3 of 6: The Ransom

As Rachel is seeking treatment for her mental health and working on putting the pieces of her life back together after the devastating loss of her job, she receives a call from her father Todd, a call that she doesn't expect, a call to tell her that her horse, Dash is being held for ransom. This is episode three, The Ransom. Rachel is in a complete panic as she learns that the owners of the ranch are demanding five thousand dollars in order for her to get Dashed back, and they refuse to tell her where they were keeping Dash. They claim they're owed this money due to the deal that fell through with the horse trade Rachel was working on during her employment at the ranch. With the news about Dash, Rachel decides to leave the mental health facility and starts working on a plan to get Dashed back. She immediately takes to social media to seek the community's help in the search for Dash, while Todd contacts the family attorney to see what steps need to be taken to get the horse back. Little does Rachel know this is just the start of what will be a long and exhausting search, and Rachel will never get the opportunity to be reunited with Dash. Despite the Hanson family knowing what the owners were doing was incredibly wrong and ridiculous. Considering Rachel had no control over a deal that fell through, they supported Rachel completely and were willing to do whatever it took to get Rachel's precious Dash back, even paying the ransom. During this process, the owners would continue to cause chaos for the Hanson family and at one point even increase the ransom demand to seven thousand dollars. As the search for Dash continued, Rachel had to continue to get her living arrangements in order. Now remember she was just terminated and was told she immediately needed to be removed from the property she had been living at with Dash. In order to understand the scope of the events during this time, we need to take it back so I can share an important detail when it comes to Rachel's living situation. You see, after Rachel graduated from high school, she received a full scholarship to Northern Arizona University. After much contemplation, Rachel decided not to go. There were a few factors that played into Rachel's decision. Since this truly was an opportunity of a lifetime, one she didn't want to be away from her family. As we know, Rachel was extremely close to her mom, dad, and siblings and she just couldn't imagine being so far away from them. And two, she wanted to start her own business, which we know she did just that and did it successfully. But a key piece of information here is that Rachel had rented her own apartment during this time. It was a strategic move for Rachel since the location was ideal and only three miles away from where her parents lived. She just doubled down and took extra classes and made straight a's and did everything she needed to to graduate. So she actually graduated when she was sixteen. And then she turned seventeen a couple of weeks after graduation and did so well in high school even though she graduated early. But she got a full ride scholarship in a U, which is Northern Arizona University, and she was going to go out there and play soccer and get a degree in the medical field somewhere nursing or something. And so we planned on that. We paid for the deposit for the dorm and all the things that you do, and about a week before school was supposed to start, and we were going to go out for parents weekends. She just broke down and said, I can't, I can't go. I can't be that far. I can't be that far away from you, and just didn't go. You have a false cultorship. It's so good, you worked so hard for this, and you're just gonna walk away from it. But she didn't. It wasn't for her. She didn't want to be far away, so instead, that's when she started her business. The apartment that she got was just a couple of miles from our house, so that she'd be close and she could combine be with her horses and start her you know, real estate business. Getting into that world. She thought it would be best to get a roommate to help split the rent, but since the apartment only had one bedroom, the living arrangement with two people quickly became difficult, so shortly after the roommate decides to move out and Rachel continues to live on her own. That is until she gets the opportunity to work for the owners of the ranch in Queen Creek and reside on the proper you with Dash. When Rachel accepts the position in December of twenty twenty one, she decides to sublease her apartment. Rachel ends up subleasing the apartment to a young female that she met through Facebook. According to reports, during the time that this young female was living in the apartment, there were a lot of complaints from other neighbors. Apparently, there were people constantly coming in and out of the apartment at all hours, and there was speculation that this female may have been involved in selling drugs or may have been associated with those who were. These are details that I want you to keep in the back of your mind because this information will come up later. Despite all the chaos currently surrounding her, Rachel continues to press on. Knowing that she was moving off the ranch, Rachel decided it was best for her to move back to her apartment by having the option of moving back home, Rachel wanted to continue being independent and have her own space, especially since she was now engaged. She knew they would want to have their own space while they were spending time together, so Rachel felt this was the best decision for her at this time. At this point, she had already talked to the current tenant and let her know that she would be moving back into the apartment. The tenant agreed to move out and agreed to move out fairly quickly, which was just a few days. I just want to make it clear that the tenant agreed to this timeline and there were no issues that came up, at least none that were known leading up to Rachel moving back into the apartment. Despite so much going on and attempting to move in such a short amount of time, Rachel was looking forward to starting this next chapter of her life fresh in her apartment. She was hoping that they would soon start looking up. But this timeline of events has a tragic ending that no one expects, and little does Rachel know, she's living out her final days. The Unseen Truth is a Reignited Media production and is hosted and produced by me Jen Rivera. Make sure to follow Unseen Truth Podcast on social media and visit Unseen Truth podcast dot com for more case information. If you'd like to support the show, please consider liking and sharing this podcast so I can continue my efforts in being a voice for the voiceless. And if you'd like to get more involved in helping families who have loved ones who are missing or have unsolved cases like the ones I cover here on The Unseen Truth, please visit Shores of Strength dot org to learn more about the app advocacy work behind this production and how you can help