Everything that happened to Chris Carrier, from December 20, 1974, up until right now, happened for a reason. For audio podcast listeners, watch the bonus video produced for this this episode at whosyourone.com/kidnapped.

22 years later, Chris’ phone rang. And this was, as Chris says, “The definition of awkward.”

Years passed. There were zero breaks in the case. But finally, something broke inside Chris.

With Chris’ attacker still on the loose, police guarded the Carrier house 24-7. And yet, for a 10-year-old boy who was now always imagining “that man coming to finish what he’d started,” peace of mind was impossible to find.

Their son had been kidnapped and after almost an entire week of zero leads, the Carrier family was about to give up hope. This was their nightmare before Christmas.

This a story about the lies little boys believe and a story about an ice pick and a pistol and finally, an alligator-infested swamp.

Chris Carrier remembers the Coral Gables, Florida, neighborhood where he grew up as “very Norman Rockwell.” But then on December 20, 1974, while walking home from school, he met a man.

It would be reasonable to expect that being kidnapped, stabbed, shot in the head and then left to die in the Florida Everglades would forever be the defining event in the life of Chris Carrier. But that is not what happened. Episode 1 of his story will be available May 25.