.

I dehydrated, I believe, three or four
times.

Jennifer and I were so lost.

We were so lost. We didn't know where we
were going or what we were doing.

Dr. Fishman did everything for us. She
wasn't just our lawyer. She brought us

food. She hugged us when we needed hugs.

They were scared and hungry.

So first, the first thing I made before
talking with their parents or before

taking the case was to give them
something to eat and some comfort. I'm a

mother.

Yeah, she was.

Yeah, she was like a grandmother or a
mother.

Dr. Fishman said, so you girls didn't
know?

And we said no, and she's like, well,
pretty much what everyone says when they

first get here, but it's okay.

It was easy to know that they really
were not criminals.

They were not criminals.

They were used by criminals.

And she pretty much told us, you know,
if we cooperate, it's going to be better

for us. We eventually listened to Dr.
Ota -Fishman.

They blamed everything on Jose.

Said that he was the head, said that
he's the one that set everything up,

the one that sent us, he's the one, he's
the one, he's the one.

I don't think I will ever know if Jose
had something to do with it or not,

because in my heart, I don't think he
did.

But in my mind, it's obvious that he
did, you know?

I just know he really, really cared
about Jennifer and I a lot.

I literally called it Groundhog Day. I
mean, it was the same thing every day.

You're completely cut off from the
outside world.

You never see a car drive by. You never
see the sunset.

You never see the sunrise.

You never know what's going on.

You feel like you're forgotten, you
know?

Being human, you can adjust to the
conditions, but you can't adjust to the

that you can't leave. You can't adjust
to the fact that...

You can't pick up the phone and call
somebody when you want to or when you

to.

You can't adjust the fact that you might
get to see your family once every six

months. Maybe.

You can't adjust to that.

One afternoon, I called Dr. Fishman.

She said, today's the day.

So we're like, what?

Pack your things.

We couldn't believe it. In that prison,
the people are released by 8 in the

night.

But they were ready since noon.

And I told her, be patient. They are
going to open the door.

You already wait for over two years, and
you cannot wait for half an hour?

would not believe it. I was afraid to
believe it.

And I don't think I believed it until
they called my name.

Which meant freedom.

searches. Walked out.

You see the cobblestone streets and not
just hear about it, you know, it gives

me chills thinking about it. It was
amazing.

And we both took hot showers and then we
watched the sunrise together and it was

beautiful. Amazing.

One of those things that we'd always
dreamed of, you know.

So many days, so many nights.

And we walked out.

So easy.

No searches.

Walked out.

We watched the sunrise together. It was
beautiful.

It was amazing.

One of the things that we'd always
dreamed of, you know?

So many days, so many nights.

When we finally got clearance, it was,
again, it was surreal. It was great. It

was exciting.

But it was also sad because Jennifer and
I knew we were parting ways at that

point. It was very hard to know that
that was going to be it, that she was

to be going back to California and I'd
be going back to the Midwest with my

family.

I wanted to get a job, and I wanted to
be really good.

at my job and do really well in school.

And I started going to school
immediately, I think three weeks after I

and I graduated a couple years ago with
a degree in international development

studies in cultural anthropology, and
I'm very, very excited about that.

All I want to do is take my experience
and channel it in a more positive way

make a difference in other people's
lives.

Thinking about it, I'm like freaking out
because I just can't imagine going

through those emotions again, you know,
psychologically and emotionally.

We would wait for people to walk in that
spoke English or that, you know,

brought us things that we needed.

Now I'm that person with the weird
feeling.

When they start, she's going to be a
little, you know, emotional.

We're just seeing the police there.

This is hysteria to John. I'm getting
pretty nervous.

Wish Jennifer was here.

I'm coming to the prison because I just
wanted to see the prisoners that were

here when I was here.

The foreigners.

Talk to the foreigners, let them know
that, you know, not to give up hope,

you know, your life still can turn
around and be better.

And let them know that people haven't
forgotten about them, you know.

My name's Krista. I was here in 1996 for
three years with my friend Jennifer.

And I wanted to come back for a really
long time to visit the prison. I think

for me, on an emotional level, to come
back to see people, what

doesn't kill you makes you stronger,
right? So you dream about the future and

what you're going to do. It is possible.

I think my experience in Peru was a wake
-up call.

With the drugs, with money, prioritizing
things in life, realizing what's

important. This is where I live, 3B.

I'm trying to remember what room
Jennifer and I had.

I've been here for over 10 years and she
remembers me and Jennifer.

It's not about what you have, it's about
who you have, you know?

I don't think I would be here today if
Jennifer wasn't there.

To go through it together, to have one
another, to lean on, shoulder to cry on.

Taking a shower. Taking a hot shower.

Waving when I want to.

Oh, we did not have a mirror. We did not
have a mirror. I'll always be there for

her and she'll always be there for me.
That's all there is to it. There's not a

day that goes by that I don't think
about her or wonder what she's doing.

We went through a lot together.

And Banged Up Abroad is back next week
at the earlier time of nine.

Next, though, Bruce Lee stars in our
five -movie Fist of Fury.

Awesome.