Your Burning Questions: Lisa Mae, Eduardo Valseca, and Alisa Mathewson

0:01ELizabeth Smart Today's episode includes discussion of sensitive topics including kidnapping, sexual assault, and graphic descriptions of violence. Listener discretion is advised. Hi, it's Elizabeth Smart, and welcome back to The Survivor Files. Over the last few weeks, we've heard just unbelievable, amazing stories of survival. Lisa May, who escaped from a serial killer...

0:26ELizabeth Smart Eduardo Valseca, who was confined in a torture box for seven months, and Elisa Mathewson, who endured 55 hours of terror at the hands of her estranged husband. Every time we drop an episode, our inbox fills up with your emails and messages. And after these stories, you had a lot to say. You told us how hard these episodes hit you. You shared your own experiences, and you were able to ask questions you still wanted to know the answers to. We wanted our listeners to hear it directly from Elisa, Lisa, and Eduardo. So today, all three of those survivors are back to answer your burning questions. So thank you, all three of you, for taking time and joining me today.

1:12Eduardo Valseca Nice to see you again, Elisa.

1:15Lisa Mae Thank you for having me here. It's an honor.

1:17Alisa Mathewson Thank you for having us back. I look forward to this conversation.

1:20Eduardo Valseca I just want to say one thing. I was seven and a half months old. So, and I have every second chance.

1:30ELizabeth Smart I agree wholeheartedly. So if you haven't heard their stories, go back and listen to the episodes because they are unbelievable. They are amazing. But first, let's bring you up to speed really quick.

1:44Lisa Mae I started screaming and then I felt the cold steel barrel of a gun to my left temple.

1:49ELizabeth Smart Lisa May is just 17 when she's abducted at gunpoint by serial killer Bobby Joe Long. For 26 hours, Lisa is held captive and sexually assaulted, but spends that time memorizing details about her attacker. Lisa eventually convinces her abductor to release her and helps police bring him to justice. She goes on to spend 35 years in law enforcement and is there when Long is executed.

2:16Lisa Mae My voice was silenced.

2:18Eduardo Valseca It's silenced no more. They pulled the pillowcase off my face, and I found myself in this tiny little box.

2:27ELizabeth Smart Eduardo Valseca and his wife Jane are kidnapped by armed men in Mexico. Jane is released, but Eduardo is held hostage for more than seven months. He's starved, beaten, and subjected to unimaginable torture. Eduardo eventually makes it home to his family, but just four years later, Jane dies of cancer.

2:48ELizabeth Smart leaving him to face another devastating loss. But after everything he has endured, Eduardo refuses to let what was taken from him define his life.

2:59Alisa Mathewson I remember thinking, I'm going to meet Jesus.

3:03ELizabeth Smart Elisa Mathewson is a mother of five trying to escape an abusive marriage. But in the middle of the night, her estranged husband breaks into her home. attacks her, and kidnaps her. For 55 terrifying hours, Elisa is assaulted, drugged, and repeatedly threatened with death. She survives, and after her rescue, she faces a painful battle to regain custody of her children.

3:28ELizabeth Smart But her ex has one more surprise in store. He represents himself at trial and cross-examines Elisa face to face.

3:38Court Recording- Trevor Summers So you're calling it rape?

3:39Eduardo Valseca It is rape.

3:40ELizabeth Smart You raped me. Okay. I want to thank all the listeners who sent in their questions. We probably won't have time to get to all of them today, but we read and appreciate every single one, so please keep sending them in. Here to take us through your questions is our executive producer, Joseph Fried. So, Joseph, let's get started.

4:03Joseph Freed Our first question is for Eduardo. Our listener asks, you were held captive for more than seven months and so much of that time you were alone. I can't even imagine what that does to a person. What was harder for you, the physical pain or being alone with your thoughts?

4:19Eduardo Valseca I think it's the whole package. Like I was telling Elizabeth last time, it was torture every single day. So you're not thinking that you're alone. I mean, of course, you don't have zero distractions. You don't have sense of time. You are totally disconnected from everybody else's reality. So, you know, the thing was that I never thought about I am here.

4:47Eduardo Valseca Of course, you always want the human touch, the loving touch, the kindness. You miss that all the time. But the worst thing is that you were there. You have no way to defend yourself. And then they could do whatever they wanted.

5:05Joseph Freed Moving on, the next question is for Elisa. We heard from a lot of listeners who were outraged when your ex-husband represented himself in court, he was allowed to cross-examine you. One of our listeners, Michelle, writes that she went through the same thing. I was cross-examined by my ex in court, and to prepare, I hired someone who could help me find a way to remain composed on the stand. I prevailed because I was calm and credible, but I had to work at it, and I should never have had to. Elisa, what would you say to someone else who went through that or someone who's about to go through a situation in court like you faced?

5:41Alisa Mathewson You do as much as you can to prepare in those moments. I went through a lot of therapy, and my saving grace was he delayed the court system for five and a half years, and I had five and a half years to heal.

5:55ELizabeth Smart From what happened to me.

5:57Alisa Mathewson But that doesn't mean that I was really prepared for that moment when it happened. I just kind of trusted myself as it was going on and found my confidence. Being on the stand and being questioned by him was truly healing for me. I really got my voice and was able to call out exactly what he did to me directly to him in those moments.

6:21Lisa Mae And it felt powerful.

6:23Alisa Mathewson So I could see where the listener related to that and her sharing that she had to go through that also. the most feedback that I've gotten is people say, how is this legal? How was he able to do this?

6:36ELizabeth Smart Well, on my personal Instagram, I had so many messages as well, just people saying, I can't believe that was allowed. That's unbelievable. And honestly, I have problems even saying ex-husband when it comes to your story because he was a monster. He was a monster. But I feel like something that I felt similar to you in that my case was delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed for the better part of a decade. And on one hand, I did feel like it was very unfair because I just wanted to be over and done with.

7:11ELizabeth Smart But on the other hand, it did allow me to kind of reclaim my life, get to a better place, experience more sort of those coming of age things, which I also see as a bonus.

7:24Lisa Mae In retrospect in my story it took 35 years of delays to watch my perpetrator be put to death by lethal injection 35 years so i give it to you elisa um and elizabeth that you had to face that in court in retrospect again they gave your voice back believe it or not.

7:47Joseph Freed Our next question is actually for elizabeth from emily how do we talk to our kids about sexual assault without making them think that life is over if it happens to them? How do we teach them to be careful, but also help them understand that they can still have a happy, fulfilling life after something like that happens?

8:03ELizabeth Smart I think that's a great question. I think it's an answer that begins, I mean, really, really early on. I think it starts with, you know, when you're teaching them even like body part names and using the correct names and not attaching shame to it. I think it's through reinforcement that nobody has the right to touch them, that if someone does, they can defend themselves. If they freeze in the moment, that's okay. That doesn't make it their fault.

8:28ELizabeth Smart It's always going to be the perpetrator's fault. I think reinforcing that nobody can take your value away from you. I mean, you were born with value. You will carry that value through your entire life. And if something does happen to them, I think the first thing we can do of importance is to believe them I think to show up for them because it can be heavy and sometimes it can be really hard to know what to say or what to do, but keep showing up for them.

8:59ELizabeth Smart Don't just disappear into the background. Stand by them as they experience new things. Try to invite positivity back into their life.

9:09Alisa Mathewson Well, for me being an adult that went through a sexual assault and having young children when I went through it, They, you know, they asked questions and it was hard to have those conversations with them, even though they didn't experience it. They had fear that that's what happened to me. And they actually asked me the questions of if that happened during my kidnapping. And so I think children are aware of things that happen that we try to protect them from and we want them to not think about these adult topics and to be able to come to us and ask us those questions. And it, was very hard for my kids to ask me that. But they had questions and I just tried to talk to them and reassure them that, you know, there are things that are

10:08Alisa Mathewson not okay, Deb, how you treat other people. And There are ways to treat people in loving, kind ways versus violent, abusive ways.

10:19ELizabeth Smart I think it's also important to emphasize the difference between intimacy and rape because I wasn't taught that. So I thought it was the same thing. And that added a whole other layer of shame over what I experienced. And so these are important ongoing conversations that we need to have really, really throughout life.

10:45Joseph Freed Our listener Marion has a question for Lisa. Whatever happened to your grandfather? Of course, as you shared in your story, you suffered abuse at the hands of your grandfather. And this listener wonders, did he go to prison? Did you have to testify? What about your grandmother who aided and abetted that situation? Whatever happened with your grandparents?

11:03Lisa Mae My grandmother never stepped a foot in jail. I don't know why. My step-grandfather was He was arrested. He was hauled off to jail. But because he was disabled, he was in a wheelchair at the latter part of his life. They couldn't accommodate his disabilities at the Morgan Street Jail. Two days later, he was released. Of course, court delays.

11:33Lisa Mae He never stepped a foot into the courtroom. He ended up dying of a massive heart attack, which I thought it was too easy way for him to go. And it kind of really enraged me that I didn't have my voice heard of what he put me through. It was taken from me.

11:55ELizabeth Smart Well, Lisa, something else I'm curious about. I mean, I think you're right. He got out way too easy. Do you feel like? Although you didn't get your voice back with him, do you feel like that's a chapter you've been able to close in your own story and move on with your life?

12:11Lisa Mae Years ago, I had to come to the reality of stop blaming others for what I went through. I had to stand up and take responsibility. Knowing it's not my fault, of course, but I had to learn to forgive. I forgave my grandmother, called her. Forgave my mother, I called her. And I never spoke to him again, but I forgave him too. Because not to tell him that that was okay what they did to me or allowed what happened to me, it helped me to be able to let go of the struggles of being angry and holding on to negative attachment with all three of them. It was a release and let go. It was a chapter in my life to learn how to go on to heal.

13:00Lisa Mae So I don't struggle anymore. It's to the point that I want to live life and I can't live life if I can't forgive. I'll put myself in my own prison.

13:11ELizabeth Smart Absolutely. Well, Eduardo, like your perpetrators never faced any kind of consequences. Do you have feelings on that? Or have you ever struggled with feeling like you didn't get closure?

13:21Eduardo Valseca Well, the guy that then planned the whole thing, he's from Chile and he's in prison in Chile. I have a second opportunity to live. And I'm very, very filled with gratitude. And I'm not going to destroy this, whatever time I have left in this beautiful planet over something that happened to me. So I totally let it go.

13:47Eduardo Valseca I did the EMDR and that was incredible because I did have a really bad attack that I felt that I was dying. And after I did the EMDR, I don't know, about nine times. And each time was over an hour. I never had a panic attack again. And so I observed my thoughts. And when I don't like the way my thoughts are going, I change them. I'm in control of my thoughts. And then I change them for gratitude. I am not a superficial person anymore. That's something that has changed me for the rest of my life.

14:27Eduardo Valseca But I'm thankful about that, too. So I don't think of these people. And if you ask me all the details, it's like I'm telling you about in old movies that I saw 30 years ago. Last time I talked to you, I have a couple of tears on my eyes when I talk about my wife. That's what really brings those emotions.

14:50Eduardo Valseca But the pain that I went through and all of that, I think has enriched my life. Today, I can tell you I'm a very happy person.

14:59ELizabeth Smart And I just also want to add, for anyone who is not familiar with EMDR, it stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and it's a form of psychotherapy designed to help people process traumatic experiences and reduce the emotional trauma associated with those painful memories.

15:20Eduardo Valseca It's wonderful. It really functions beautiful.

15:23Joseph Freed Okay, our next question is for Elisa. Elisa, I couldn't believe that after everything you went through, you still had to fight to get your children back. Was there ever a moment when you finally felt like things were going to be okay?

15:35Alisa Mathewson Well, that took, it took a year after my kidnapping to finally feel like, okay, now we can get all the kids into therapy, which they should have been in therapy as soon. As it all happened. Um, I was able to kind of get corrected back into their schooling. And then I thought, oh, well, when the trial is over, then everything will be normal. And I feel like, you know, for a while we were just searching for the new normal and you just get through one thing after another.

16:12ELizabeth Smart It was the divorce.

16:14Alisa Mathewson It was the kidnapping. It was the dependency courts. And then it was the criminal court. And each time you just kind of get to a new normal, you get to experience different things in therapy, different, you know, what's going on, what's happening here. Who do I have to forgive this time? And yeah, you just, you just kind of keep going through it.

16:40Alisa Mathewson I don't know that you ever get to feel that everything is settled. If that makes sense. It's kind of like, it's something that I'll, always live with. This experience kind of shaped me but didn't define me. Eduardo said that it kind of feels like an old movie that kind of you like, oh, let me watch that movie again.

17:05Alisa Mathewson And you would have forgotten about it. It seems like it's something that happened to somebody else or it was another life that you lived. And then something will trigger. Something will pull it all back up again. And then. You kind of just have to go back into therapy for a little bit and chase that new normal. But I would say after a year after my kidnapping is when me and my kids were finally reunited and able to really start getting help.

17:35ELizabeth Smart And I think something to note is, I mean, especially when cases are highlighted in the news, the news stops following the case after there's some sense of closure. So The person is rescued. The murder is solved. The child is taken out of the abusive situation. The news stops following it. So for a lot of people, it's easy to think, okay, well, that's done now. Let's move on.

17:59ELizabeth Smart But actually, the stories don't stop. There's still the aftermath. It's still ongoing. And to Elisa's point about where sometimes it feels like it's another life, but then something happens, I think that is... just a very important point because even for me where, um, I feel like I have a wonderful life. Now I have a happy family. I do things that I feel so passionate and so caring, uh, about.

18:28ELizabeth Smart There are still times where I don't know, something will pop up and I'm just like, Oh, Oh yeah. Oh, and then, and then, you know, you, you put the pieces back together and you keep going and you think you're in that good place again. And then, something else pops up and you're just kind of like, Oh no, not again. Um, so it's not just like, Oh, I was rescued. The end, the end of my story.

18:53Joseph Freed Right.

18:53Alisa Mathewson Like I just, I just found out that he, his case got reopened.

18:58ELizabeth Smart I wasn't notified.

19:00Alisa Mathewson We're just, yes.

19:01ELizabeth Smart His case just got reopened.

19:04Alisa Mathewson Yeah. The file in the, the, the, uh, court system in the County, um, I don't know what caused me to just look it up. Um, you know, cause I haven't looked at it for a while and it's showing as reopened and I pulled the files and yeah, he filed for the case to be reopened for him to get a new trial or just waiting on a decision from the court.

19:27ELizabeth Smart On what grounds do you know?

19:28Alisa Mathewson I haven't read the file, but it's like a massive file that he filed himself and You know, that, you know, his sentence was excessive. He had ineffective counsel. He was forced to represent himself because they wouldn't give him a new attorney, those kinds of things.

19:46ELizabeth Smart But hopefully the judge sees through that and just dismisses it.

19:50Joseph Freed Okay, next up, our listener Rebecca has a question for Lisa. Lisa, you were actually there when your perpetrator, Bobby Joe Long, was executed. I've always wondered if something like that really brings closure. Did it bring you peace or was it not what you expected?

20:08Lisa Mae I had closure many years prior to his execution because I forgave him. Again, I had to go on and heal, live my life. When I got there, of course, everybody's hounding me and how are you feeling? And I didn't speak at first. I sat with the execution very quietly. And the end result was I cried not because of closure.

20:35Lisa Mae And Elizabeth, I told you this before, I cried because I ended up writing an impact statement, victim's impact statement. I was the only one there that read it out loud. And my closing was, I had closure years ago. But justice was served the day he was arrested. I felt empowered. He wasn't going to hurt anybody anymore. So there was no closure at that time because I had already had closure.

21:03Lisa Mae I didn't want to give him any more power over me. And that's why I had to go on with my life and become a deputy and become infiltrated into the school system and working as a school resource deputy. I've got to say, it was my favorite position of all times. And I still miss it. But life is about a bunch of closures. And both Alyssa and Elizabeth, Eduardo, you hit it. It's always going to come up. It's that one thing that triggers it. It's how we react differently.

21:36Lisa Mae Don't let it define your past. Define who you are today and who you're meant to be, to go on to.

21:43ELizabeth Smart Be in life.

21:44Eduardo Valseca Yeah, I think we're always going to be fragile about the trauma that we went through. We are emotional human beings and these emotions pop up again. I mean, the important thing is that what Lisa said, that we had a second chance. We didn't die. And it's a great moment because then you have a responsibility to yourself to say, okay, I have a second chance. Am I going to continue being a victim of that and destroy my life? Or am I going to be thankful every single day that I have a chance to live with that negativity that enriched my life? Because now I'm not a superficial person anymore.

22:28Eduardo Valseca I see the pain. The other day I was just driving from here to where my kids live, which is 20 minutes, and I saw this young kid, maybe in his 20s. He lost a leg and he had, you know, just metal. And just by looking at him, I'm driving, I'm going 50 miles an hour. I have tears on my eyes. I mean, you become much more sensitive to other people's pain.

22:55ELizabeth Smart Going through something extreme really does increase compassion and empathy. And you are able to feel other people's pain on a level that you probably would not have been able to feel had you not experienced whatever it was you go through. And the other thing that I love that everyone has said is that given this second chance at life, you choose. Are you going to live it or are you going to waste it? And I know certainly for me, I want to live my life. I mean, my life's not perfect. It's pretty great. And I have such a gratitude for things that I took for granted in the past.

23:35ELizabeth Smart But I do not, I am not going to let my captors steal any more of my life from me.

23:43Eduardo Valseca Right.

23:44Alisa Mathewson Yeah, that second chance of living. I said, I celebrate my alive day, the day I was found alive. I said, it's like, it's bigger than a birthday for me because it is, it was something so powerful to have that feeling of being, I can't believe I'm alive right now. And so that feeling of having a second chance and celebrating my alive day has been something that's really impacted me.

24:12Eduardo Valseca We have two birthdays now. Absolutely. We have to celebrate two birthdays.

24:21Joseph Freed Our next question is for you, Eduardo, and it's about those seven and a half months that you were held in the box. And the question is, when you were being held captive, what did you miss most about your old life? Was there one little thing that you couldn't wait to do again?

24:37Eduardo Valseca That's a really easy question to answer. Love. I miss a human touch, the love of my family, to see my kids, my wife. I miss that so much. so, so much every single second. I mean, it's just love is the biggest force that we have. And when you are dying and you don't have that, I said to myself, okay, I'm just a human being like everybody else. It's my time to go. But the only difference is that I couldn't comprehend why am I dying in this condition that I don't have the human love touch that I cannot have just a glass of water or some tea or somebody just to tap in my shoulder and say, are you okay? And when I was free and the first second that I saw my family, it was like I've been under the shade for seven and a half months

25:42Eduardo Valseca and all this other, I am exposed to sunshine. And I just thought of how, how much fun it is to hug my kids and to be with my wife. And the first thing I asked her was that if she could be so kind to cook this banana pancakes for me.

26:03ELizabeth Smart I just love that. And I think you're so right because when all of those things are taken away from you, when material objects are taken away from you, you realize actually those are not the things that make life worth living. I mean, to this day, I've moved, I've had cars come and go, I've had material objects come and go, and I've just realized that they don't matter that much.

26:32ELizabeth Smart There is no material object that I can't live without. I've already done it. My family is the number one important thing. That's why I survived.

26:41Joseph Freed Elisa, we have a question from Amanda who asks, of the friends who turned their back on you and didn't believe you when you were going through everything, did any of them ever apologize and make amends with you? That's a good question.

26:54ELizabeth Smart I want to know.

26:55Alisa Mathewson So some of them did try to make amends. Some of them just kind of doubled down. Some of them said that I should have come to them. I should have been more open about what was happening in my marriage. But, you know, I was telling the police, I was telling the courts, I didn't need to be going around and telling the whole world, all of my friend groups. I said, it's kind of like a Jerry Maguire moment in which, you know, he's calling all of these people and I'm calling all these people.

27:29Alisa Mathewson And I just kind of let it be. Like, maybe my friends are going to know me and know my fruit, know my worth, know my character, and are going to believe that. I'm getting out of a domestic violence situation. And some of them didn't believe that. Yeah, so some of them did try to rectify it afterwards.

27:52Alisa Mathewson Again, forgiveness. I understood that he manipulated a lot of them. I understood he manipulated the police. He manipulated the courts. He manipulated my children. So I got that. And yeah, so I do have. Some very wonderful friendships that, you know, we were able to rebuild that trust.

28:11ELizabeth Smart You know, I feel I was, I'm not going to say the opposite, but I think for me, when I came home, it was easier to go back to friendships I had prior to my abduction than to make new friendships after just because I was hesitant. Were they making friends with me for me? Or were they making friends with Elizabeth Smart? And so definitely those friendships for me that I had before I was kidnapped were definitely very meaningful to me.

28:47Lisa Mae I've learned a long time ago, not everybody wants to hear your story. Not everyone wants to believe it. But reading scripture, believing in my faith, having my faith through everything in my life, you don't have to share your story. You don't have to tell your part. Either they're your friends or either they're not. So kudos for everybody rebuilding your friendships and their friendships that were lost. They just weren't meant to be.

29:15Alisa Mathewson Yeah, I did have to let people go out of my life because, you know, if they didn't have my back when I needed them, then, you know, I just had to not be a doormat. You have to set boundaries. And one of the things that I did learn through a lot of the therapies is I have a tendency to be a little codependent. And so I had to work through a lot of that. Sometimes for domestic violence survivors, the codependency is a survival tactic. We're just trying to make that person happy. So to protect ourselves. But some of that, that will trickle into other relationships. So I've had to work through a lot of that.

29:57Joseph Freed Okay, our last question is for everyone. And it's from a listener who's waiting for their case to go through the court system. And they ask, how do you cope with the slow justice system? How do you deal with feeling like you're stuck in limbo until the case is over legally?

30:14ELizabeth Smart Well, I guess I just jump in first because I don't actually think we really have a justice system.

30:23Lisa Mae I mean.

30:24ELizabeth Smart what was taken from you couldn't never be given back. I mean, like my childhood had a very firm expiration date on it. And it's not like once I was rescued, I could go back to being that naive 14 year old I had once been. And again, like the things that were taken from me weren't, weren't replaced, couldn't be erased.

30:49ELizabeth Smart So I think it's important to remember we have a legal system that does its, best in the pursuit of justice or hopefully, I mean, not always, but hopefully does its best in the pursuit of justice, but it is, it is a legal system. And I would personally just encourage you to still find those things that make your life meaningful. So you can live in the present as much as possible instead of worrying about the future or dwelling on the past.

31:20Eduardo Valseca Yeah, I agree 100%. I don't really care about. One day my younger sister called me and she said that then they captured the guy who kidnapped me. And I was listening to her and she said, aren't you happy? And when she said that, I said to myself, my happiness doesn't depend on somebody else's situation at all. If he will be free or they put him in prison or they kill him, doesn't really matter to me because he's no part of my life anymore. My life is fulfilled with my family and the love around me.

32:05Eduardo Valseca I don't care.

32:05Alisa Mathewson Yeah, I agree. You know, I thought that when we went to trial, that's when I would feel closure. And then after that, I thought, well, one day I will get a phone call like, Lisa got a phone call saying, you know, he's going to be executed. I'll get that phone call that he died in prison and I'll be notified. And then, then I'll feel closure. But the truth is none of that is going to bring me closure. It's something that, you know, I've had to seek myself. And I kept thinking at these different points, when I got my kids back, I would have closure.

32:42Alisa Mathewson When I got this, I would get closure. When I had this, I would get closure again. But I just want to encourage somebody going through the justice system. You cannot depend on the justice system to be your closure. You have to seek that closure for yourself and forgiveness and finding happiness and living the best life you can. Yes.

33:04Lisa Mae The justice system has, you know, fallen on all of us. It's, it's, I was not allowed a court date with my step grandfather. I was not even allowed to even speak. of the 26 terrifying hours being held captive by a Syria killer, I was just there to identify him. I couldn't tell them, the courts, anybody about my story. My voice was silence for the courts. There was no help from anybody in the courts. And I'm, I'm, You know, former law enforcement, I've seen it. People out there blaming the police officers for not doing their jobs and realizing we're just a part of the equation when it comes to the justice system.

33:53Lisa Mae Somewhere down the line, it gets broken down. Courts get moved up. Courts get dismissed. Victims don't get notified. It's a vicious cycle. It's never going to stop. So why not live in the moment? with a gracious life that God has given all of us, that second chance. I love my life every single day now. Every day, I love it more because of him. So I praise all of us for what we've been through. That we're able to go on and enjoy our life, our kids, our puppy dogs, whatever we're doing, mountain climbing, whatever. And you hit it, two birthdays. My birthday, second birthday is coming up.

34:39Lisa Mae November 3rd, November 4th. I keep saying it, but I'm going to do it this year. I am taking myself on a hot air balloon ride. Scared death of heights. But I, that's going to bring me joy. Because that's what I want to do for myself. It's time to get up and start saying, hey, let's keep going. Let's keep fighting. And let's make sure our voices are heard.

35:06ELizabeth Smart Couldn't agree more. And thank you so much to all of you, Lisa, Eduardo, Elisa. Your answers were so honestly profound and just so meaningful. Thank you for being part of this conversation.

35:23Eduardo Valseca Thank you so much to you, Elisabeth. It's an honor to be here with all of you.

35:28ELizabeth Smart And to everyone who sent us the questions or shared something personal about your own life, thank you. We know some of those messages weren't easy to write, and we're so grateful you trusted us with them. We couldn't get to every question today, but please keep them coming. We love hearing from you, and we will do more episodes like this. Thank you for listening. If you like the podcast, be sure to subscribe, share, and don't forget to set it up on automatic downloads. It really, really helps us.

36:01ELizabeth Smart You can also follow us on Instagram at the Survivor Files pod. And we've got a really great episode coming up next week. So let's take a quick listen. Next time on the Survivor Files.

36:16Lori Poland My dad looked down at my brother who let out this atrocious sound and he knew instantly something had happened.

36:25ELizabeth Smart Lori Poland is just three years old. She's playing happily in her front yard. But when her father emerges from the house after being inside for just a minute, she's gone, vanished. And the only clue is the pants she was wearing, now crumpled on the sidewalk.

36:43Lori Poland My dad's friend grabbed some keys and shoved them into my dad's chest and said, go get her.

36:51ELizabeth Smart Thank you for listening to The Survivor Files. New episodes every Monday. The Survivor Files is produced by Marwar Junction Productions for iHeart Podcasts. Our producers are Steve Kniff and Natalie Freed. Our executive producers are Joseph Freed and Allison Berkley. The executive producer for iHeart Podcasts is Katrina Norvell.