18. Tyler

                                    

                                          
CNN: Lincoln Police have located who they believe to be Samantha Joseph, the adopted daughter of Twentyone Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph and his wife, Jenna. A phone call to the front desk caught the attention of Natalie Palmer, the desk clerk on duty. Natalie, what can you tell us about the phone call?
Natalie: The phone rang and I could see it was an internal call. We'd only sold two rooms and one had just checked in. The voice was so quiet I didn't hear her at first. But then when I asked her to repeat herself, she said 'Please help me. I'm Samantha Joseph'. I remembered seeing a story about her on the news this morning and I thought, whether it's true or not, I'm not taking any chances. So I called 911 and told them what I'd heard. 
CNN: Police are currently attempting to negotiate with Samantha's captor who has been identified as her estranged uncle, Mark Solman. Solman launched a failed bid to gain custody of his niece a few years ago and as far as CNN knows, the Joseph family and Samantha specifically, cut ties with the Solmans. 
Solman is barricaded in a room at this motel on State Road 34 just outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. It is believed Samantha is also in the room with Solman. Police are trying to ensure they capture Solman without causing harm to his victim, his own niece. 
Solman's sister, the late Janet Deitz, neé Solman, was Samantha's mother. She was killed by her late husband, disgraced lawyer Stanley Deitz. Deitz was involved in a similar scheme when his parental rights were terminated following the revelation that the night his wife died, was by his hand with his young daughter the intended target. Samantha had escaped his abusive home and had been living with the Josephs when the adoption was finalized. Deitz and an accomplice orchestrated a prison transport crash and then the abduction of Deitz's daughter from her middle school. 
The intervening years have seen Samantha endure illness and accidents including an amputation of her right leg following a car accident with her adoptive father in Cleveland over a year ago. 
Negotiations with Solman have reached a standstill with Solman refusing to open the door to the room he has holed himself up in. He claims that Samantha is fine but won't allow anyone in to check. 
EMS are on scene in the event they are needed. At the very least, with Samantha Joseph's medical concerns, they'll want to check to make sure she truly is alright."
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 We watched the news with eyes glued to the television. They'd found her but Mark wasn't giving her up so easily. 
Jake had told us they had a lead earlier this evening. A call came in from Nebraska of all places. Not to the hotline but to 911 in the area who then forwarded information to Jake and the FBI team involved. 
Samantha had called the front desk at this shady looking motel that could have been the setting for a horror movie, and probably was. 
Jenna and I had tears in our eyes. Josh and Debby were beside us, having been with us all day. They'd put the younger girls to bed as we watched what was unfolding in Nebraska. 
Nebraska. He'd been in Oregon, Washington, Iowa and now Nebraska. This was not going to end well for him. But it had to end well for Samantha. I, we needed her back. 
What was killing me was not knowing how Samantha was. Was she still alive? Mark said so, but could we believe him?
We were glued to the TV, watching everything. I wanted to be in Nebraska. I wanted to be with my daughter. I needed to be with her. 
The reporter was telling us everything that was happening, but he couldn't tell us the most important thing to us. 
What is Samantha's status?  
I didn't want to watch this unfold. 
I couldn't stop watching this unfold. 
The Deja vu was intense. We'd been here once before, watching as police and other people waited to get our daughter. The first people to see Samantha wouldn't be us. It wouldn't be her parents. She'd be surrounded by strangers. 
One thing I was pretty certain of was that if Samantha is still alive, and in my heart I had to believe she was, she would not be well. She hadn't had her antidepressants and I doubted Mark would have found a way to get those for her. It's been six weeks. What would her frame of mind be?  She had worked so hard to learn to cope with the aftermath of the shooting and her guilt about Blaine. She had been healing and coping with the assault at the dance. She had been making strides. How badly had this derailed that? 
I didn't care about the cost of the therapy she was obviously going to need after this. I didn't care how long it took. But I cared that Samantha had worked so hard to cope with the recent tragedies and someone she should have been able to trust but had proven himself untrustworthy, had taken her and further destroyed her already tenuous trust. 
We watched as officers approached the door to the room Mark was supposedly in.  Every time they tried to get Mark to open the door, he refused. Which, honestly, isn't surprising. But if he were to open the door, it would look better on him. But the more he refused, the more likely there would be a more violent altercation. And that put Samantha at further risk. 
I watched as the police kicked in the motel room door. I didn't see anything like flashes or much. A few minutes passed and Mark was brought out in handcuffs. I watched as paramedics rushed into the room. 
Jake was on his phone getting updates from someone on scene who was filling him in as we watched this unfold 800 miles away. 
Time passed. The paramedics weren't coming out of the room. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. 
Just then, one of the paramedics came out and called for someone else who entered the room as well. 
Who was that? Who did they call in? What shape is Samantha in? 
I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell. I wanted to throw things at the TV. I just needed to know.
Jake took his phone from his ear and looked me dead in the eyes. 
I was afraid to hear what he was going to say. 
"She's alive. They've got her and they're going to try to stabilize her before they take her to the hospital. She's very sick. But she's alive."