Original subtitles

I'm at the airport with my baby girl, and I'm carrying a bag of drugs with me.

Call it maternal instinct. I knew I wasn't coming home.

It was like an adrenaline rush.

It was pretty intense.

There were thieves.

There were rapists. There were murderers.

I was completely terrified inside.

It's Bucky.

He's got my baby.

From my early 20s, I was drawn into the motorbike racing scene.

I was always a tomboy, even at a young age.

I loved the thrill of it. I loved the rush of it.

And I loved the adrenaline of it all.

And I wound up working for a motorcycle racing team where regular people off the

street could use the track.

I was basically training to be a mechanic.

And we truly were a track family.

There was my best friend, Kay. I'm getting this baby.

Beauty. Joe and Linda.

And Joe's brother, Mark.

He was very happy -go -lucky, very energetic.

I like to call him like a smooth operator.

Spending time at the track was definitely a real release for me.

I loved it.

And then in 2004, I found out I was pregnant.

Zoe just changed my whole everything.

My mind and heart opened like I don't think they had before.

She was, yeah, the best thing ever.

You're so beautiful.

But Zoe's father and I were not even...

together i am a single mom living in government funding housing i

had a really hard time because i was broke

zoe

and i we would hang out at the track fairly regularly and the track family as

call it really did look out for me

It was May 10th of 2005, and two of my best friends, Joe and Linda, were

about to marry each other.

Joe's brother, Mark, was actually there to marry them.

I had just been hanging out with Zoe, and Mark had come by to speak to me.

Hey, how's it going?

He was a bit flamboyant. He had a smile on most of the time.

It's hard, man.

I had no idea how much it would cost having a kid.

I don't know how I'm going to pay all the bills this month.

Come on, Mel.

Relax. So Mark says to me that, you know, he would be able to help me have a

little vacation and you'd make some cash.

What you need is a vacation.

Yeah, right.

Barbados, here I come, baby.

I'm here.

I got some friends in Venezuela.

Mark's describing crystal clear waters, sandy beaches, and I could take my

daughter Zoe.

$5 ,000, I thought that would be amazing.

So I asked him, you know, what was involved, and he told me that it was

trafficking. You're kidding me, right?

Who the hell do you think I am?

I was blown away. Like, I was literally like, is this guy freaking serious?

He's not crazy.

All you have to do is bring something back.

He pointed to his friend Sarah, explained to me that Sarah had done it

and there were no complications.

Still, I was like, this guy's freaking nuts.

I'm a mom, Mark.

I would never do anything like that with her.

Okay, okay. It's okay.

Just think about it.

I think it was about two months later that things started to get a lot harder

for us financially.

I was starting to feel very desperate.

I just wanted to give

Zoe more than I had growing up.

And I was not fulfilling that.

I kept replaying Mark's proposal in my head.

How much that $5 ,000 would really help us get to a better place.

Next time I spoke with Mark, hey, how's it going?

He said he had a drug run coming up. Did I want to go?

$5 ,000, right? It was very difficult for me to decide,

but there was something in the back of my mind that had me curious.

I had never left the country before,

and I thought to myself, how bad could it be? It's just one trip.

After a couple of weeks, I had my first passport.

This was exciting for me.

I'll be able to go on vacation with Zoe and make some money.

I was packing with my best friend, Kay.

Mel, you don't have to do this.

She's always had my best interests at hand, so of course she was trying to

convince me not to go.

Please, please listen to me.

Come on.

We've had this conversation.

There were definitely moments where I was questioning what I was about to do,

but I am very stubborn and thick -headed.

At that point, yeah, my mind was made up.

What about Zoe?

She's going on the trip of a lifetime.

All set.

No.

Venezuela was like nothing I had ever experienced before in my life.

The resort we stayed in with Mark and Sarah was really beautiful.

We went swimming in the pool.

We would hang out in the lounge sometimes.

And my eyes were, like, just open to everything.

I was with my girl in a magical place.

We had a wonderful vacation together, but now it was time to pay my dues.

In my room, we discussed what we're going to do.

Mark going before us?

Yeah, he's going back tonight.

Sarah and I would separate like we didn't know each other, and we would

with Mark in New Jersey.

And we'd meet up at your place?

Yep.

Here you go, Mel.

Here's the bag.

Mark had explained to us that the drugs were melted down and made into this

composite form, and they put it where the stiffer pieces of the bag would be.

It looks like it's part of the bag, and I was like, this is incredible.

You could not tell.

Looking good.

You just have to play it cool, and everything's going to work out fine.

It was almost exhilarating.

It was like, look at what they did here. This is going to be easy.

The next morning at the airport, we were just about to leave and check in our

bag.

And that was the first level of like, holy.

I had my baby girl there and I'm carrying a bag of drugs with me.

I had no idea if I looked suspicious.

Thank you.

I just keep telling myself, like, just remain calm. Like Mark had said,

everything will be fine.

Sarah had gone ahead of us.

The man literally took one look at her passport and was just like, okay, handed

her right back to her. Thank you.

But this was my first time leaving the country.

So my passport, you know, this was my first stamp.

The man looked at my passport and said that he needed to pull me aside.

It was a rush of heat,

fear, panic.

This could be the end of everything.

After I had been stopped, they told us we needed to be searched.

Super scary.

So many things running through your head.

Zoe was screaming at the top of her lungs. And I had to remain calm.

Then he took the bag and ran it through their x -ray machine.

I'm looking at it like super sweating and super panicking on the inside, but

trying to not even pay much mind.

Now for me, it looked like a regular bag, but what have they seen?

Do they have an eye for something I don't have an eye for?

Zoe had a full diaper.

She needed to be changed, and I thought, do something to distract them.

Can I get something out of her bag? Is that okay?

I literally had a lump in my throat the whole time.

Your whole everything could be all taken away by one stupid decision that you

made. And I thought, this is not worth it.

But then...

I couldn't believe it.

They did not detect anything.

Customs even escorted us all the way to our flight.

We were down to about three minutes at that time.

The guy apologized tremendously, and I actually felt a level of guilt.

Once I arrived back in the United States and when we got to baggage claim, Sarah

picked up her suitcase and mine just wouldn't come and wouldn't come and

wouldn't come.

The clock kept ticking and I did actually think that they were going to

me and I was like freaking out, panicking.

When it did actually come out,

What a relief.

I just wanted to get the hell out of that airport.

Probably she's okay.

No, no. Just relax.

And I arrive at Sarah's apartment.

I put the bag down and was like, you have no freaking idea what I just went

through. God, are you okay?

They stopped me.

They searched my bag. I could have been caught. They could have... Zoe, I'm so

stupid. I'm never doing anything like that ever, ever again.

Mark's like, I told you, you know, I told you you just needed to relax.

You were awesome.

You did amazing.

We all did it. We were all there.

These for you.

Take it.

When I did get the money in my hand, it was definitely like, whoa.

It was like an adrenaline rush that followed.

You look crazy.

Oh, my God.

It was pretty intense.

That's amazing.

It definitely felt great to have money to work with that I didn't have before.

Over the next few months, I was able to purchase another vehicle, bought the

essentials for our home, and I bought some things for Zoe.

But after that, it ran out.

I started to get to a point where, like, what do I do now?

I'm not working.

My money's dwindling away.

Christmas is coming.

Yeah.

Things were getting bleak, and I felt like I was running out of options.

And I start getting thoughts again about making another run, possibly.

Maybe just one more time.

Mark shows up, and I'm explaining to him that, you know, things are tough.

I wish I could give her the Christmas she deserves, you know?

I can't take her again.

Mark just said, like, I love that kid, you know? She knows me. Like, why don't

you just leave her with me?

You're only going to be gone a couple days.

Peek -a -boo!

Mark was amazing with kids.

Zoe lit up when she saw him.

I felt I could trust him with Zoe, and I sometime left her with him.

I'll think about it.

Just let me know.

I think at that point I was very desperate, and a couple of days later, I

to it.

Before I left for Ecuador, Zoe was sleeping, and I

said goodbye to her.

And I said to Mark, something's not right.

I'm not coming home.

I'm really sorry.

I can't do it.

What? He wouldn't listen to me.

Like, why do you feel like that?

You know, you did this already. Like, just relax. Everything's going to be

Come on, Mel.

You can totally do this.

Just follow the steps and remember the story.

He had all this money invested.

Because he had something set up with the people in Colombia, he really did his

best to try to reassure me.

When I did actually get to the airport, call it maternal instinct,

intuition, whatever it was, I knew I wasn't coming home.

But I eventually just, like, tried to pull myself together and was just like,

can't back out of it. I need to just get it done.

And I got on the plane.

I arrived in Ecuador December 15, 2005.

Mark had gone over some details briefly, like a Colombian called Gilberto was to

meet me.

But something was weird about him.

His body language was not welcoming, and we can't communicate. We don't speak

the same language.

I just followed him over to a taxi.

He just goes into the trunk, puts the bags on the sidewalk.

and proceeds to get into the taxi.

What are you doing?

Hey!

Gilberto!

Gilberto! And I'm like, what are you doing? You can't leave me. What's going

Open the door!

And now I'm like, what do I do?

I had no money.

I couldn't speak the language. My phone wouldn't let me make an international

call.

And now I have these drugs sitting on the ground.

I really just wanted to walk away, but I wasn't sure if there was someone

keeping an eye on me to make sure I took them.

So I shoved the bags into my suitcase.

This is a living nightmare for me at this point.

I'm trying to see if I can find somebody who may have spoken English, somebody

who could help me.

And I spotted a parking lot attendant.

Excuse me, I need some help. Do you speak English?

No,

okay. I need to make a phone call.

Over there? Okay.

He told me to go over to a woman who was across in the parking lot there.

I need your help.

She's like, yeah, I can help you.

And she starts questioning me.

Why are you here?

What's with the bags?

Who's asking?

I need to make a call.

That's when I realized that she was Ecuadorian police.

And that moment, my stomach

dropped, but I think my heart was, like, in my throat.

I told them, show me your badges.

And they all showed me with pleasure their IDs.

Everything I felt before I left was real now.

I could be pissed at Mark for the lies.

I could be pissed at the way I was set up.

But ultimately, I made the decision.

So I'm, like, hating myself in this moment.

And I'm hating them.

We know you were made it.

I don't know what you're talking about.

They knew everything already.

It was just me trying to make it seem like I had no idea what I was doing.

But I did.

They took me back to their police station.

And Roberto was there when I arrived.

You can't do this. You can't do this. I want to speak to the embassy.

Gilberto was caught coming into Ecuador with the bags.

I guess he helped set me up.

Two American agents came to the police station to question me.

So. So what?

That's when things got real.

They were trying to find out who had sent me.

I want to speak to the entity.

Well, you're not talking to anyone unless you tell us who you're working

I just kept making up names.

And they literally kept telling me, we know that you're lying.

We don't believe you, but it's okay.

We're not after you.

So just tell us what we need.

I can.

Yes, you can.

Yes, you can. Just give us the information and we can help you.

I was pissed off. I was frustrated.

And I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

I probably took about two or three hours before I actually cracked.

So?

You don't understand.

Quiet.

He's got my baby.

What?

So it's like I can't tell you who until you can promise me that nothing's going

to happen to her.

If you give us a name, we're going to catch that guy, okay? I can't. I can't

that. Yes, you can. You can trust us. We're the good guys here.

And so I told them.

His name is Mark.

Mark Toretto.

We're going to help you, okay? It's going to be okay.

The agent said that if I worked with them that I could get Zoe and go home.

I was completely terrified inside, but at that point it was like, game on.

What do you need me to do? I'll do it.

Once I realized what I was in and how big it was, scary.

The agent's plan was for me to call Mark from a hotel that they had picked and

come up with this lie to bring in anyone else involved.

I tried my best to remain calm, but I felt like he was going to hear a crack

my voice somewhere, and he was going to know.

Hi, it's Mel.

Hi, Mel. How are you?

Okay, but there's a problem.

I was completely terrified inside, knowing that he had Zoe, knowing

that, like, one false move on my part could change everything on his end.

Do you have a bus?

No.

Gilberto took me to a hotel, and then he disappeared.

Hotel Mirador, room 502.

At that point, I needed to hear Zoe's voice.

Can I speak to Zoe?

Okay.

Zoe?

Baby?

Oh, how are you?

Are you having fun?

And that's, I think, where I actually fell apart more than speaking with him.

Because that was my girl. That was my baby.

I'm coming home soon, sweetie.

I kept telling her how much I loved her and missed her and that mommy

would see her soon.

Okay.

All right.

That was good.

Good job.

Hi. Any news?

With the next call, Mark had been in contact with Colombia.

Raul is going to come and meet you.

He's going to try and find Gilberto and see what's going on.

Raul was the son of Gilberto, who was willing to come from Colombia to

He's got your ticket home and some cash.

Okay.

And Zoe?

Zoe's...

Wouldn't want anything to happen.

Good.

I wasn't really quite sure if and when I was going to speak to her again.

Totally heartbreaking.

In the hotel room, we're awaiting Raul's arrival.

I just want her to be anywhere but there.

Every second that went by felt like a year. I mean, it just felt like he was

never going to show up.

They called up from reception when Raul finally arrived.

Hello? I was scared. I think I was literally, like, shaking inside.

Okay.

Send him up.

He's coming. He's coming. He's here now.

Is he going to show up alone or with people?

I remember opening the door and thinking to myself,

Hi. Really?

This kid is like 12.

I mean, he was just so young, and I was just like, this

is the guy?

He's a kid.

He was like, drogas,

you know?

Like, yeah, drugs and bags, you know. And that was it.

They all shot out of, like, everywhere.

The poor kid's face just turned white as a ghost.

And he looked at me with these eyes of, like, you bitch.

The next day, they had Gilberto, Raul, and myself at their police station.

They had to take pictures of us and fingerprint us.

And that's when they told me what it was.

It's 6 .3 kilos of heroin.

What the hell? That's cocaine.

No, that's what they told you, but it's not cocaine. We tested it. It's heroin.

I just felt extremely played.

And it was about to get worse.

My boss told me that he can't go back home.

What do you mean?

Because it's a lot of heroin that we found on you.

I'm sorry the deal's off. Come on, you promised me.

I'm sorry.

That's all I can do.

You promised me. I told her the orders, what you want me to do. You promised me.

You lied to me.

I freaked out when they told me that was my chance to go home.

And it's gone.

I was taken to Carcel de Ibarra, a men and women's prison.

When I first walked into my pavilion, as they call it, it was like nothing I had

ever seen before.

There were thieves, there were rapists, there were murderers.

Everybody stared at me.

I was the ugly girl, tall and thin.

Gringa.

Gringa Fea.

The sound of that door closing echoed like nothing I had ever heard before.

In that moment, I wasn't sure I had a future.

On the first night, I thought, there's no way I'm going to make it.

And I've survived some things in the past, but this was not something I was

for.

At this point, I am living in a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.

Being in there in general was horrifying.

You always wondered if and when someone may snap.

There was a time in particular there was yelling and fighting and punches

thrown, and then that's usually when other people get involved as well.

One of the men whipped out a knife

and stabbed the other guy in his side.

I was horrified to see someone stabbed right in front of you during an argument

in a place where you're living. This is your home now because it could be you.

It could be you next.

Two days had passed, and I hadn't been able to make a phone call.

And I was crying at the door.

I was hurt. I was scared. I just

wanted to know where Zoe was and if she was okay.

This man said, you speak English?

And I was like, finally!

There's someone who, you know, can communicate with me.

I need help. I need to call my baby.

Okay, okay. Don't worry. It'll be okay. I can help. Okay?

I had explained to him I didn't have money, and he helped me with a $3 phone

card.

My best friend Kay from the track was the first call I made.

It was a phone call I didn't want to make.

Hello? Hi.

It's me.

Oh, my God.

Are you okay?

She was more so worried about me, and all I could do was apologize.

I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you.

And then there was Zoe in the background.

Yeah, she's fine.

She's here with me.

She told me she did have Zoe and would take her out to Pennsylvania to my mom.

You want to speak to Zoe?

I'm so sorry.

I miss you so much.

It's me, baby.

It hurt. It really hurt hearing her sweet little voice calling out for me.

Mama's coming home real soon.

Just hearing her in the place I was in.

Awful.

The man who I had met at the door.

His name is Paolo.

He would always come and check on me and stuff.

He was like the glimmer of hope for me.

He was the perfect person in that moment.

Stop it.

Do you want? Get off.

Don't touch my hair.

Back off.

He was my protection.

As time went on, we grew closer and closer.

He really just genuinely cared about me.

But then I had a really hard blow.

I received a big envelope, and it was from Zoe's dad.

He had proceeded to file for custody of Zoe.

It was pretty cut and dry because of where I was.

Damn it!

You know that everything's being taken away slowly but surely.

I did this to myself, and now...

I didn't know when or if I was ever going to see her again.

There wasn't anything I could do.

I was in prison about

eight months before I went to trial.

And my sentence there in Ecuador was four years.

There was a little glimpse of hope.

that I would be able to appeal, but four years, it's a really long time.

Hi.

Hi. How are you?

Sad.

You really miss her?

It's my little princess.

My relationship with Paolo grew stronger and stronger.

Things definitely got more intimate as time went on.

In the prison, you were able to have overnight stays so long as you had

legal marriage, something binding you together.

And we eventually decided to have a common -law marriage done and to have

that love and that affection with somebody.

It was really a beautiful thing.

18 months had gone by since we were married, and I wasn't feeling the

So I went down to the doctor, and

I was pregnant.

I started going through the thoughts of Zoe.

And as far as she knows, I up and left her.

And now I'm going to go home with a baby.

I can't do this to her. This isn't right. This isn't fair.

And I didn't want to have a baby in prison.

That would have been tragic for the baby.

My mind was just in a terrible state.

I have some news.

You're going to be a dad.

Gosh, I remember the look on his face.

I'm so happy.

You are?

Yes. Why not?

Okay. That was comforting to know that I'm not alone,

which meant everything.

The baby was growing, and I contracted a lawyer to start an appeal.

The grounds behind it was due to the fact that Mark had Zoe.

The lawyer was saying a drug trafficker was using her as a threat, and he took

it as like kidnapping.

It was a matter of desperately waiting to see what they were going to say.

I received an answer in February of 2008.

Really nervous.

Why?

What does it say? What does that mean?

And they put in bold, huge letters.

Immediate liberty.

You're free. Oh, my God.

Yes.

There really are no words to describe that feeling.

Literally something you daydream about while you're in there.

I knew that the best thing for the baby would be to go home.

Palo brought all kinds of little gifts.

Little pajamas, little baby stuff.

I was trying my best to be strong because I knew that this is what I had

and that it was time.

I remember walking away.

I'll never forget his face.

In that moment, it was just devastating.

Going out, the air was sweeter.

Things tasted better almost.

It was magical.

You get a chance to start over again.

Once I arrived back, I relocated to Florida.

so that I was closer to Zoe, who was still living with her dad.

And I gave birth to a super healthy, intelligent, beautiful boy.

This is our new beginning.

For anyone else who may be contemplating this, think hard.

I lost my daughter.

She lost her mom.

I don't care who you are.

You're going to get caught.

And it will change your life forever.