Video: Man recounts terrifying kidnapping ordeal

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   >>> back now at 8:44 with a family 's ter identifying ordeal. jane and eduardo were ambushed by kidnappers. jane escaped but her husband was held captive for seven months enduring beatings, starvation and even being shot. we'll talk to them in a moment. first, their story.

   >> reporter: for jane and eduardo , life was in a word, perfect. they had three happy children, a happy marriage and lived on a beautiful ranch. but one morning in june, 2007 after droppinging the kids off at school their lives were turned upside down.

   >> two men come flying out of the suv in front of us. the first one comes at eduardo with a hammer in one hand and a handgun in the other. another man comes at me and he has a police club and another handgun.

   >> reporter: eventually jane was left in the car by herself and managed to escape. eduardo was taken in another car and kept in a box not much bigger than himself. for more than seven months as his captors tried to negotiate ransom with jane , eduardo said he was beaten, tortured, starved and shot. when his ordeal was over, eduardo was unrecognizable to his wife and to himself.

   >> i couldn't believe i looked like pure bones and skin. it was too much.

   >> reporter: they fled mexico and established a new life in the united states . jane writes about the ordeal in the book "we have your

   husband: one woman's story of a kidnapping in mexico ." fwrorm to you both.

   >> good morning.

   >> reporter: this happened in 2007 . does time heal even this wound, eduardo ?

   >> yes, of course. after something so bad happens to you, we are turning it into something very good. we tried to speak out and tried to bring more justice into mexico because there are thousands of people suffering as we speak. the government really isn't doing enough. we need more collaboration from the united states government to help.

   >> in general, but also in your case in particular because theyle still haven't found the people who kidnapped you.

   >> that's amazing.

   >> unbelievable to me. there have been dozens of families hit by this particular cell of kidnappers alone and they have raised a couple hundred million for their cause. this is a revolutionary army with international links including the middle east which is frightening to me. this is not just about a handful of kidnappings. it's a plague of kidnappings going on for decades and the group has gotten stronger and is starting to establish an international network .

   >> what's the solution? what do you think is the most important thing that should be done to stop it?

   >> the united states has to start taking a more serious and active role in situations like this. we are not talking about the cartel wars, organized crime in that way that's on headlines around the world every day. this is a revolutionary army that is significant, that does represent a threat to both mexican national security and other countries including the united states . so i think that our authorities here have to start playing a more active role in the investigative efforts because mexicans aren't doing anything.

   >> you wrote about when you saw him afterwards. he was dishevelled, gaunt, draped in loose, dark clothing and looked like he might be a beggar. it was at least five seconds before i recognized him. the realization nearly knocked me to the floor. i thought, oh, my god, it's him.

   >> i couldn't believe it. i couldn't believe looking at him and realizing, oh, my god, this is my husband. just to see what happened to the man that i love at the hands of people. i couldn't imagine how a human could do this to another human. the cruelty was unbelievable. that was the impression my children got, too. my then 12-year-old said, how could anybody be this cruel?

   >> have you answered the question, eduardo ?

   >> you know, this group is still active and is doing more harm to other people. that's the main thing. we have to stop them.

   >> have you figured out how a person can be this cruel as they were to you?

   >> i think they are sick people. they have an ideology to justify. i don't know. they are trying to play robin hood .

   >> but they don't help anyone.

   >> you don't torture people trying to be a good guy. i know you have moved out of mexico because you decided it wasn't safe for your family anymore.

   >> right.

   >> some people in this circumstance may want to keep a low profile , may not want to write a beautifully written book from your point of view, giving people a sense of what the experience is like. why do you decide to go public in this way?

   >> i couldn't help but thinking so many times going through the ordeal, what would have happened? maybe we wouldn't have been put in the situation had someone before me spoken out and said, okay, enough is enough, and drawn the line. that never happened. nobody speaks out in mexico . there is almost a pact of silence. when it's happening you don't speak out in the media because you want to protect the victim. i understand that. once it is over there is no real investigation and nobody says, wait, something's not right. where is the investigative effort? every time you negotiate and pay you are essentially investing in the criminals doing this. you make them stronger. at this point we are in a situation in mexico where the criminals have the authorities outgunned, outtrained and outfunded. so they are losing the war, they are. in in real terms . it was important to write the book, to tell the story from my perspective in a big way and hopefully to inspire others to do the same.

   >> i think you did.

   >> thank you.

   >> you are a picture of courage.

   >> in the end we are lucky to be a family again. that's the most important thing.

   >> also what she's saying is nobody really wants to help in real terms and come out and do something directly to stop the madness.

   >> hopefully now with your positioning they might eduardo . thank you.

   >> thank you for having us.

   >> the book is called "we have your husband." we are back in a moment. first, this is "today" on nbc.

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