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99% of all children abducted by a stranger or murdered within the first 24 hours, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Tonight we'll meet the brave woman who is the 1%, and learn how she's turned this traumatic experience into a personal mission to help others suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

I'm so happy you're joining us for this powerful episode.

Know.

From Los Angeles, this is KLCS PBS.

Welcome to everybody with Angela Williamson and innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, doctor Angela Williamson.

Gina m Garcia is here to talk about her film untold.

This is my story, which has been all over the film festival circuit except for there's been a change, right?

Yes, it's actually on Amazon Prime and a lot of other streaming networks.

And it was really important for you to tell this story.

Why?

Let's go back to the beginning, Gina.

Well, as I'm a survivor of a stranger abduction, I dealt with childhood sexual abuse.

And, you know, I was an eight year old kid abducted out of the Fashion Square mall in Orlando, Florida.

during my journey of, I had Arrested Development.

I kind of I survived, but I carried this dark passenger with me and for a really long time, and it affected all my relationships, my relationships with my family, my relationships with my friends, partners.

So as I got older, I didn't want the person that took me to still own me as an adult.

And so through your own personal journey to go through, I mean, there was two incidents that happened to you before you even turn 18.

So before you even move forward, you had to go backwards.

How difficult is that for people to do that?

Because you've been talking all over to a lot of people who have post-traumatic stress disorder, and it's got to be so difficult to go backwards to those the dark days to try to move forward.

If you can't go backwards and deal with your past, there is no future.

There's no choice.

There is absolutely no choice.

You have to go through it.

You can't pretend it doesn't exist.

It will catch up to you.

And when it catches up to you, it's devastating.

So for myself, I knew that if I wanted to proceed and live a healthy and I say healthy, mentally, emotionally, physically healthy life, I had to deal with my crap.

And I love, I love myself.

There's this outlook that you have.

but it's been really hard for people.

I mean, now we talk about it, but years when we were growing up, this was these are things that were buried in the families and and still even we see this today.

How do we change that as a society?

Because like you said, if you don't go backwards, you can't move forward.

And you did it and it was a tough journey for you.

I mean, your film was so remarkable and we watched that journey, but you had to start from somewhere, and that was just so tough.

How do people start?

Well, first of all, because a lot of people go, I can't afford like mental health therapy.

There's ways of, you know, I first started like listening to, Twain Dwyer and and I was listening to podcasts.

I listened to other people's journeys.

I, I'm fortunate enough to be a veteran.

And so when I got to the edge, I dove into therapy at the Orlando, VA in Florida.

And my ego, because I believe that a lot of people that go through traumas and especially sexually sexual trauma, at early ages, there's a few things that can happen.

they are they're turning into drugs, there's alcoholism, there's suicide, there's, food addictions, which I felt fall under that as far as yo yoing with weight and stuff like that.

Or you have the Oprah effect.

And so me with the Oprah effect is that you do everything possible to overachieve so nobody knows your dirty secret.

And if you look at these like there's so many successful women out there that have a similar history, not everyone is abducted by a stranger.

But there's, you know, molestation.

There's rape, there's there's all kinds of traumas.

And the last thing you want is for people to see a dirty secret.

And because people in my mind, I was like, if people find out about this, they're going to see me in a certain way, in a negative light, like it's my fault and also stuff.

So I mentally did everything to succeed, every possible thing to succeed.

I, I graduated top of my, class in the military.

I was at NATO, I worked at Supreme Allied Command Atlantic, you know.

And so that's the thing.

I was student council president.

I, you know, sport, sports, I did everything.

And no matter what I did, it didn't matter.

I there was still this darkness.

I had darkness in me.

And I thought I was sometimes the life of the party and all that.

But my abductor stayed with me, and it affected, like how I dealt with things and dealt with people and my safety things.

And I was always cautious about every single thing.

And I believe you have to be cautious.

But I wasn't living, I actually celebrate two birthdays the day I was born and the day I jumped out of a car because I'm not supposed to be here.

Statistically, I am not supposed to be here.

And I made a choice to jump out of a car half naked after being brutally raped at knifepoint.

And I have to live.

I have to live for those children that never got out of that car.

And you said, I have to live for those children who never get out of that car.

That's that become like a big pressure for you, or does that become a relief for you?

Because now you're focusing on something different, something bigger than who you are as Gina and Garcia.

So I guess my metaphor of getting out of the car is like, for me, it was literally out of a car.

For a lot of people, it's getting out of your head.

So if I could show people that I could go from serial killer rapes, jumping out of a car and turn out to be just even a little, okay that other people can.

So so I say, get out of the car.

I say to my friends when they're in a funky place and they're caught up in their head and the trauma, and it could be as simple as trauma.

It could be someone that just, you know, you know, we could say with cars and just pulled out in front of them.

And I'm like, don't stay in that place.

Because if you stay in that place, a negativity, that person that just pulled you off, they went today.

And if you could get into your head and stay right and positive, you're the one, the abusers are no longer the one to the rapists are the winner.

And that's kind of my mentality of where I live today is like, I win every day.

My abductor doesn't win anymore.

And you talk about winning and and how that impacts not only your life, but the lives of people around you.

And one of the things that I mean, now we are saying it's okay to talk about this among families.

but, you know, when we were growing up, things like this, we just didn't discuss bad things that happened.

We just buried it and then continue to move forward.

How do you think that that impacts families in the long run?

Because you talked about the relationships and family relationship is important to all of us, but something that traumatic can change the family relationship forever?

Absolutely.

It messed up the complete dynamics of my family.

my brother and I, we didn't speak for eight years when I was making my film.

my sister, I, I haven't talked to her since 2007.

You know, my mom, we have a great relationship.

And my mom was like, you and your brother have to fix this.

And the interesting thing about fixing it, my brother actually watched my movie.

he watched the original version, which was untold.

I wasn't comfortable with it.

And so he watched it, and he's like, I know your story.

If anybody he knows my story, he goes, but that's not you.

And I was like, what do you mean?

It's not my not me, it's it's me.

You know, there's an actor playing me, but that's he's like, you're not that victim anymore.

You're not a victim anymore.

And so with that and this was like, you know, right, right at the beginning of Covid, because I shelved my film, I was uncomfortable.

I was like, there's something missing.

And I and my brother, he watched it and he goes, you can change the way the world will see you.

And you're fortunate enough because you get to change it in the film that you already did.

And I went in, I read in my film the film that you actually watched, and people don't leave going, oh my God, she's a victim.

No, the first version.

I wasn't the old enough.

I might have shot it, but it took from shooting that film to Covid to go, okay, I'm no longer a victim.

I made a film and my brother and my mom and my mom.

Go on.

Hey, hey, you guys got to fix this.

And so when I say family journey.

And how do you fix things?

Yes.

My mom made us talk.

My mom made us talk because we could have gone another 20 years.

We could have gone to, like, you know, I'm six feet in the ground and never speak, but you have to do the hard stuff sometimes, and you have to be vulnerable enough to say, hey, let's fix this.

Vulnerability is everything, and people are so afraid to be vulnerable.

But vulnerable is opening up and and you can grow so much by vulnerability.

So my family dynamics now, even though me and my sister don't talk and that's her issue.

I love her and that's and I don't have any blame if you watch my film, a lot of people want to blame my sister.

It's not my fault.

The only person fault it is, is my abductors fault.

And it took us a long time.

It took us a long time to heal as a family, you know.

And now my brothers, my best friend, my mom.

I took her to senior prom.

You know, she's 84 years old.

I took her to senior prom.

It's.

Those are the things you have to choose to start talking.

My film is untold.

And now that it's out, it will never be untold.

And also to the family dynamics that you have in that movie.

I mean, and I didn't know that you had recut the movie because in the movie that I watched, you truly are a person that is is not a victim anymore.

You're working through it.

But even in watching those family dynamics, like watching you with your brother and your mom in the kitchen and things, you could see that strong relationship and love there.

And even as you're trying to work through talking that hurt and pain with your sister, you can see that.

So obviously, we're watching you grow as you tell this story.

And and you said, yes, you do have to be vulnerable at part of this, but how much of you opening up yourself has touched others?

And so I would love to hear any.

Your brother gave you this valuable feedback, but others as well, because what you're doing is you're now giving us permission to talk about deep, dark secrets that help us move forward.

Well, I think, like with talking about it and getting it out there and like family dynamics, it's it's something that like.

If what we said earlier, if you want to move, you have to go backwards to move forward.

And that was kind of like my mission and all of this.

It was I showed my family implode.

I showed an implosion of a family.

And a lot of times we we talk about the traumas.

We talk about the the assailants, the abusers, the that part.

We forget that there's something that happens after that moment.

We forget and it's brutal.

Like, you know, we can talk about, you know, the women's Olympic team and, you know, gymnastics.

Yes.

Everyone's talking about the assault, but what's that long term effect?

How many women actually stop being gymnast?

How many women stop going to school or college or, you know, they stopped being them because of that single moment.

And that's why, for me, I celebrate two days because I have to celebrate the fact that I'm here and not be mid-October crying.

And I did that for a lot of years, and I couldn't even figure it out.

Like, I was just like, I don't understand why every fall I get sad.

Because you buried it so deep.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Well, we're going to take a break.

But when we come back, what I love what you did in your film is, you were able to tell this story.

It's such an elegant way of how triggers impact us.

And I wanted to talk about that because it was that trigger that led you to starting to realize what you had buried, but then the help that you started doing, not only with your personal counselor, but with group therapy.

I think that's really important because it's all a part of the process and the decisions that you made as a director to shoot that.

I'd love to talk about that.

Absolutely.

So you hang out to the segment break and come back.

All right.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

Come back as we talk with Gina and Garcia and more about our film untold.

This is my story, which she produced and directed.

And.

Welcome to America's test kitchen.

At home, at home, at home.

At home.

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This year we're bringing it all back home today with great new recipes.

It's cheese time.

I hated tuna fish when I was a kid.

Ingredients and gear.

Here's money your I and your favorite test cook today I want to talk about my take cooking in their own kitchens.

America's test kitchen at home.

It's really good.

When I was in foster care, I never knew when I would have to move, so I always had my suitcase ready to go.

Then one day I was adopted.

My new parents opened their hearts and home to me.

My parents cook my favorite breakfast for me every morning.

My parents take me on trips.

I never thought I was going to do.

They gave me a home and an even better reason to use that suitcase.

My parents aren't perfect, but they're perfect for me.

I don't remember how it started.

Going to that.

Hour back and forth.

It always came back.

Thanksgiving.

Dad, you probably don't remember what you told me.

That was perfect.

But I heard every word.

Oh.

I'm sorry.

It's okay.

Hey, what are you looking for?

A book on Santa?

I have to do a project from his gym class.

Wow, that's so cool.

You.

You're so grown up.

Thank you.

This way.

Pat, I'm here with my sandwich right over there.

Home.

What about your parents?

Well, my mom went to go pay bill at Sears in.

We have to meet at Orange Julius by 830.

Okay, so you want some help with your project?

I kind of have to do it by myself because, you know.

big kick.

Welcome back.

I'm continuing my conversation with Gina and Garcia.

Gina, in that clip that we watched, where you were the bookstore surrounded by books because your dad.

It means your promise.

in this scene, you really take the myth out of how a child gets abducted by a stranger.

So tell me a little bit about that myth and what we think that happens.

But what really happens?

So for myself, my motivation and why I was in the bookstores, I wanted a good grade.

it's kind of the the Rosebud thing for me.

It's.

I was going to get a bicycle.

and I wanted that good grade if I could.

Got a good grade in Mrs. Jones class on Saturn.

I was going to get a new bicycle.

You know, banana?

Schwinn.

I'm dating myself completely right now, but, the thing was, the person that came up to me heard what I was looking for.

Any.

He manipulated, he manipulate a child.

he said he could help me.

Oh, I have books, I have magazines.

I was like, okay.

And then, when he said, I have them in my car, I was just like, well, let me go tell my sister I'm on security.

He had a he had a badge.

He had a badge.

He showed me a badge.

And I was like, okay, because we're taught like, security.

The police officers, those are the good people.

Yeah.

And this was a long time ago.

So we're talking 40 years ago, but I won't willingly.

I went through a mall, I went I went through the Sears and Robux where my mom was paying a bill.

I kind of passed her.

I wanted to get that good grade.

I want to do it by myself.

And, you know, we walked out of the mall, we got to his car.

It wasn't a white van.

Everyone thinks you're getting thrown into a van.

And when we got there, he just pushed me in the car.

You know, it was.

It was that simple.

It was an adult manipulating a child.

And how do we as educators and parents teach our children?

Because that's when we still have this issue today, right?

How do we teach our children to not be manipulated by that?

Because he's obviously he picked you.

He watched you for so long to get enough information to know how to get you to go with him.

So how do we teach our children not to do that?

Have them tell somebody if I would have stopped.

You know I can't live in regret.

No, but if I do, it's just what I want, okay?

No matter what, I need to tell my sister.

My sister would have said no, no, or would have gone with me in the circumstances.

Even if I would have told the people in the store, someone would have said something because it was like, if I go, hey, you know, cashier or whatever, this guy was security.

So he has books.

They would have been like, whoa, so.

So that was the thing I think we needed, you know, teach kids to like, let someone else know that was the thing is, I was so convinced that if I got that good grade, I was going to get a bicycle.

I fell short.

And that's the thing is, like, I'm fortunate enough to be here.

I'm here.

But, this is this is what happens.

It's that manipulating a child and as children were easily manipulated.

So I honestly believe we have to have conversations and not to the extent of the darkness that I went through, but have real conversation on what it might look like.

And it's not puppies and candy, you know, for me it was pressures of a grade.

And we live in a world right now where grades are so important.

But I was manipulated about a grade, you know.

And you also two and transitioning talking a little bit more about the movie.

And I mentioned to you, during the break.

So I don't want to say it again, you so eloquently put down the storyline so that we could see the emotional, the emotional turmoil that you were going through, but you also to raise questions that we need to address as a society is that it doesn't matter when we bury things.

We have to there's triggers there.

And and I love how you brought in that trigger.

But with that trigger, it started a whole community that you were able to find because of that.

And so let's talk about community and how that impacts an eight year old, Gina and Garcia, to a 20 something year old where the community really lifts you up and gets you to move forward right.

So let's start first with the trigger.

Yes.

my bicycle was stolen, and when the Break-Ins happened, it was a bicycle that was stolen.

That stolen bicycle was my stolen childhood.

That was my rosebud.

You know, Citizen Kane?

Yes.

And that was my rosebud.

My rosebud was stolen, and.

And so that's what put me right back.

It put me right back into that moment of, like, the anxiety, the feeling.

It put me right back in, in that car.

And, I thought I was truly losing my mind because everything was in fragments.

It was.

So I was like, this doesn't make sense.

And it was a sense of smell and taste.

And it brought me right back into that moment.

And I thought I was literally going crazy.

Like I thought I was like, is this is this like dream I'm having, or is this my reality?

And I dove into therapy at the VA, the amazing group of women veterans.

And they I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz because I did not fit.

I did not fit.

And they all had something that was broken.

They had, you know, going to my film, she's missing a limb, you know, there's Darryl and she has a frontal brain injury.

you know, and, you know, there's the homeless person.

And it's weird because the homeless person in my film had the most freedom of everybody.

Yeah.

You know, and and so those were the elements.

And then, on top of it, Deborah Wilson plays, a real survivor of the Oklahoma bombing and, and, who has issues with her sight, was buried under the rubble and survived.

And it's weird because I could look at it and go, she survived the Oklahoma bombing, was buried in rubble, and she saved my life by being able to say, hey, kid, it's a it's okay.

You don't have to be okay.

And it was I was so stuck.

And like, the idea that, physically, I looked fine, but these people were like, you were a child.

You are stuck.

You are stuck.

You are so stuck in your mindset and you can't grow.

And so this community of amazing women veterans.

Especially that one, and the Oklahoma City bombing, her monologue to you, I thought that beginning that first meeting is you can start to see the transition, right?

It was this.

It was I had gone to therapy for a long time.

I walked into that group.

I had to check my ego.

My ego was like, oh, there's nothing wrong with me.

I'm a veteran.

I serve the military.

Nothing can be wrong.

And they're like, no wrong, wrong answer.

And they put a mirror to my face.

That's the thing is, all these people, my family, my brother, my brother is notorious for putting a mirror in my face to go, this is what's going on.

And that's what they did for me.

They, they they challenged me.

They challenged me to go in.

They challenged me to get better.

And I owe my life to to these women, you know, they they didn't have to deal with somebody that like, my ego was so like out there, I was like, there's nothing wrong with me.

And I think that's that's the thing.

That's what I call the Oprah effect.

I was succeeding in life, so there couldn't be anything wrong, and I was I was the most broken, like their missing limbs.

And I was the one that was most broken.

So, I mean, I feel like we need to do another episode just to talk a lot more about this, especially since you are currently working on a documentary.

So definitely I want you to come back.

But before we leave our conversation, I want you to just tell me one major take away that you got out of.

digging deep in your in your past and bringing that story to the masses and an untold.

What big takeaway that you get from that?

And, I mean, you got several, but, Well, with making my film and all of it, I became my own Wonder Woman.

I love that that is a perfect way to end our segment.

But when your documentary is done well, you definitely come back.

So we can talk about that.

Absolutely.

I love that.

Thank you for everything that you are doing as your personal mission to help others who experience trauma.

But yes, you are definitely a Wonder Woman and your movie is phenomenal.

So thank you.

You're welcome.

I cannot wait to see the documentary.

So thank you so much.

And that's why I asked you, on air so that you have to come back.

So I can't wait to see your documentary.

Have you come back and talk about that?

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

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