JF Garrard

Martin Andrews was 13 when a man buried him alive in a plywood box in the woods and r*p*d him for a week. Before he climbed down into that hole, the man looked him in the eye and said: "I've got bad news for you. You've just been kidnapped." That morning Martin had only walked out to buy milk. It was a snow day in January 1973 in Portsmouth, Virginia. A friendly man in a blue van pulled up and offered him a few dollars to help with a job. He said his name was "Peewee." His real name was Richard Ausley. In the video below, Martin tells it in his own words. I've covered a lot of abduction cases on this account, and this one shows the pattern more clearly than any of them. Nobody grabbed Martin. Nobody dragged him into a van. He got in himself, and he climbed down into that box himself. That's how most of these abductions actually work. Look at the playbook: a friendly man, a small favor, a little money. We teach kids to fear scary strangers. Nobody teaches them to fear the nice one who needs a hand. Predators know that. If you have kids, here's what I'd teach them, word for word: 1. Grown-ups ask other grown-ups for help, not kids. If an adult you don't know asks you for help, that IS the red flag. Say no and walk away. 2. Forget "stranger danger." Most kids are hurt by someone they've already met. Teach them about tricky people: anyone who asks them to keep a secret, go somewhere alone or break a family rule. 3. Check first. Before going anywhere, getting in any car or taking anything, ask a parent. Every time. Martin was out alone on a snow day and nobody knew where he was. 4. Pick a family code word. "Your mom sent me" means nothing without it. 5. If someone grabs you: yell, kick, run, tell. And don't just scream "help." Scream "THIS IS NOT MY DAD!" so people know what they're seeing. Parents, watch for the warning signs: an adult giving your child gifts, special attention or private time, rides you didn't arrange, little secrets. That's grooming, and it starts long before the van shows up. Now the part that makes me angry. Ausley had already done this before. He was on parole for abducting a 10-year-old boy, and the day he took Martin, he was supposed to be in court for assaulting another child. The system let him walk, and Martin paid for it. Ausley got 48 years. Thirty years later the state was about to release him. Martin fought until Virginia passed a law to keep predators like him locked up. In 2004 Ausley was k*lled by his cellmate. Martin said he didn't hate him. Martin was 13, out buying milk. Have you had this talk with your kids?