3 Years in Pakistan: The Erik Aude Story (2018) - full transcript

Turn.

Fuck!

Wait... wait... Please.

She does a grab, on the
ground, stay on the ground.

Sorry guys, excuse me.

Slower is actually
better than faster.

I want you to keep the fight
in this area. In this area.

I'm gonna have the pads
down on the ground for you guys

the whole time, OK?

Hard work doesn't
bother him, ya know?

You never hear
him complaining.



He's uh... collaborative.

and that's what you look
for in any artist you work with.

What are you
doing in acting for 2013?

I got a lot of stuff going
on, just acting, auditioning,

living life, playing poker
and enjoying every minute of it.

He just has
a positive attitude,

he just has a
positive outlook,

he just laughs things off.

And I think it's his
way of, like always fighting

to like hold on to his joy.

So we're here at "Vice is
Nice", every year

it's my
favorite charity by far,

It's for animal rescue
and I love that

100% of all profits
go toward the animals.



I, myself, have a rescue,

and it's by far one of
the best parts of my life.

He's been
through a lot and...

You know, to still
carry the smile on his face

and be the cheerful guy that you
know today is just a blessing.

He has a hard shell
and this sounds

like super cliché,
but he's super loving.

This is like my godmother in the
poker world, but she's one of

my best friends. I love this
woman, love her sense of humor.

The only woman to final
table at the main event ever,

still to this day.

Poker is
great-I love poker.

I see people get mad
and I just laugh,

I go: "Why are you
getting mad? just shake it off."

It could always be worse,
no matter how bad it gets,

it could
absolutely always be worse.

I think
he's honest to a fault.

And I think he loves life
no matter what took place,

and I think he
doesn't hold grudges.

He's got
a pair of Jack's.

Gimme your
fucking money.

When I met him I feel like I'm
home, ya know what I'm saying?

I feel like somebody... You
just get used to him so quickly

for some reason,
I don't know why.

he's been
through a lot, ya know.

Life definitely
hasn't been easy for him.

I'm getting emotional.

I feel like he puts up a front
or tells his jokes

or tries to be the tough
guy, but... He's a sweetheart.

It's something
that happened to me so long ago.

Are you fine with it all coming
back up again? Because you...

I don't know... because I did the
show Locked up Abroad,

it's constantly
thrown back in my face again.

And I'm constantly
having to justify what uh,

in people's words,
I "claim" happened.

I think it would
be really good closure

to tell your story
in your own words,

and then
it's almost like...

you get the last word because
you got to tell the truth,

and I think
that's important.

At least this way
everyone can kinda see how I am

and why I am
the way that I am.

I'm the youngest
of six boys... no sisters.

Peter's my
only full brother.

Um... When my mom met my dad
she had Peter and myself

but uh my dad and her
just couldn't get along

and ya know, she painted
a really bad picture of my dad

So I really didn't have a
great relationship with my dad.

Jeff and Michael are
my mom's first two kids.

They... they
had it kind of bad.

- There we go.
- Hey, how are ya?

I'm good, we finally meet!
I feel like I know you.

Can you tell me your full name
and your relationship to Erik?

My name
is Jeffrey Farneski

and I'm
Erik's birth brother.

I'm under
Michael and above Peter

and then
Erik's the youngest.

I know you guys were spread
out, but if you can tell us

what your relationship
was like when you were kids.

We
actually didn't have one.

Out of the children
that Sherry, our mother, had,

I was the only one
placed up for adoption.

So I actually found out
about Erik when I was 18.

My mom was...
you know she was young,

but she also wasn't...

She wasn't the best idea of
a mother, I guess you could say.

Hello?

Hi, Sherry?

Who's
calling for her, please?

This is Jamielyn Lippman.
I'm a friend of your son Erik's

and I'm also a filmmaker.

Your
name again, please.

Jamielyn.

- Hi, Jamie.
- Hi, how are you?

I'm doing
very well, thank you.

Well I wanted to call you
because I'm making a documentary

about Erik and I wanted
to see about coming out there

to interview you.

Does
Erik know about this?

He does.

Has he given you
permission to speak with me?

Yes.

OK, fine.
I'll only say this:

Erik is totally innocent.

I will tell you that now.
He is totally innocent.

I'll put my hand on a bible
and stand before God about that.

I'll do anything for him.

Sherry was involved
in her own aspirations

and Erik kinda
went and did his thing.

And I was usually
out in the garage.

Right before seventh grade,
I was twelve years old.

and Lethal Weapon had come...

Lethal Weapon 3 was
being filmed up in Lancaster

at this old housing track.

So Merle brought me there

and he says: "Erik come
back in twenty minutes."

I stayed there for a
couple hours that night.

I knew I
was gonna get in trouble.

We saw the aftermath
and saw the whole movie set

and how
things are laid out

and how things are done,

and I guess that
put the hook in him.

Growing up I liked to watch
Jean-Claude van Damme movies,

Arnold
Schwarzenegger movies,

and I wanted to be
those guys growing up.

I wanted to be a stuntman
my whole life.

Tunnel vision, ya know
if that's what he wants to do,

then that's
what he's gonna do.

He's got his own
set of principles.

I was
the kind of kid

that you kept
your kids away from.

I was an asshole,
I was a brat, I was a smartass,

and it's my mouth that
got me into a lot of fights.

I was not athletic
sports-wise. I was terrible.

I tried basketball,
I sat the bench...

I didn't play football
until I got into high school

but the only reason
I wanted to play football...

The only reason
I wanted to play football

was because
I liked to hit.

As a football coach
I'm gonna get

a lot of
different personalities,

and I'm gonna have the
opportunity to work with

a lot of different guys.

but Erik was always somebody

I think that respected me

enough to
listen to my advice.

And I think that
really helped us become close.

And to this day
we're close friends.

To this day I
hold a California record.

It's stood since 1996.

Even though I played
for a very small school,

my record of "the most tackles
by a defensive end" stands.

I had 147 tackles.
I wanted to play football

but I wanted to act
and do stunts even more.

And I was doing little shows
when I was still in high school.

But the second I turned 18,
I moved out of the house

and I tried to
get down to Hollywood.

During this time
I was still auditioning,

I was booking some shows here.
I booked a big WB show.

I was doing Nickelodeon shows.

I was always doing
co-stars and small reoccuring...

He got so much work
it was crazy.

I mean Erik was
very aggressive,

and he knew what he wanted
and he would go for it.

He would not give up.

And he had friends
that were directors.

He would call them
and get parts.

And he just loved
to be in front of a camera.

I met Erik on an
episode of Cousin Skeeter.

It was a tv show I was
doing for Nickelodeon

and he came
on as a guest star,

and I remember thinking
"This guy's crazy".

He was just super awesome,

full of energy,
willing to try and do anything

and we just
got really close.

Even though yes, I was starting
to become a working actor,

I still needed a side job
to make ends meet

because working as an actor
maybe once every month

or every other month
just doesn't pay the bills.

So I always had jobs.
I was a security guard

and I got asked to be
the night time manager

at a local gym called
World Gym in Burbank.

He's always talking,
he loves to talk.

Sometimes I tell him "Erik,
you don't know these people".

He's like: "Hey, you gonna
practice this and that

you have
to know everybody."

It's good because you never
know who you're talking to.

So when you're on the front,

it's like easy access
or easy victim

for people to get to you.

Because you work
in the front desk,

anybody can
come and talk to you,

you know what I'm saying?

That's how that
incident started. Yeah.

Wait,
Erik let me ask you:

When's the last time
that you came here?

2005 I
got asked to come here

and show somebody
the place.

so it's
now a new gym, correct?

Like it's not
the same it was before

but do the people
that had worked there

and the owners did they
know everything that happened?

I haven't talked or
spoken to any of them since.

When you came here
in 2005, what was it like?

Did it bring back...
How did you feel emotionally?

Did it bring back memories?
Was it hard? Did you go inside?

Yeah, I went inside, went
downstairs,

and saw them working out.
I'm not the kinda guy

who's gonna be like
"oh no this is not

where I want to
be and bad memories".

I mean my entire life
has not been a cake walk

So I've been used to
this kind of crap.

If something bad happens,
I laugh it off.

OK, let's go...
let's see if we can go in.

I became
a personal trainer

for a lot of the
people that came in.

I would work out with them
and teach them how to use

the equipment the right way.

Guy named Rai Ghazarian was
an Armenian in his mid-thirties.

He was always
paying me to work out

and we were working out
four days a week together.

I was training him
probably nine months.

We became very good friends.

when you're friends, you're
guys, you talk about everything.

You talk about girls. You talk
about the hot girls in the gym.

You talk about stupid shit,
movies, sports.

And something that
he had started to trying

to get me into, which
several other people at the gym

had been doing themselves.

He would have young people
in their late teens,

early twenties,
travel around the world

importing
expensive leather goods

and then
paying them for it.

And it sounded
like a dream job.

I'd never been
out of the country.

I'd only been to
a couple different states.

But it's all changed.
This wasn't here.

It was... all the
ellipticals were right here

and Rai would usually be
right here watching the TV's.

It wasn't him who told me
about it first, though,

It was Arra.

It was another guy
that was making these trips.

Another young guy making these
trips told me about it.

I knew him for a long time
before I finally went on a trip.

I had a lot of questions,
I asked a lot of questions.

But I saw him
as a friend long before

I ever decided
to work with him.

hopefully he will
say yes.

The person
you have called is unavailable

right now.
Please try again later.

His phone's off.
Or a new number...

Is unavailable usually
disconnected or is that...

Can be both.
Or he didn't pay his bill.

They haven't paid their bill,
it might just be a go phone.

Let me just call back to
make sure I did that right.

It sounded too good to be
true. "Is that

all you guys are
bringing?"

I said: "Why don't you
just mail the stuff back?"

He says: "If I have it mailed
back I have to pay

55% import tax for them."
By sending someone over

I save anywhere between
13,000 to 14,000 dollars.

"What happens if they catch
you with the leather goods,

will you go
to jail for that?"

He's like:
"No, it's just a fine."

I wasn't convinced, though.

So my mom put me in touch
with one of her friends

who worked for the FBI

and my question to him was:

"Will I go to jail
if I get caught doing this?"

He goes: "No, you won't go to
jail, but it's frowned upon.

They'll confiscate it
and give you a fine."

"So I won't go to jail?"

"No, it's like
a jaywalking ticket."

That's how
he explained it to me.

And that made my decision.

He came over to my mom's house
and he was getting ready

to go to Turkey
and he was super excited

because he's
an adventurous person.

And he was like:
"Dude, I got this job,

I can totally... I'm importing
leathers and I get to travel

and everything is paid for
and it's just awesome."

And ya know we were kids
So we didn't think anything.

We just thought
like wow this is amazing!

And he's like:
"Do you want to come?"

And I'm like:
"Hell yeah, I want to come!"

At the time I was working
So I couldn't go,

But I remember just
being really excited for him

that he had found this other
job besides working at the gym.

He
was my last child

and the day that I had him
I never had one contraction.

Not one. he let
me know he was coming

and 45 minutes later
he was born.

He's always been
pretty inquisitive,

but between school, football,
movie industry, cars,

helping other people.

I think I
over-protected him.

I wished I'd
let him go out

and learn the world, but
I didn't want him to get hurt.

So he was ripe picking
for wolf in sheep's clothing.

You never think
something like this

could ever
happen to anyone.

It only happens in movies.

It doesn't happen
to people in real life.

But uh...

I learned
the hard way that...

I learned the hard way
that uh this stuff does happen

and it would...

cost me more than
I could ever imagine.

I would go to jail
for a crime I didn't commit

and I would
come out a murderer.

There's so much
to see in Turkey.

Turkey's a
beautiful country.

Istanbul is just amazing.

I was there for a few days.

I felt big,
I didn't feel small anymore

because I was
experiencing life.

Traveling is amazing
and I love it.

when I
landed in Stockholm,

they had a drug sniffing dog
sniffing everyone's bags.

The dog pulled me out,
but it wasn't

just pulling me out it was
pulling people out at random.

Ny imagination was
like uh I got screwed.

This is Brokedown Palace,
Midnight Express...

They went through everything,
all the jackets, found nothing.

Everything was fine

and they were like:
"Alright you're good to go."

And I was: "Okay!"
So now I was like:

"Alright this
is the most legit job ever!"

Rai was
there waiting for me.

He picked me up
from the airport.

The whole way to my house
he was telling me

"See! Did you have a great
time?" "I had a great time".

He's like:
"What did you do?"

And I was
telling him about my trip.

When we got
to my apartment

we brought the
leather cases in

and I showed him
everything.

It all seemed copacetic.

He was happy
with everything

and he paid me eight-hundred
dollars right there.

And I thought: "Wow,
this is the best job ever".

He asked me
"When can I go again?"

He wanted me to go literally
in like the next month.

I started filming the
movie The Scorpion King,

and I was working on
that movie as a as a stuntman.

So I said: "I can't
I'm working on a movie."

And I was getting a lot
of acting jobs at this time

but I wanted to
keep this opportunity open.

I didn't want to lose it.

I wanted to go on
more trips in the future.

So what I started to do was to
encourage this job to everyone,

to my friends, my family...

Hell, I even
encouraged it to my mother.

Yeah, he told all of us about
it. I knew about it,

my girlfriend
at the time knew about it,

our brother Michael
knew about it, his wife.

Everybody knew.

This was a guy
that was at his gym.

He used to train him.

Rai was a buddy of his.
We all heard about him.

September 11th happens...

And it was a big
wake-up call for America.

And no one wanted to go
on any trips understandably.

No one wanted to go
on any trips anymore.

My brother Peter,

when I told him
about these trips,

he actually
reached out to me.

He wanted to go
on one of these trips.

He said: "Yeah, I could
absolutely use 800 dollars,

that would be awesome."
So I set him up with Rai.

I get a call
from Rai. He tells me:

"Peter says:
he's not going,

and I put a lot
of money into this,

it's putting me
in a really bad spot,

you need to talk to him."

I said:
"Alright I'll call him."

Because this is
making me look bad.

I vouched for Peter
and he's backing out

and I didn't
understand why.

So I called Peter and
he just matter-of-factly goes:

"Yeah, Erik
I'm not going."

and he wasn't explaining
why he wasn't going.

I'm like: "Why? Peter you're
making me look like a dick."

He's like: "I'm not going over
there, it's not gonna happen."

I go: "Why?"
"Because it's dangerous."

I say: "You have nothing to
worry about.

Turkey's a great country."
He says: "It's not to Turkey,

it's to Pakistan." I said: "What
are you talking about?"

"Cause yeah, Rai's
saying it's to Pakistan,

I'm not
going to Pakistan."

And now I agreed with Peter.
I agreed with Peter.

I said: "No you're
not going to Pakistan."

I can vouch for Turkey because
I've been there twice now,

but I've never been to Pakistan
So I can't vouch for Pakistan.

So I call Rai
"What the hell is going on?

Peter's saying it's to
Pakistan."

Yeah, I've got a really
good deal over there."

"Whoa no! You didn't tell me
it was to Pakistan.

Peter doesn't want to go."

He says: "Look I've
already set everything up.

I've spent
a lot of money on this.

If your brother backs out now,
I will lose a lot of money."

Rai started making me feel
really bad, and Peter wasn't

gonna go.
He didn't want to go.

He had his mind set up.

And I didn't want to
let my friend Rai down.

So even though I had no time,
I took the trip.

I took the trip.
And I'm glad I did.

I'm glad what was
about to happen to me

would happen to me rather
than someone else because of me.

I walk
out of the airport

to where all
the visitors are

and there's a guy there

with a napkin that
has my name written on it.

He says to me
right then and there:

"Hey man, Rai messed up."

I go: "What do you mean
he messed up?"

He goes: "You were
supposed to come to Karachi."

I go: "Okay, where's that?"

Karachi's eight hour drive
south of Islamabad.

I'm in Islamabad

and Karachi is a couple hour
flight from Islamabad.

So I said:
"What does that mean?"

"We got to go down there."

I go: "Am I
coming with you?"

"No, we will put you up
in a hotel here."

And....first off,
they're telling me:

"By the way you don't
want to leave the hotel."

I'm like: "Why?"

"Because they don't
like Westerner's here."

I'm like: "What?"

First off
don't tell me that

because I'm not
staying in a room for a week.

That's not
at all an option.

And I decided
to do what I do.

I put on my jogging shorts,
my backpack, and my tank top

and I went jogging through
the streets of Islamabad.

I got so many evil faces
so many angry stares,

but I would
just smile and wave

and just
keep going because

you don't want to
"mad dog" people back.

I don't want them to think
I'm dangerous or anything.

I want them to know
I'm friendly

and hopefully they'll
be friendly towards me.

But I don't talk to anyone
and I find an Internet cafe

just to see
who's emailed me.

There's one email that jumps out

and it's an email from Missy.

It wasn't to me,
it was a group email

telling me that her mother
had died from cancer.

What happened
at that time?

I remember sending out the
email. He wrote back.

I believe he said something
like: "I'm so sorry. I love you.

I'll be home soon."

And when he had
sent you that email

was there...
I think on his end

the hope of him coming back
and maybe restarting that again

or seeing
where this could go?

That was definitely
something that was on the table.

Missy was my motivation
in life,

for so many different things.
She was the reason

I worked out hard, the reason
I studied longer,

the reason I wanted to
be very successful as an actor

just so I could
be on her radar.

That night I go
back to the hotel.

I can't wait
to get on the flight.

I have an early morning flight
it's around 6 a.m.

I get a call
from downstairs

that one of the guys
are here to pick me up

and they want me
to come downstairs.

That's not how it's
ever worked in Turkey, though.

They always come upstairs,
let me go through everything.

I have to grade it.

Guy brings up one suitcase,
only one suitcase.

So I call Rai immediately
from the hotel

and I say: "Hey
Rai... is this right?"

I tell him it's one suitcase,
it's seven pieces.

He goes,
"Yeah, that's right.

It's just a first trip
we want to see how it goes."

Instead of being concerned,
I'm actually kind of happy.

Cool, I don't have to carry all
this luggage anymore.

I'm not going to have
to pay money at the airport

because it's not that heavy."
So I'm kind of relieved.

Alright, cool. It's just one
suitcase, at least that's nice.

I take my suitcase,
I take my bag.

I get up to the line
for international departures

and I'm probably six inches
taller than the next person.

Pakistani people
are very tiny.

And this is a long line.

As soon as I get
around the corner

there's Customs up there.

A Customs Officer sees me
and waves me to the front.

I'm like: "Yes! Alright
it pays to be a foreigner."

I go and I skip this long line
and go up to the front

and I'm about to go
through the metal detectors

when someone grabs my arm.

I turn around and
another guy comes up and says:

"You carrying narcotics?"

I said: "Check it again."

He takes the suitcase,
only my suitcase.

Not my backpack, not my bag,
opens it up and throws

all the leather jackets and
clothes onto the floor.

Now I'm pissed I'm like:
"Whoa! That's what I'm here for.

What the fuck?"

He takes the suitcase
goes to another room.

Goes someplace else.

I start folding up all
the clothes and everything.

And a guard takes me,
asks me to follow him.

I follow him while
folding up all the stuff.

He comes back
into the room

followed by a
guard who's in uniform

holding two
thin sealed patches

and he says:
"What is this?"

I said: "He's
holding it." Meaning like

he is the one who's holding it,
so he should know what it is.

He goes: "This is opium."

I said: "Why are
you showing me this?"

He says: "It came
out of your luggage."

I got a phone call from the
American embassy and Islamabad

Pakistan saying
that my son Erik has been

arrested for
drug smuggling

and he was
facing death by hanging.

And I'm going: "No! no!"

You know we Americans
are so innocent, so naïve.

So protected.

I'm going: "No! No!

Here I got this number
it's Frank Azaria

and he hired him."
You know. I just...

I let myself in, called up, say:
"Hey, Sherry I'm here."

I go in and I see all these maps
of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And she comes down says:
"What do you think of that?"

I say, "What do I think?

What do you have
these on your table for?"

She goes:
"Erik's in prison."

And it's just like
someone comes up and goes

boom right in the chest.

I sit down and I get back up
and I'm like:

"What?" She goes: "Erik's
in prison for drug smuggling."

And I think I just
looked at her for awhile

you got puppy-dog-cookie-head
like:

"Where are the cameras and
when is the joke gonna be over?"

I got hit
in the head by a rifle

and I got dragged off
to a customs lock-up.

I know I'm innocent. A lot of
people know I'm innocent.

So I'm thinking
this will blow over

once they know I'm innocent.
I'm going to be out of here

maybe in a couple days.

There's no way
they're going to keep me here.

So I'm taking photos, and I'm posing
for these photos because this is

it's a fucking joke
in my eyes.

There's no way they're going to
keep me here because

innocent people
don't fucking stay

in bad situations
like that, they just don't.

That's what I believed.

The embassy consulate,
this girl named Christy Agor

tells me they're going to
put me in front of

a lower court magistrate

who's going to decide

how many days of
physical remand I get.

And I go: "What
does that even mean?"

She goes, "Well
here in Pakistan they have

something
called physical remand.

It's where they think
that by beating you

you're going to
tell them the truth."

The customs
police came and got me

and took me in a vehicle

to another part of town

maybe only twenty
or thirty minutes away.

Christy comes forward
and talks to the judge in Urdu.

As we're walking away,
she's telling me what happened.

"What happened?" She goes:
"The judge wanted ten days.

I got you three."

What's going on is

we're preparing
for flashback scenes

for this documentary.

Jamie wants to...

Jamie wants to
recreate as much as possible.

We've got a talented actor
to play me.

I don't play
twenty-one anymore

and even if I could, I
wouldn't want to do this again.

Just gonna be a fun
two days of awesome memories.

Salam alaikum.

What's your name?

Erik Audé.

And how old
are you, Mr. Audé?

21.

Where are you from?

America. You do know

that I've been asked
these questions already, right?

And what is it that
you do in... America?

I'm an actor.

Actor.

Hollywood.

Who give you
the drugs Mr. Actor?

I didn't get any drugs.

Again, who
gave you the drugs?

Nobody. I didn't get any drugs.

Wait...

I'm telling you...

I'm innocent.
I'm telling you the truth.

I'm telling you the truth.
I'm innocent.

I'm telling you
everything I know.

I'm telling you...
I'm innocent.

Everyone starts out
saying that.

So Mr. Audé, where
did you buy the drugs from?

I didn't get any drugs.

I'm telling you the truth.

You don't have to do that.

I'll tell you
everything I know.

I've told you everything,
there's nothing else to say.

- I'm telling you the truth.
- The truth.

Please, I'm
telling you the truth. Please.

Please.

Please!

Fuck! Please, please.

I'm telling you the truth.
I don't know anything else!

Fuck!

I
need you to listen to me.

This guy sent me here
to pick up some leather goods

for him and bring them back
that's all I know. I don't...

I don't know
anything about any drugs.

I swear to you.
I swear to God.

You know, I've never tortured
a Hollywood movie star before.

I'm going to enjoy this.

Please.

Who gave you the drugs?

Fuck. I'm telling
you the fucking truth.

Rai, Rai Ghazarian!

Gay Gazar...
Where does he live?

I don't know, okay?
Los Angeles.

I need a name in Pakistan!
An address! A phone number!

I don't have any.
At the hotel...

How did he look like?
Was he tall? Short?

- He looked fucking Pakistani!
- Pakistani?

- Yes!
- Give me a phone number

I don't...

No!

Because I'm innocent,
I had no right answers for them.

So...

So nothing I say
is going to make them stop.

That sick son of a bitch
upstairs

who some of us call God,
it's like he's been preparing me

my whole life
for this situation.

Just months before the
show Fear Factor had come out

and the first
episode I ever watched

the person who
won 50,000 dollars,

won because he could hold his
breath

for a minute and 13 seconds.

After I saw
that episode I said:

"You know, I'm going to go
and get myself on Fear Factor ."

I would practice at night
to hold my breath.

I would hold my breath
when I got in the shower.

When I was at a stoplight.

Before I went to bed.

And I got it to where
I could hold my breath

for almost three minutes.

Now here I am being
dunked by these guys

and they're
keeping me under at least

a minute
to a minute and a half.

I didn't want them to know
how easy it was for me.

But I'm thinking to myself
had I not seen that damn show.

I would be in a lot
of trouble right now.

Do you have anything
you wish to tell me?

You are torturing
an innocent man.

Hollywood.

Just tell me the drugs
are yours, this will be over.

No.

Erik
had the physique.

He had the discipline,
he had the pain tolerance.

Because of
Erik's bus accident

he learned to
deal with pain.

Because Erik lives
in pain every day.

I was run over
by a school bus.

I was eight years old

and the two back rear tires
ran over my pelvis.

It shattered my pelvis
like a glass jar.

I wouldn't be able to walk again
for a couple years.

When I got home
from the hospital

I had these...
the worst kidney pains.

I started feeling bad for
being a nuisance to everyone

when I screamed because they
couldn't do anything for me.

So I would start to...

I would start to force
myself to scream in silence.

He got
the beatings on the hand

where his hands are
like permanently broken.

I know he said he
got beatings on the feet.

He has scars
all over his feet.

I would not have lasted.
I know that.

I don't know. I mean
I just remember feeling...

Just feeling
really empty, you know

and saying how the hell?
What do you do?

I remember thinking
like that can't be possible.

Like my understanding of
other countries at that time

it was like textbook
or what you see in the news.

You don't see it happening
to someone that you know.

It's just
unbelievable what goes on.

You don't think
this shit really happens.

You watch a movie....

But this shit
really happens.

And it happened to me.

I was getting tortured.
I got tortured.

And you know it's...

It's painful, but it's
more emotionally painful

than physically. It is. And I
hate thinking about it.

I... I...

When I finally
got brought to...

I got brought back
to the customs lock up

and Christy came again.

They let me use
a cell phone to call my mom

to let her know how I was
doing and everything.

I didn't tell her anything.
I just said everything was fine.

Everything is fine,
what's going on on your end?

She's trying to get lawyers.
She contacted the police

to try to find out where I was.
"We can't find him."

That's what's confusing me.

I don't understand
why you can't find Rai.

It should be very easy,
you had cell phones.

You shouldn't
be too hard to find.

Everyone knew him.

Rai Ghazarian,
that's all I know.

Rai Ghazarian.

Well one of the reporters
that was there,

I forget which
newspaper he worked for,

but later on that day

somebody from
the office called me

and he says: "I think
you've got the wrong person."

I said: "What do you mean?"

'Cause I also gave out

the phone numbers that I had.

Well, the cellphone was,
of course you know,

dead, no longer good.

and of course, the
office phone was disconnected

but it still can be traced

So they did a reverse
directory on that number.

So I called and I said:
"Can I speak to Rai Ghazarian?"

And he said: "Speaking".

and I said:
"Are you Rai Ghazarian Jr.

because you're not the Rai
Ghazarian I want to talk to."

And he said:
"What's going on?"

Are you guys trying to
sell me newspapers or what?"

And I said: "What do you mean?"

And he said: "The first guy
called asking for me,

doesn't he work
for some newspaper?

Now what, you want me to
buy a subscription or what?"

I said: "No sir, I don't.

Let me tell you a story."

And I told him
what he had done to my son.

He says:
"I know who set your son up."

And I said: "Rai Ghazarian."

He said: "No.
His name isn't Rai Ghazarian.

His name is
Razmik Minasian."

M-I-N-A-S-I-A-N.

Razmik Minasian.
Let's see what comes up here.

Oh my god.
That's him yeah.

That's him.

Now I gotta send him
a message, okay.

Maybe we should go to...

If he has a Linkedin.
Linkedin.

The next day
I'm driven to Rawalpindi.

Rawalpindi was home
to the biggest prison

in all of Pakistan.

It was called
Central Jail Adyala.

They have these prisoners
inside the prison

who police the prisoners
they're called numberdards

and they're giving
me a welcoming wagon.

Now they're
horse-shoed around the door.

I would say it was
like ten or twelve of them.

But the reason they're
horse-shoed around the door

so they can
corral you and everything.

And the guards think
it's funny. They take bets.

They think it's funny,
who's going to do what to who.

This is just part of
the way it is in Pakistan.

So when the guards starts
looking at me like this:

"Hey, get ready.
You're going to fight."

And it's like
if you're not...

One of the biggest messages
from any prison movie or show

you ever watch is:
If you go in weak

you're going to
be somebody's bitch.

So I got in
that game frame.

This is opening kick-off.

I'm Erik "all day" Audé,

the meanest motherfucker
up in this motherfucker.

Let's dance.

I'm dropping them.
I'm bodyslamming these guys.

No one at all came close
to fucking me up that day

when I first got in there.

This little guy who works...
who's a mishakti.

Mishakti is a prison worker,
not a numberdard,

he let's me know
he wants me to follow him

and we go off
into the prison.

I get up to lay down
where a bunch of blankets are.

I just want to sleep but
someone says to me: "American?"

I'm like: "Nope.

Pakistan born and raised
right down the road here.

Been here my whole life."

Guy's like, "No.
You're the American."

Shows me the front page
of a newspaper article

and sure enough
there's my dickhead ass.

And I was
smiling for the cameras.

So now I'm in another fight

and this time I'm
getting ass handed to me.

I'm losing this fight.
There's just too many.

And this guy was on my back
just scratching me off.

I threw him off the balcony
onto a crowd below.

I threw him onto a crowd.

And then the guards
ran up to the stairs

and started baton charging

and hitting me
with their batons.

I got dragged to a place
in prison called kasoari.

I would spend the first
five days in jail in kasoari.

Kasoari is... it's not
a prison sized room,

it's like a closet.

Once a day everyday

I would have the bottom of my
feet beat.

I would spend
a total of 132 days

of the three years that
I would remain in this prison

in that room.

The longest I spend in kasoari
in a row was eight weeks.

The things that you think
about when you're in kasoari

are... You start to remember
things you thought you forgot.

How you took shortcuts home from
school when you were a kid...

I made up songs...
I relived scenarios of my life.

I watched
movies in my head.

I thought about
the days I would get out

and get my hands
around Rai's neck.

I thought
about Missy a lot.

You know you just...

You just think.
That's all you can do.

In the beginning there
was a lot of high hopes for

him coming home

and us being able to
have a relationship

and a lot of
different things happening.

and you just... We could not have
anticipated things happening

the way that they did.
I don't think anyone can.

And were you aware of
what was happening to him

while he was in the
prison and the torture and...

Erik
didn't tell me a lot.

I think he just
didn't want to worry me.

and he'd tell his mom
not to tell me things,

but Sherry would
tell me some stuff anyways.

So I was aware to a point.

I don't think I ever
had the full picture of it

at that time,

but Erik always tried to
paint a happier picture for me.

I did not know the extent
of what he was experiencing

when he first got there

and I think that was
a conscious choice for him

not to share it with me

because me being
upset or crying on the phone

was not going to help him

needing to hear
positivity and hope

and someone to
have a positive outlook

and tell him like:
"Dude, you're coming back.

We all know it. we're all
believing it.

I'll see you soon."

I couldn't
be in general population

because some asshole put a
5,000 rupee bounty on my head.

And whenever someone asks me,
"Hey what's your life worth?"

I know exactly
what my life is worth:

My life is worth 87 dollars.

So my job was
to keep his spirits up,

keep him fed,
keep him alive,

keep the news media on him.

Because as long as I
could keep his name out there,

Pakistan was not about
to do anything to him

because the world
was watching.

She was a wreck.

She was, she wanted to
go over there and get him out

but of course she can't.

but she would
just call the senator

and people who she
thought could help him get out.

We would do walks
to try to get him out.

She had yard sales to
collect money to send him money

because he needed money
and food you know, to buy.

And I know that she
would just do anything

to get her son
out of that prison.

A superintendent
came to the prison and said:

"Hey, the safest place for us to
put this guy is on death row."

I got put in my
own cell on death row

which is a luxury, having
your own cell is a luxury,

and there's are no beds,
you sleep on the floor.

You have one squat toilet.

You wipe your ass with your hand
and then wash your hand off.

There's no toilet paper.
That's just how it is.

And these rooms
are covered cockroaches,

covered with mosquitos,
with spiders.

The elements are there
for the wind to come in sideways

and dust going in.

When it rains
the cells fill up

and the rats will
start to swim around.

The first few months
were really terrible

because I was hungry.
I was starving.

I'm literally twice the size
of everyone around me

and I was getting the same
amount of food as all of them.

So I was always hungry.

If you want to eat more,
you have to have money

and buy from one
of the outside cantinas

or bribe the guards to
go out and get it for you.

But I have no way to
communicate other than...

Literally the first
few weeks I started realizing

I need to
understand these people

because no one is
able to understand me.

What I would do is I would tear
pieces of paper into sections,

fold em up and I would
start writing the words in Urdu,

and the way they're written,
the way it sound,

and I was learning
20 to 40 words a day.

Because he was somebody
that could just pick up book

and teach himself,
I think that helped him too.

Other people
started to respect him more

when he
learned their language.

In the room just next
to me was a man named Mourad.

Mourad could speak
a little bit of English.

He was very friendly to me,
offered me lunch, breakfast.

He was the only one
that spoke any English,

so him and I would
become very good friends.

We would become
best friends in prison.

He was on death row for killing
11 of his wife's family members.

And it sounds awful
and it is.

In Pakistan you're told
who you're going to marry.

And Mourad and his
wife fell in love on their own

and they had to
run away to be together.

And they ran
away and got married.

Well, while they ran away
both their families were

feuding and fighting. They were
killing each other.

They were accusing one
another of hiding the couple.

Well what brought
him out of hiding was

his wife's
family members kidnapped

his mother and his sister

and they
gang raped them and

murdered them
by having their

breasts cut off and
letting them bleed to death.

So Mourad ambushed
his wife's family members

killing 11 of them.

But in jail he wasn't...
You know

he was very kind to me. And
he introduced me to the game of

Texas Hold 'em poker.

The first time I ever
picked up a hand at poker

was on death row in Pakistan.

when you play
all the time

you start to
learn how to read people.

It doesn't
matter what language

they speak or anything,
but when people are scared

it shows the same regardless
of what nationality they are.

Hardly any
of the politicians

wanted to get involved.

I was pretty much on my own.

I was spending like I said,

I slept maybe an hour a day.

because I felt like
I was in a maze, you know,

because so many doors
were being closed,

but I had to keep going.

You know when you have this
deep... like deep inside you:

"He's coming back."

And sometimes
the other mind told you,

"Wake up, this is
a cold case in Pakistan,

it's not going to happen."

and you're like
going back and forth

with your head
like a crazy man,

it's the same thing. And
on the other side you're like,

all these
people sending letters,

people calling, there
is a hope that somebody will

do something so that's
the only thing that's making me

have a huge
hope he's coming back.

On the other hand
I look at the case...

Until the guy
got arrested.

Roughly six months
after I was in jail

a DEA agent comes
and he shows me two photos

and asked me do I recognize
anyone in these photos.

I immediately picked out Rai.
I was like: "That's Rai."

And he goes, "Well his
name is Razmik Minasian."

And this is where I would
find out that he

had been using
an alias the whole time.

And I'm like: "Cool,
well how did you guys get him?"

What had happened was a Swedish
woman was traveling in

from JFK airport, doing
the same thing I was doing,

but she lost
her luggage at JFK.

So she continued on
her itinerary to LAX.

They found the drugs
in the wall of her suitcase,

built professionally
into the suitcase,

and they arrested both her

and the man that I
had known as Rai Ghazarian.

Except he posted bail
under the name Razmik Minasian.

My mom's private investigator
hears about this,

brings it to the
attention of the DEA

and hey this sounds a lot
like that guy who set up Erik.

So they rearrest him,
deny him bail...

They let the Swedish girl
go back to her country

without being charged
in less than two weeks

simply because her story
matched mine and several others.

So when I heard about this
I felt great.

I'm like: "Great, someone's
not in jail because of me."

That's awesome.
I felt good about that.

So now here I got the
DEA guy telling me this story

and I'm asking
what happens now?

"What are you guys doing
to get me out of here?"

And I could tell by his
expression that he felt bad.

And I'm like:
"What's going on?"

He goes: "I've never
seen this before."

I go: "What do you mean?"

He said: "I've never actually
met someone who's innocent."

They let her go home
and arrested him.

But nobody would do anything
to help me get Erik home.

He goes: "If this
had been done in America

you'd be
going home tonight.

Because since it's
done here in Pakistan,

you still have to go through
the legal system here.

It sucked being in jail
for something I didn't do

and no one believing me,
but believe it or not

it sucks a lot worse when
people actually believe you,

and the people
you assumed could...

And the people that you know
that could do something

about it believe you, but choose
not to do anything about it.

Yeah, no that's great.

OK, so I need to
ask you, so what was the

involvement
with your friend

that was the PI?
Can we call him and see?

Yeah, let's just see.

so and
then my question is...

So I really
want to interview Rai

but I'm having a really
hard time tracking him down.

I have a phone number
that's disconnected.

I found an address on the
Internet that could be his...

I found a bunch of
businesses that he used to have

that seemed
to all dissolve

and all those numbers
are disconnected.

I sent him a message,
I found him on Facebook

but we're not connected

so he hasn't
seen the message yet.

But we're
kind of at the end

and I really didn't find...

How I could go about
finding an address,

an email, a phone number.

If you
have either his full name

and middle initial or
his social security number

or a former address

I can find out
where he is now.

- Okay.
- A former address?

A former address?

what if it was an old...
an old business address

or one that he used
for a business?

Would that work?

Yeah,
that would work.

And it probably would
take about an hour

to get the
complete background on him.

Some of
the superintendents

started liking me,

one in particular

was a man named Hijuub.

He's the one who would
introduce me

to the
Palestinian hijackers.

The hijacking
of Pan Am flight 73 is over

but the cost
has been very high.

Many passengers who
were on board are in shock.

many have been wounded
in the final orgy of violence,

and some passengers
plus two of the hijackers

have been killed.

these guys were happy
that their plan had failed

because their
mission was to kill themselves

and kill everyone
on board that plane.

what did happen, was
their actions led to

23 people being killed.

The first person
I meet was Fahaad.

Fahaad was the youngest
and by this time he's

in his thirties.

He's a big man and
he's wearing a big muumuu.

The hijackers are
celebrities in here.

I'm a celebrity in here.

The future prime minister
of Pakistan is up in "A class".

His name is Yousaf Gilani
he's a celebrity in there.

And then you've got
political officials

but there's
really only a few of us

who everyone knows of.

So I somehow become
friends with these guys.

They order...
They make food for us,

we sit around, we drink Pepsi

and some sweet dish
they just happen to have,

and their rooms
are really nice actually

there's
a carpet on the floor.

They prayed, they ate food,

and tried to get through
each day as easily as possible.

When I got moved nine
and a half months later

from death row to two cell

I was able to
socialize with these guys more.

Go have breakfast
and lunch with them

and swap
books over the wall.

But one thing that the hijackers
had, which was a big deal,

was they had
connections with the guard.

The guards
wouldn't search the room.

The hijackers were left alone
and they had a lot of clout.

They had something
that I definitely needed.

How did you get
a camera inside prison?

I got a camera into the prison
because of one of the hijackers,

Fahaad got it in for me.

I wanted to take some photos
and he got it in.

Like what
would happen if they found...

Like people don't have
cameras in prison, do they?

People aren't supposed to have
a lot of things in prison,

but we have them.
if you get caught with them

you get in trouble. Simple.

Getting in trouble is
getting beat, punished,

thrown into kasoari.

Privileges taken away.

But
how do you get them?

You actually just
pay people on the outside?

Yeah! People...
Guards smuggle things in,

religious teachers
smuggle things in,

prisoners smuggle things in,

the canteen smuggles things in.

Guys throw things
over the wall.

Hell fuck, if we had
drones back in the day

you'd see drones dropping things
left and right.

Wow, that's amazing.

I'm glad I got some photos.

I had the camera for I think
two, maybe three days.

And that's what
I was able to get

in those two
or three days.

It started with food. Well
then it got to things bigger.

"Hey, I'll give you
1,000 rupees for a cell phone."

Guy brings me
a cell phone.

I'm able to find a signal
in a corner of my room

and at night I'm able
to communicate

with my family
and my friends.

The first time
I go to talk to Erik...

First of all I was blown
'cause I was like:

"How the hell did you
get a cell phone?"

And then at the same token
I was like: "Of course,

it's you, it's Erik."
You know. And we talked about

how he had made friends
with some people in there.

We talked about how initially
it was super, super, super hard

kinda being the
American so to speak.

We talked about how he
learned different languages.

How he
cultivated relationships.

How he was able to
get some DVD's and movies

that I had done
that he had watched.

And it just
was good, you know,

And we still just
believed that eventually

he would come home.

During this whole time
I'm still learning the language.

I'm still learning Urdu.

And I'm also
trying to work on my case.

I'd finally
gotten a lawyer

who was just a piece
of shit lawyer to agree to

take my case
for 2,000 dollars

which is still five times more
than anyone else would have paid

but it's a lot less than a lot
of lawyers are asking me for.

and I would go back and
forth to court so many times

and nothing would happen. either
the judge wouldn't show up,

the prosecutor
wouldn't show up,

my own lawyer
wouldn't show up.

What we needed for the
courts, was Razmik Menasian

to sign a statement
stating that

he'd never told Erik
about the drugs

and that might,
might you know, do some good.

I had found out
where he lived

and I found out
he had two kids

and I'm not
a vindictive woman,

but I was
fighting for my son.

I wrote him a letter

and I told him
how Erik couldn't believe

that his friend Rai
would do this to him.

I mean Rai was his friend,
he was just in shock.

And I wrote in there
how Erik was being starved,

and tortured, and beaten.

You know I said
he can't believe

you would do this to him.

And then I went on and I said:
"How maybe if he would confess

that maybe the courts would look
at that

and grant Erik clemency."

And then I went
one step further,

and I'm ashamed of it
but I had to do it.

I said: "I know you're
surprised that we found you,

because we know
you as Rai Ghazarian.

But now that I know
you're Razmik Minasian,

what would you do

if someone was going to
hurt your son or daughter?

Think about it."

He signed
an affidavit stating

that I was
absolutely unknowing.

So I go to court January third
and the lady says to me:

"Erik, this is
what's going to happen:

The judge is going to give you
a two year prison sentence,

we're going to pay him 1,000
dollars through your account,

it's already in your account,
and with good behavior

you'll probably be going home
in a couple months."

I said: "This is great,
this is great news,

that's awesome."
They go: "Okay.

All you have to do though
is plead guilty."

At that moment
I didn't know...

I didn't know
what I was going to do.

What solidified my choice was
what Absaal

the interpreter
from the embassy said.

He stands next to me
and he goes:

"Erik, what is
worth more to you,

your pride
or your freedom?"

And I remember
looking at him and I was like:

"You little bastard."

Because that made me
ask myself that question:

What is worth more to me?

My pride or my freedom?
And there was no hesitation.

My pride is worth
a hell of a lot more

to me than my freedom.

At the end of the day I have
to look at myself in the mirror

and if I get out of prison

I'm going to end up
killing myself 100 percent

from just shame of
going around pleading guilty

for some shit
I didn't fucking do.

Yeah, it's Pakistan,

but yes my pride is worth
a hell of a lot more to me

than my freedom.

When I got presented
back in that room that day

the judge asked me if
I wished to change my plea

and I told him
"No, not guilty."

I went into Erik's room

and I opened his closet

and I wanted
to smell my son.

And I held all his clothes
and there wasn't any smell.

And I didn't know I
had collapsed to the floor.

And I heard
this animal howling

and you could tell
the animal was in pain

I mean absolute pain...

And I realized it was me.

Hello?

Hi, can I please
speak with Razmik?

He's not here,
may I ask who's calling?

My name is
Jamielyn Lippman

and I'm a documentary filmmaker
and I wanted to talk to him

about being part of
a project that I'm making.

Ok, he's not here.

Can I... Is there a better
time that I could call back

to reach him or does
he have a cell phone number?

Maybe
around six o'clock?

Call him
about six o'clock?

Okay. Should I leave
my information with you

or should I try him back?

I can take
your phone number, sure.

Yeah, that would
be great, thank you.

Hold on one moment.

The very next morning
I went and called my mom

and I said: "Mom look,

I already know what I'm
going to do for the high court."

And I tried to tell her
my plan for the high court

and she had
already cut me off.

She said that she
already had a lawyer lined up

for me, that this guy
was one of the best

that he came
highly recommended.

She was so confident
over the phone I said...

I gave her my blessing.
go ahead, go with this guy.

Originally my mother told me
that he took the case pro bono.

a couple months go by
and I finally ask my mom,

I go: "Mom what's
going on with my case?"

The hijackers say:

"We have a lawyer that we'd like
to recommend.

The same lawyer that represented
us for our case."

Seven months
after I'd been sentenced

we threw ourselves
at the mercy of the court

to hopefully show leniency.
They did.

They gave me a second chance
at the high court.

But what should have been
done seven months previous

was being done
seven months later.

Well because of
the amount of cases

that were going to
be shown at high court

it wouldn't be for
another year and four months

before my case
would finally get heard.

Before that
would happen, though

I would take one
of the worst beatings

I've ever taken in my life.

We had a guard he was...
He was nicknamed Goldleaf,

and Goldleaf is the name of
a cigarette brand in Pakistan.

It was rumored that
he was responsible for

the death of
hundreds of prisoners

since that prison
had opened up in 1986

who either couldn't afford
to buy him Goldleaf cigarettes

or just flat out
refused to.

I had been dealing
with these severe ear aches

ever since monsoon season had
happened my first year there.

The cockroaches would
come out of their hiding places

in masses
and crawl all over you.

You'd get mosquitos biting
every open inch of you.

And you would
sleep in the water.

I would literally
think suicide all the time

because of my ears.
Not because of

being in this situation
or being alone or being sad

or feeling sorry for myself,
but because

I was in
so much pain that I thought:

"Hey, if I kill
myself it wouldn't be...

It would be humane."

Well Goldleaf he calls
America a bunch of...

he calls America
a bunch of female dogs

and then he says to me,
"Give me 500 rupees."

But I'm in so much damn pain,
I just don't want to

be fucked with by this guy.
So I tell him

in his own language:
"Hey, we may all be dogs, but

you're a little bitch."

And he just... He
didn't like that at all.

He didn't like that at all,
so he fumbles with his keys

and goes to open the cell door.
And when he came in...

I mean this guy's
like five foot three,

he goes in
and hit me with his cane.

And I grabbed him
and I started punching him

with his own hand
and then I just lost it.

I was in so much pain
I just wanted to die.

At least this way it wasn't
going to be suicide

but I was gonna
make these guys earn it.

So that day I
absolutely planned on dying.

I had a couple
of my ribs broken,

my left shoulder
was collapsed,

my left eye was closed up.

They held out my hand and
broke each one of my fingers

one by one, and when they
started on my left hand,

they got one of my fingers,

and when they were about
to move on to my other finger,

the Superintendent
finally showed up

and asked what
the hell was going on.

And I heard... I heard Goldleaf
say that they found drugs on me

that I attacked them.
And I understood all this

and I told them in their own
language: "Goldleaf's lying."

I said: "They are stealing money
from me. I'm starving,

I'm gonna die." And he
comes over and he sees me

and I'm on the ground
and he says:

"You understand Urdu?"
I said: "Yes sir."

And he says: "What happened?"
So I get up.

I'm holding my hand because my
fingers are all fucking jacked.

I tell him that Goldleaf
wanted 500 rupees from me

and I told him
to go to hell.

And then I told him about

some of the beatings
I'd taken for money

and how they stole it
from me and he believed me.

He believed me
and he fired Goldleaf

right there on the spot.

- Hello?
- Hi, is this Razmik?

- Yes.
- Oh hi,

my name is
Jamielyn How are you?

- Very good, thank you.
- Good.

I'm a
documentary filmmaker

and I'm making a
documentary about Erik Audé.

- Who's Erik?
- Erik Audé.

- No, I don't know him.
- Does that...

That name is not
familiar to you?

No. No. You
know what? There is a Razmik

with the same
last name as mine

and we did
have a few problems.

We went to court for that.

He was involved with the
drug... you know... smuggling

people and
lots of other things.

Many, many collection agencies.
Even like I said.

I've been subpoenaed from
the court, you know, for that

and had to go to court
and show them

I'm not the person, yeah.

Okay. Okay so...

His
name is same as mine,

his last name is
same as mine. Yeah.

Well, I'm so sorry
because you probably have to...

You've been dealing
with this mix up for years.

So I appreciate you taking my
call and calling me back. We...

Good luck.

Thank you
So much, have a great night.

- Alright, you too. Bye.
- Bye.

I started cleaning up
the place you know,

because I figured hey if
I'm gonna be here

then I might as well make
it look nice.

So I started fixing
this ugly yard up.

And it was one afternoon

that I was working just behind
our cells

and there's this long path with
all these weeds

and a couple trees that had been
growing

and just random flowers
along a border that I made.

I see this guy I'd never
seen before hop the wall

and he comes walking
right up to me...

Not really walking at first,
but he gets up and starts...

He does a little jog. I don't
understand what's going on

but as he's running towards me
I can see it in his eyes

there's something wrong here.
So I stand up and I get ready.

And sure enough
he's got a knife in his hand.

He tries to stab me so I hit him
with a rock...

And I try to grab the knife
out of his hand

while we were
wrestling for it.

But he had it out
and I didn't want him to like...

I couldn't get it because I was
on other side of him...

I didn't want him to stab me in
the leg was the first thing

I thought because he was
swinging around it everywhere.

I was using his body
to block me

from his own swinging arm.

And uh I only meant to throw him
on the ground

but I ended up uh....

I sn...

I snapped his neck

and uh....

And I uh....
He went limp,

and I got him off of me.

And uh... I uh...

I just killed a man in jail.

I didn't...

I didn't... I never thought I'd
have to do something like that,

but uh I just...

I got away from him
and I was crying.

I couldn't
control my crying

because uh...

I wasn't crying because of...
I just...

You know you go to jail
for shit.

For one thing and now
this is way worse.

When that year
came to an end

and I just celebrated
being in jail two years

one of my jobs in jail was
I was a teacher.

But because
I was a teacher

I could also get
back over to death row

to go see my
friend Mourad.

I get a call
over to death row.

I get there and Mourad had this
whole meal planned out for us.

There was chicken there,
there was sweet dishes,

There were all
these little side dishes

and I thought alright
cool what's the occasion

because, you know,
whenever there's a holiday

there's always food festivities
and everything

or a birthday. No occasion.

Just wanted to have
a meal with me,

and this was a great meal.

I always say outside jail
this is a normal meal

but inside Pakistan
this is a five star meal.

This is the kind of meal you'd
have to bribe a lot of guards

to make happen.

Nothing was spicy.
I hated spicy food.

Mourad knew that
and nothing was spicy.

And we ate all the food,
we shot the shit,

we played poker,
we played chess,

we talked about life.

I hung out that day,
I hung out a long time that day.

I hung out forever.

When I got called back
to my cell later on that day

I told Mourad:
"Hey, I'll see you next week."

He says Inshallah.

Inshallah means "God willing".

It's a normal saying
in Pakistan or in Urdu.

It's "Hey, you'll get out of
here soon, Inshallah."

Or "Hopefully the judge will go
easy on you soon, Inshallah."

"I'll see you
next week, Inshallah."

And the next morning
he was hung.

He'd...

shared his last meal
with me.

He had it prepared so that
I'd enjoy it not him.

And...

And he didn't tell me.

One day, Joey Paul
Jensen knocks on my office

and she said:
"You know Sherry

I have this gentlemen

his name is Scott,
I forget his last name,

but I have this gentleman

who went to school with

the son of the
president of Pakistan,

Pervez Musharraf's son."

Mr. Musharraf says to me:

"So what is it
you would like me to do?"

And I said:
"I have here a letter

that I would ask that
you present to your brother."

You know,
president Pervez Musharraf.

"Ask him for
clemency for my son."

She was using
every resource she had

just personally,
socially, and financially

and that wasn't
an endless pipeline.

And so it was fortuitous
that I knew this person

that somehow was connected

in ways that I
couldn't even describe.

Because I don't even know
if he could even say

what all of those
connections actually are.

My foundation,

the Richardson Center
for Global Engagement,

specializes in
trying to secure

the release of
prisoners of conscience,

prisoners of war
from foreign countries,

from dictatorships.

We've been doing this
for close to 20 years

throughout my career.

And I felt that somehow
somebody had to

speak up for
this young man.

The government
was trying to help

but we have a lot of
interests with Pakistan.

We're allies,
we have military interests,

intelligence
interests at the time.

We wanted Pakistan's help
in defeating the Taliban.

So there was a lot
of security interests

and sometimes the U.S.
government doesn't want to

get those interests in
jeopardy

by pressing on the release
of a young man like Erik.

And I felt that I still had
relationships in Pakistan,

I'd been there many times,

I knew high level people.

They had actually
helped me

when I was U.N. ambassador

have a dialogue with
the Taliban

that resulted in
a short-term ceasefire

and some advancements.

And so I knew enough
of the leaders there

that I got involved.

I get a visit from my lawyer
and I tell him okay

we're going to go to the courts

and we're going
to see what we can do.

As we were coming out
of two-cell and up the path

one of the deputy
superintendents

and all his numberdards
started praying for me.

And literally as I was walking
up to the front of the prison

all the guards
and different prisoners

were in unison just giving
me a nice little blessing.

And I thought to myself
wow this changed.

When I came in here,
I came in swinging.

And here I was with
potentially good news

about to be given to me.
I might be leaving soon.

And here's everyone
whose attitudes

have all changed
towards me.

It felt... It felt good.

I appreciated that.

But also I didn't want to
get my hopes up.

I kept telling myself:
"Erik if it's bad news

and you to end up
being here for seven years

you can do it.
Everything's going to be fine.

You've made a good life
for yourself here."

I always reminded myself
it could always be worse.

I just didn't want to
get my hopes up.

And as I went
into the front office

and down the hallway

I started questioning
myself, what if, though?

What if? What if?
And I go around the corner

towards
the Superintendent's office

and it was the prison doctor
that came around the corner

and was crying, he says:
"Erik, you're going home."

And I was like:
"Thank you."

Sherry, what's going
through your head right now?

Oh I'm... I'm just trying to
hold myself together.

I can't believe it's
really happening.

You alright?

Erik, how
does it feel to be home?

It's uh, it's new,
it's wonderful,

The best Christmas gift
I could ever ask for.

In that moment
when I saw him,

it was emotional.

Usually I don't cry.

I'm a military guy
I don't...

But it was rough.

So good when I saw him,
I just cried.

I was overcome, you know.

We were just completely...

Our breath
was taken away.

To be able to
see him in person.

But I understand that Rai
Ghazarian is out there still.

If Rai was
sitting here right now...

Honestly I...

I don't even know
what I would say.

I'd be
absolutely disgusted.

I think he's
a horrible person

that was never punished
for what he did to Erik.

I think he's heartless

and I think it's really sad
that he got away with

what he got away with.

He hurt a lot of people.

I hope that God puts him
straight into the Hades.

I was so mad.
I told his mom:

"Oh my God, I don't
want to see this guy."

I just don't
want to see him.

Have
you ever seen him since?

Oh my God, never, ever.

I saw him from the gym
before the incident

and after that never.

If I saw that guy I wouldn't
let him go with one choke.

I'll be honest with you.
Until they take me into jail.

Because he was sneaky

and he was an asshole.
From the beginning

he was planning to
take that person to prison.

Lorna and I, we found...

The private investigator
found the information

and so we called him
and we spoke to...

What was it, Lorna, his
girlfriend or something?

His wife? She said she would
take the number and call back.

So then I
missed an 8-1-8 number.

And so then
I call him back

and everything he said,
I have it all recorded,

was to me legitimized
that this definitely

isn't him and that the P.I. like
this is who they found before...

And so I'm like

another failed lead
like a dead end of course.

And then remember how
we found the Linkedin page?

- Yeah
- So I go to Linkedin

and I wrote him,
let me see...

"I'm making a
documentary about Erik Audé

and I'd like
to interview you.

I would like
to give you a chance

to tell your side
of the story.

I can be reached at...

I look forward to
hearing from you

and thank you for your time."

So then, shortly after
I keep checking the message

because you can see when it's
seen. And I see that it's seen.

And now his profile
is not available

and he's completely
deleted himself from Linkedin.

So he clearly read my message
and he does not want to be found

and he doesn't
want to be part of this.

And the reason he doesn't
want to be part of this

is because the judgement,

the civil suit that
Erik had against him...

He owes him money
so he wants to stay hidden.

And then what happened
moving forward

into present day, did you
guys maintain a friendship

or try to
have a relationship?

We
tried shortly, you know.

We tried when he got home.

It was hard. I don't
think I fully could be

the person that he
needed me to be at that point.

We had these
ideas in our head

of who the other person was

and I felt like I could
never live up to the pedestal

that he kind of put me on.

And so after he got home
we just ended up fighting.

'Cause I didn't
feel like I could be...

I didn't feel like I was
giving him what he needed

and I didn't feel like
I was getting what I needed.

My first couple days back

I wanted to get
my life back together.

My high school football coach
he let me use his car.

I asked him... I told him I'd
get it back to him that night.

He goes: "Just
get your life back."

So he let me
borrow his car that week.

And Simo took me out
for lunch, paid for it.

I had no money
in my pocket, nothing.

And when I was getting back in
my car

Simo took a hundred bucks out
and he tried to give it to me

and I wouldn't...
I didn't want to take it

and I wouldn't have
taken it either.

But he's such a massive man, he
was able to put it in my pocket

and force me into my car
and close the door.

And I needed
that hundred dollars.

He knew I needed it.

But I saw a sign
off the freeway

that said
Hollywood Park Casino.

So I thought, you
know what, I'll kill some time,

just until
traffic winds down,

and I'll see what I
can do with fifty dollars.

I stay all night and I leave
with 2,600 dollars in my pocket.

Poker just happened
to be my life raft

to get my back together.

He
bounced back really quickly

because he made that a
determination for himself.

It was a traumatic
experience while he was there

but now he's making the
best of a bad situation.

I'm just like
really inspired by him.

That someone can
go through that

and still come
back the way that he has.

to see him come back and pick up
where he left off,

like it was nothing,
well that's admirable.

And I have the utmost respect
for him

and love for him.

Erik usually
puts on a stunt happy hour

every Thursday night
out here.

This guy
has the heart of

a diamond and gold combined.

Extremely friendly.
Extremely kind.

Introduced me to everybody.

And the kind of
stunt work I do,

Normally I don't interact
with guys that look like him.

So I was a little
nervous coming in

and he's just a
really friendly guy

and I've come to
these things ever since.

And built up
a real good friendship

with the guy.
He's awesome.

You would never know something
that traumatic happened to him.

And he's
definitely not a bitter guy.

Quite the opposite.

Outgoing, non-filtered.
And just... He's awesome.

Yeah, you couldn't see
that history off of him at all.

So... I don't know
how he does that.

That makes him
a superman in my opinion.

When he told me this story
I was thinking:

There's no way, that can't
be real and you're normal?

When you go through that kind
of devastation in your life,

mental torture
and physical torture.

The combination of the two,
that's hard to put behind you.

And he's definitely
put it behind him for sure.

I definitely would say
Erik is a lot stronger

having gone through
what he's been through.

I do know that Erik
gets a lot of people that say

negative things as well.
A lot of people will just

randomly send him messages
on Facebook or Twitter

and say horrible things,
that they don't believe him,

that he's a liar,
which I find horrific.

I don't know how
you could just say that

to somebody
you don't know.

For the people out there,

and they would say:
"Oh, come on

maybe he knows about it,
he's not stupid."

Trust me. A zillion percent
he doesn't know.

You know here's
the reality of it.

If he knew what he was doing he
would just say it at this point.

He's back here, there's
nothing he can lose, you know.

And Erik's that guy
where he just...

He may be a lot of things
but he's not a liar.

Remember this is
a man of conscience.

He showed
while he was in prison

that he wasn't going to plead
guilty even though it meant

spending more years
in prison.

Here's a man of conscience

who believed
he didn't do anything wrong.

He was duped and that happens,
so lay off,

be compassionate.

He doesn't let
the negative in his life

deter him from
his dreams or his goals.

This is just
chapter two or three

of like a 12 chapter book
with Erik.

There's going to be
some monumental things

that'll happen
with him in the future.

And I think they're
all going to be good.

When bad things
happen to me,

if anything
I just kind of compare it

to what happened
to me in Pakistan.

Everything from
this point on in my life

is nowhere near going
to be where Pakistan was.

Pakistan has made
everything else in life

much more tolerable.

I think I've changed a lot
actually

since I've been with Erik.
For the good.

I think I've learned to relax
a little bit more.

I think I've learned
to laugh a little bit more.

I definitely learned that
you can get through anything.

I think you're with the person
you're supposed to be with

when you're a better person.

And I think he's
done that for me for sure.

If you could use five
adjectives to describe him

what would they be?

Oh, my gosh...
Crazy.

But in a good way, loyal...

- Very straight forward.
- Honest.

Driven, all cap.

- Resourceful.
- Hysterical.

- He loves to laugh.
- He swears like a sailor.

He's always been
a class act to me.

He is an amazing guy.

Very smart person too.

He treats everybody
the same.

He has a huge heart.

Definitely warm hearted.

He's just... He cares
about other people.

That he's
a caring person for sure.

He is truly
a man of integrity.

Unforgettable.

Unforgettable.

You know, before I went to jail
I was selfish.

I was selfish.

I didn't
appreciate anything.

I always wanted something that
was just outside of my reach.

I never
acknowledged what I had.

If I got a co-star I'd
be like I want a guest star.

If I get a guest star,
I wish I had a reoccurring.

Nothing was ever
good enough in my eyes.

But when I got out of
prison, I had nothing on me

except
the clothes on my back.

And I felt
richer than anything.

I felt...

I felt... I mean God
it was amazing.

That drive back to the city
was just awesome.

The views,
the music on the radio...

When I got home

the things
that really stood out to me

were...

Well, English is great,

People that speak your
language, that's awesome.

Ice water.
Ice water is gold.

I love ice water. You know,
a standing shower. A toilet.

I mean this stuff's awesome,
pillows, blankets,

a real bed.

Being able to run out
into a cold night

and run back into a warm room.

Friends.
Picking up the phone

and talking to someone
you haven't spoken to in years

and just catching up
like no time passed.

A friendly smile.

A song that
reminds you of someone.

That, you know,
you never could forget about.

Jokes. Food. Lots of food.

Everything...

Everything in our world
is amazing in its own way.

It's something that I would
never have acknowledged

had I not gone to jail.

This year I've
opened up my eighth restaurant.

I did stuns on
Dunkirk with Chris Nolan

and got to work with
Bill Paxton on training day

and did my third
episode of Scorpion.

So I have a
pretty good life.

I don't have too many
complaints nowadays.

I take care of me.

I don't let people
take advantage of me.

I play poker,
and I act and do stunts.

And I travel the world
with my girlfriend.

And I do pretty well.

I'm pretty thankful
for what I do have.

And I just
want to get through this life

as simply as possible

and be as happy as I can.