GRATIOT - Nerves of steel. Ice in the veins. Poise under pressure.
These are the terms that describe the demeanor of Don Redden during his career as an FBI agent.
So, he was a bit surprised how moved he was recently when Charles Shor, whose life he helped save during a 1982 kidnapping in Kentucky, called Redden on the phone at his Lafayette County home.
"When I first heard his voice, I lost it a little bit," Redden said. "I could barely speak. It got emotional."
Maybe that's because Redden, whose career took him from Texas to Pennsylvania to the nation's capital to Kentucky and finally to Chicago, has seen too many things go down horribly.
"Bank robberies with murders, drug deals with murders, a kidnapping with a triple homicide in Philly," he said. "Many cases didn't end well."
But, despite being kidnapped and at one point chained and buried in a pit, Shor's case did end well. No ransom money was exchanged, the young man who was in his early 20s survived, both suspects were caught within 30 minutes and both served 20-year terms.
Shor is epileptic, so every second counted more than anyone knew.
After the ordeal, Shor required psychiatric care but rebounded to the point of successfully taking over his father's business, Duro Bag Manufacturing, the world's largest creator of paper bags.
When Shor told Redden 33 years after the kidnapping that "I owe you my life," it hit home for the retired agent.
"The last time I saw him, he was a mess, covered in mud. He just wanted to go home," Redden said. "I never forgot that.
"You're supposed to not get involved with the families, but it's hard not to. A thank-you is all anybody in this field needs but you don't expect even that. We raised our hand and took a vow to do a job, nothing more."
But Shor wanted Redden to know his appreciation is genuine - so much so that when Redden told him he was heading with his wife to Fort Lauderdale last week, Shor said he'd fly down from Kentucky to meet him. Last Saturday, they had dinner.
"We had a great time," Redden said. "And we agreed we'd try to keep in touch and keep the conversations going."
And Redden will be featured in a book about Shor's life that is being written by a former columnist with the Cincinnati Enquirer.
"A chapter is being dedicated to the kidnapping case," Redden said.
•••
It was 2 a.m. when Redden got the call at his Cincinnati home. Charles Shor had been missing for 24 hours when the kidnappers called his father who lived in Covington, Ky., just across the Ohio River, and informed him they had his son. They instructed him to not call the cops, so the father instead called his company's security director. He, in turn, contacted the police, who called the FBI.
"I sped down there in the middle of the night and assembled a team of agents," said Redden, who was the supervisor. "We realized right away this was going to be a major case."
The father was instructed to go to a phone booth in a small town for the next call and then a money drop was arranged in the dead of night along a rural road on the banks of the Ohio River. The ransom was set at a quarter of a million.
"The father insisted that all $250,000 be real, in case he had to hand it over. He went to the bank and took it all out," Redden said. "Usually, we have some real money on top of stacks that aren't real."
Before the drop, Redden's team photographed each and every bill for tracing purposes.
An agent was on the floor of the car as it approached the suspects. Nearly 50 of them were also on the scene conducting surveillance. Shor was tied to a tree and guarded by one man while the other approached the car.
"The suspect said, "Where's the money?' and the father said "Where's my son?'" Redden said. "Then the son broke loose from the tree and the suspects ran."
One jumped in the Ohio River, and Redden called the Coast Guard to flush him out with spotlights. He was arrested on the shore.
The other suspect tried to go home and was picked up on the streets by Covington police.
"It was a tense 36 to 48 hours," Redden said. "We did not know how this case would turn out."
Both in their early 20s, one suspect was an employee of the bag company, the other the son of a Cincinnati firefighter.
"That family was devastated," Redden said. "There are many victims in these cases."
•••
Life on Richwood Farm that Redden owns is peaceful. He retired in 1995 and headed straight for the country.
"How did I end up in Gratiot? I have no idea," Redden said. "I just wanted to get out of the big cities, away from the narcotics and away from the crime. It was time for the younger guys to deal with all of that."
When he tumbled upon the fixer-upper of a farmhouse, he was all in.
"The projects continue today, 20 years later," he said. "All I know is I wanted a farm and wanted to raise horses. And I found that."
As for the name Richwood, he said when it came time to name the farm, he did a little research.
"I dug up the original plat map and that was who owned it - Richwood. So that's all I needed," Redden said. "Case solved."
These are the terms that describe the demeanor of Don Redden during his career as an FBI agent.
So, he was a bit surprised how moved he was recently when Charles Shor, whose life he helped save during a 1982 kidnapping in Kentucky, called Redden on the phone at his Lafayette County home.
"When I first heard his voice, I lost it a little bit," Redden said. "I could barely speak. It got emotional."
Maybe that's because Redden, whose career took him from Texas to Pennsylvania to the nation's capital to Kentucky and finally to Chicago, has seen too many things go down horribly.
"Bank robberies with murders, drug deals with murders, a kidnapping with a triple homicide in Philly," he said. "Many cases didn't end well."
But, despite being kidnapped and at one point chained and buried in a pit, Shor's case did end well. No ransom money was exchanged, the young man who was in his early 20s survived, both suspects were caught within 30 minutes and both served 20-year terms.
Shor is epileptic, so every second counted more than anyone knew.
After the ordeal, Shor required psychiatric care but rebounded to the point of successfully taking over his father's business, Duro Bag Manufacturing, the world's largest creator of paper bags.
When Shor told Redden 33 years after the kidnapping that "I owe you my life," it hit home for the retired agent.
"The last time I saw him, he was a mess, covered in mud. He just wanted to go home," Redden said. "I never forgot that.
"You're supposed to not get involved with the families, but it's hard not to. A thank-you is all anybody in this field needs but you don't expect even that. We raised our hand and took a vow to do a job, nothing more."
But Shor wanted Redden to know his appreciation is genuine - so much so that when Redden told him he was heading with his wife to Fort Lauderdale last week, Shor said he'd fly down from Kentucky to meet him. Last Saturday, they had dinner.
"We had a great time," Redden said. "And we agreed we'd try to keep in touch and keep the conversations going."
And Redden will be featured in a book about Shor's life that is being written by a former columnist with the Cincinnati Enquirer.
"A chapter is being dedicated to the kidnapping case," Redden said.
•••
It was 2 a.m. when Redden got the call at his Cincinnati home. Charles Shor had been missing for 24 hours when the kidnappers called his father who lived in Covington, Ky., just across the Ohio River, and informed him they had his son. They instructed him to not call the cops, so the father instead called his company's security director. He, in turn, contacted the police, who called the FBI.
"I sped down there in the middle of the night and assembled a team of agents," said Redden, who was the supervisor. "We realized right away this was going to be a major case."
The father was instructed to go to a phone booth in a small town for the next call and then a money drop was arranged in the dead of night along a rural road on the banks of the Ohio River. The ransom was set at a quarter of a million.
"The father insisted that all $250,000 be real, in case he had to hand it over. He went to the bank and took it all out," Redden said. "Usually, we have some real money on top of stacks that aren't real."
Before the drop, Redden's team photographed each and every bill for tracing purposes.
An agent was on the floor of the car as it approached the suspects. Nearly 50 of them were also on the scene conducting surveillance. Shor was tied to a tree and guarded by one man while the other approached the car.
"The suspect said, "Where's the money?' and the father said "Where's my son?'" Redden said. "Then the son broke loose from the tree and the suspects ran."
One jumped in the Ohio River, and Redden called the Coast Guard to flush him out with spotlights. He was arrested on the shore.
The other suspect tried to go home and was picked up on the streets by Covington police.
"It was a tense 36 to 48 hours," Redden said. "We did not know how this case would turn out."
Both in their early 20s, one suspect was an employee of the bag company, the other the son of a Cincinnati firefighter.
"That family was devastated," Redden said. "There are many victims in these cases."
•••
Life on Richwood Farm that Redden owns is peaceful. He retired in 1995 and headed straight for the country.
"How did I end up in Gratiot? I have no idea," Redden said. "I just wanted to get out of the big cities, away from the narcotics and away from the crime. It was time for the younger guys to deal with all of that."
When he tumbled upon the fixer-upper of a farmhouse, he was all in.
"The projects continue today, 20 years later," he said. "All I know is I wanted a farm and wanted to raise horses. And I found that."
As for the name Richwood, he said when it came time to name the farm, he did a little research.
"I dug up the original plat map and that was who owned it - Richwood. So that's all I needed," Redden said. "Case solved."