I have to admit, this really threw me for a loop. I spent the first half of the documentary thinking about what assholes these kids were, and the second half reconsidering what I thought about the whole first half.

During the first half, you get a basic intro to all the kids. There's the core group, most of which are college students - Travis Payea, Jon Cockerill, Jim Carwile, Christina Lumm (who was roommates with Travis, and also had a crush on him), and Derek Faxlinger (who passed out on the couch at the house before the group left). Then there's Danielle Taylor, a 19-year-old waitress (or Taco Bell cashier, depending on which version you believe), who had just started hanging around the group not long before, mainly because she, too, had a crush on Travis. At this point you see the first part of the video, which shows Travis and one of the other guys pinning her down and tying her up. They tell her a bunch of times what they are going to do to her (namely, kill her), and comment on how they've done this before, and other such scarifying speeches. Danielle seems pretty calm, but wary, as though she isn't really sure what's going on (or what she's supposed to be doing, depending on whose story you're hearing). You see them blindfold her, then driving somewhere at knifepoint (the edge of the knife was covered by scotch tape). The whole time, they are constantly asking her questions, trying to get her to spill her guts, or something, and of course, still constantly threatening her. In the car she seems genuinely frightened - she's crying, and in response to one of their questions, she says "sorry" and "I Love you" to her parents. Then you see them carrying her through a wooded area, and placing her in a really shallow grave (like, 1.5 - 2 feet).

During this time, you also get to see interviews with a few people. Sarah, a friend of the group, says she doesn't believe Danielle because they also did a similar thing to her, and it wasn't a big deal. Jim says he remembers when they did it to Sarah, and she was freaking out so bad that they quit. Sarah says she wasn't scared at all, just annoyed. Jim says she was petrified. (For the record, I don't know why Jim was even arguing this point, because if anything, it makes them look worse.) Sarah also says that Danielle and Christina both had a crush on Travis, and therefore didn't get along very well.

There's an interview with Derek's mother, who says when she watched the tape, it was like watching strangers. She also says that each time she watches it, it raises more questions than it answers. Derek's sister says she is unsure whether she believes Danielle or not, because on one hand, she seems to be genuinely scared in the car, but, she argues, if that really happened to you, why wouldn't you tell your family and call the police right away?

Ahh... this is when we find out that Danielle didn't actually contact the police until 2 or 3 days later. And that she actually went back to the house where it all began, 2 days after it happened. While she was there, she stole the tape of the incident to give to the police. She called Jim (one of the guys who was in on it) to give her a ride over to the house. They hung out, and watched some of the tape, and then when nobody was in the room, she took it and replaced it with another tape. When asked why in court, she said it was because she was afraid that they would destroy the tape when they found out she had gone to the police. Then we find out that the day before she stole the tape, she had a phone conversation with Christina, during which she asked about Travis' availability (for a relationship). Then she talked to Travis himself, and supposedly asked him why they did what they did the night before. He then invited her to come over the next night to watch the footage (this is all according to her testimony, by the way).

Later on they show the footage towards the end of the tape. You see Danielle being placed in the shallow grave, with a couple shovels of dirt and snow being shoveled back in. One of them pulls her blindfold down around her neck, so she can see what's happening. You see Travis straddle the grave and lean over her, and pretend to slit her throat (over the blindfold), and Danielle leans forward as though she is dying or dead. The defense attorneys made a pretty big deal out of this, saying it showed that she was acting. Footage from back at the house is also shown at this point, showing Danielle telling the group that the rope has loosened around her arms, and showing her scratching her nose after she is supposed to be tied up. Defense attorneys say the obvious "this shows she's acting", prosecutors say she was letting them know so they wouldn't think she was trying to escape. Then they show everyone around the gravesite being introduced by the camaraman, and they all wave and smile at the camara. Danielle keeps playing dead when she's introduced, which takes a minute because the camaraman forgot her name.

About 5 days after the incident, the police arrest all 5 of the people involved, charging them with felonious assault, conspiracy to commit felonious assault, kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping (except Derek, who was only charged with assault and battary). Derek ends up pleading guilty a lesser charge and getting 6 months probation (because he was passed out on the couch while most of it happened). Around 6 months later, Christina Lumm had a change of heart about her story, sweetly coinciding with a deal with the prosecutors. She's decided that Danielle didn't know about the movie, or what they were going to do. Another coincidence is that, according to many, she had just found out that Travis wanted nothing to do with her. She ended up getting 5 years probation, in exchange for testifying against the others. Finally, the other 3 end up dealing as well - they all plead no contest, Jon gets 4 months behind bars, Jim and Travis get 8 months. It's at this point that they finally show the end of the tape - Danielle out of the grave, with one of the guys wrapping her up in something warm, smiling and saying, "I survived..." and something about how her arms were getting sore and how cold it was out.

All of this is just from the documentary, not from the other sources I scrounged up. And, unfortunately, I couldn't find a copy of the original video anywhere, and of course the parts they showed in the documentary were all chopped and edited for effect.

My feeling after the first half of this was that the group deserved whatever they got. After the second half, I'm not so sure. It obviously didn't happen quite the way anybody said. My feeling is that yes, Danielle knew about what they were going to do, but taking into account that they were all drinking, I think at some point she started to think they were serious. Probably once they were in the car. I am sure they weren't serious, as they had done this previously with their friend Sarah, and with Christina herself. Once it was over, she was relieved that they really weren't serious, and probably felt like a bit of an ass for thinking they might be. According to other sources, she had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the next day, and when she went, the doctor asked about a coupl ebruises she had, and her complaint of being achy. He recommended she go to the police. After calling to find out if her and Travis were ever going to hook up (because of course she wouldn't want to get him in trouble if he liked her), and stealing the video, she takes the Doc's recommendation and goes to the cops.

Couple things that bug me.

Either Danielle was really upset about how far this went, or she was pissed that she went through all that for nothing. If she was really upset about it, why would she slough it off, just because she had a crush on one of the guys? And if she was pissed about being blown off romantically, that is a hugely vindictive way to get back at someone. It also bothered me that not once, through the entire ordeal, did she say, "Stop, don't do this, guys this isn't funny," or even "What the hell do you think your doing?" That's what makes me think she was originally in on it - otherwise, back at the beginning, she would have said something to that effect.

The Christina issue - she was ok with going through with all of this when she thought that Travis might like her, but when she finds out he's not into her, she too gets hugely vindictive? Or was she just trying to cover her own ass?

I think that Travis, Jon, Jim & Christina all acted like assholes. They should have realized that Danielle wasn't acting, that she was taking it seriously. I have a feeling that it may have crossed somebody's mind, but they didn't speak up because they didn't want to look idiotic in front of the others, and they didn't want to ruin the footage if they were wrong (and, of course, they were all drinking). But I don't think they were actually trying to kidnap and assault someone. I'd say at worst it would be reckless endangerment, or whatever the American equivelant would be.

It's funny, I remember this originally happening, and the way it was reported on the news, it sounded like a group of college students kidnapped a random waitress, threatened her, buried her, and then explained everything to her after the fact. It's funny how the story changes once some facts come out, isn't it?

A few links below - they all have some errors and different information, just to forewarn you

In Depth Review by Chris Green - I found this quite good actually - lots of info and good insight.

Click on Detroit report - one of the original stories behind the case, before all the facts were out. There is also footage from the video on this site, but I'll be damned if I can get it to open. Let me knwo if you manage.

Quickie review of the documentary - unfortunately, they didn't seem to pay enough attention, as they got a lot of facts wrong.

Info from CourtTV, which taught me to never believe anything that CourtTv says, because they got so much wrong, I can't believe they knew there was a video or an abduction.