Our Eleuthera Vacation
My Faith Experience

by Gesine Abrutyn
member of Reformation Lutheran Church

Just a little background as to what brought us to Eleuthera on February 1, 1998. My husband, Don, had retired April 1, 1997 at age 62. I was 55 at the time, and we were both looking forward to the joys of retirement. We moved to Delaware and soon were planning our upcoming winter vacation. Certainly we should take a months vacation this year -- Isn’t this a luxury retired people do? We would bring our dog, Haley, too, since a month without her was just too long. She is a Cairn Terrier, and small enough to be in a carrier which we could put under the seat in the airplane. Don searched the Internet for a fairly private place where we could enjoy the water from our backyard, and where the weather would be nice and warm. We found the "ideal" spot in Eleuthera, which is an island in the Bahamas.

We arrived on a Sunday and snuggled right in. By Wednesday morning I had enough dirty things to do the first wash load. The place supplied a washing machine, but I needed to go out the front door to the attached building to use it. The water was coming in "brown", so it took 3 visits before I was relaxed enough to leave the washer on its own. Little did I know at the time that my every move was being watched.

At about 10 a.m., Don and I decided to take off in the car that came with the house, for a drive around the island. We left Haley comfortably sleeping on the covered couch right inside the front door. I waited on the front steps for Don, then we both started to the garage ---- me first. Just as we approached the open garage, a man jumped out from next to our car and repeatedly told us to get in the garage. He was holding a shotgun! I started to turn to Don to tell him to stop kidding around, when the man’s repeated demands for us to get in the garage made me realize that this was really happening, and that I better do as he was saying!

It is important that I tell you at this point, that I know for a certainty that God was helping us every step of the way. I felt an unusual calmness.

He demanded that I give him my purse, the car keys and the keys to the house; then to lie face down in the back of the garage with our hands behind our back. He tied our hands and our feet, and we were told to remain quiet. Don still thought he could talk him out of the whatever he was planning, and was busy trying to get him to confide in him. I decided to not look at him or say a word, which caused him to ask a couple of times "Lady, you okay?" It wasn’t until he was leaving to go into the house (when all I could think of was Haley inside), that I asked the man to please not let our dog run out, since she would run away. It sounded like a silly request to a man with a gun, but it must have hit a soft spot, since Haley was sleeping on the couch when this was all over. We never will know what kind of welcoming the dog gave the man when he entered! or vice versa! But she was unharmed and safe.

We don’t know what the man did on this first trip into our rented cottage, but he came back to us soon after to gag us, then went back into the house. We think he did this because Don was talking too much!

This second trip into the house was longer, and we later learned what he had been doing. Food was gone or half eaten, there was an unpleasant mess in the bathroom, and Don’s jeans were under the couch. In regard to these jeans, we supposed they were tried on, found to be too short, and discarded for Don’s shorts. In regard to the couch, it not only was the one Haley was on, but also my embroidery work was there. I was sewing on a piece reading: "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart." The man had to have read it.

The man returned to the garage, and proceeded to throw cloths over our heads! Don tried (through his gag) to ask the man to please not do this to me since I am claustrophobic. The man said that he had to (almost apologetically!) Well, I panicked. I lost it. As I got panicky, Don also became panicky because he could no longer see me and was afraid harm was coming to me. It was Don’s panicking that made me realize I had to snap out of this for him, so I thrashed and thrashed around until a small area of light peaked in from under the cloth. Again I could feel the calm overcome me.

By this time, the man had taken the car and gone. He left the garage door open about 3 inches from the bottom, just as he had done the other two times when he had left us.

Then to my surprise, Don was starting to untie me!! The man had tied Don’s hands using a bungee cord! (on purpose?) Don had been working on it when the man was in the house and, was able to loosen it. I got him to just untie my feet, then I rolled to the garage door, pushed it up (using my feet) far enough for me to roll out, got myself standing, and ran as fast as I could. Our closest neighbors, the Hurtados, were also the owners of our house -- about 100 yards away. It was at this time, while running, that I prayed out loud to God to continue helping us!

I got to the Hurtado’s house, and they were home. You can imagine the look on her face when she opened the door and saw me gagged and tied. She turned to wake her husband, who was sleeping on the couch. He woke with a start, saw his wife’s panicky expression, and then focused on me. Immediately he went for his gun and ran to the door. All I could think of was -- "Please don’t kill my husband!" -- because I knew Don was coming right behind me. Neither of the couple thought of taking my gag out to hear what was going on!

Don, meanwhile, had stopped a truck driven by a local artist, Eddie Minnis. They came together to the house and the story spilled out. It was Eddie who finally thought to take my gag off and untie me.

Three police, carrying shotguns, came in a jeep and started shouting that they were going to "get this guy!" I found myself hoping the man would get away, since he had been relatively good to us. We learned the man was a native of the island, and that his mother was still living there. He had teamed up with two others and together they were accused of robbing a bank in Nassau, at which time one guard was killed and another injured. Subsequently, they were also incriminated in the robbery of a gas station in Eleuthera. One of the three of them was caught; the second a pregnant woman turned herself in; our man was trying to get off the island. During this effort, his clothes became rain soaked and he later slept overnight in our car. He needed food, dry clothes and our car to get to an airport to escape from the Island. Nothing else was taken. Don and I were sure that this man could not have killed anyone, and we stressed this in the police report we filled out.

The Hurtados sent an alert to watch for the man via their short-wave radio to others on the island. Subsequently, it was learned that the man hired a private aircraft, and flew to another island where he was apprehended.

The police never did go to our house to get evidence. This was unfortunate since it contained his original clothing, shoes and the ropes used to tie us. Eventually, we disposed of it all in the garbage.

Don and I remained at the cottage for about 3 weeks. Nights of the first week were spent at the owners home, but in the daytime we tried to stick to a normal routine. Of course everyone knew us on the island. Eddie Minnis and two others came to visit us very soon after this incident. They were natives of Eleuthra/Bahamians, and they and others living in Eleuthera, were very concerned this happened to a tourist. They brought us a CD of Eleuthran music, and an oil painting of the Island that Eddie Minnis had done. We have this painting, and also the embroidery piece, hanging in our house as a reminder of the "good" in Eleuthera.

Also during that first week on the island, Don and I took a small boat over to Harbour Island At the dock we were met by two policeman, who wanted us to appear at the police station to identify our captor, via a lineup. When we got there and found the lineup was not behind a one-sided glass-- "This is Eleuthera man." I was more sure than ever that I wasn’t going to do this, for three reasons: 1) I had made it a point to never look at him while he held us hostage, 2) my purse was still missing, and too many TV shows told me he might use my ID’s to come find me in Delaware and 3) something in me didn’t want him to be incriminated since he was kind to us. Don , on the other hand, thought it was something we should do, but found it impossible to make a clear identification. Out of ten he could narrow it down to three.

So it was over. Or at least we thought so. It has been three years since the episode . Twice over this period, we have had a phone call from the Chief of Eleuthera’s police, asking us if we would consider appearing for his trials. Not only did we not want to face the situation again, but thought we had done everything they requested of us while we were there.

I haven’t had any bad aftermath from this experience, and have been able to leave it all in Eleuthera. The whole situation serves to remind me of God’s unfailing faithfulness. I am so grateful for His blessings.

A true Story of Faith by one of our own parishioners.