After Years of Silence, Abby Opens Up About Her Nine Months in Captivity, How She Survived and Life Now
‘20/20’ Airs Saturday, June 1 (10:00 – 11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC
In October 2013, 14-year-old Abby Hernandez disappeared on her way home from school without a trace. Nine months later, the New Hampshire teen returned home with a harrowing story of kidnapping, captivity and unspeakable abuse. Mostly silent for nearly five years since she disappeared, Abby tells her story to ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts. She opens up about the difficult details of her abduction including being held for months in captivity by Nathaniel Kibby, who forced her to wear a shock collar and kept her prisoner inside a shipping container; and the psychological strategies she had to deploy in order to stay alive, including bonding with Kibby. Abby discusses her life now and how it has changed since her captivity. “20/20” airs Saturday, June 1 (10:00 – 11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (Rebroadcast. ABC OAD: 9/7/18)
The hour includes interviews with Lauren Munday, the woman who unknowingly aided Abby’s release; Miranda Cloutier and Parish Dawe-Chadwick, Abby’s best friends; Zenya Hernandez, Abby’s mother; and officials involved with the case including New Hampshire Deputy Attorney General Jane Young, New Hampshire State Police Captain Joseph Ebert, Police Chief Chris Perley and Officer Eric Benjamin.
Munday told authorities that Kibby had given her counterfeit money, which police say set off a chain of events that led to Abby’s release after Munday told Kibby the police were coming for him. In the months following Abby’s return home, parts of her story slowly came out through her lawyers who said she was “violently abducted” and spent months enduring “acts of unspeakable violence.” In 2014, Abby came face to face with Kibby in court as he was arraigned on charges of kidnapping; and in 2016, Kibby plead guilty to sexual assault, criminal threatening, kidnapping, witness tampering and assault, and received a prison sentence of 45 to 90 years.
“20/20” is anchored by David Muir and Amy Robach. David Sloan is senior executive producer.
