He stands by wife accused of faking kidnapping

Video: Husband: ‘Couldn’t believe’ wife planned hoax

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   >>> little while.

   >>> we begin with the alleged kidnapping hoax involving a florida housewife. we'll talk exclusively with her husband in a moment. but first, peter alexander has more on the story.

   >> reporter: good morning. the more we learn about this case, the more bizarre and shocking it gets. nbc news has now obtained 37 disks filled with evidence, 911 calls, hours of police interrogations, with both quinn gray and the man she claims kidnapped her. as well as a secretly recorded audio sex tape allegedly of the two. a mountain of evidence that investigators say all points to a hoax. they are attractive and wealthy. an all-american couple. quinn and reid gray, along with their two young daughters, appeared to be living the good life. but this past labor day weekend, everything changed.

   >> 911. what's your emergency?

   >> reporter: quinn gray had disappeared from the country's multi- million dollar seaside mansion near jacksonville florida. later describing to investigators in this police interview obtained by nbc news, a frightening four days of forced captivity and sexual assault .

   >> pretty much thought that i was dead. i pretty much thought that i was part of like a slave trade or something like that and that they were going to come in -- at that point i knew i wasn't going to survive.

   >> reporter: also obtained by nbc news, this police video taken the night of the alleged kidnapping inside of the gray's home. on the dining room table, the ransom note gray told authorities her abductor forced her to write to her husband. there are three men holding me right now and they want $50,000 cash. but the st. john's county sheriff , david shore , insists it was all an elaborate hoax.

   >> we truly believe it was not a kidnapping and we truly feel as though we have the evidence to prove that.

   >> reporter: gray was arrested for trying to extort $50,000 from her husband, a successful business owner making close to $1 million a year.

   >> if i wanted $50,000, all i would do it take it out of the bank account .

   >> reporter: in the police interrogation room, gray was at times emotionally overwhelmed. later describing her alleged kidnapper to detectives.

   >> yeah, his eyes were big like that. big. huge. more hair. higher.

   >> reporter: that man is a bosnian immigrant. but authorities say he wasn't quinn gray 's kidnapper, but her accomplice and lover.

   >> that woman played me for stupid and i can prove it.

   >> reporter: he's now behind bars facing extortion charges. complicating this bizarre case of he said/she said, a salacious 90-minute audiotape of the two secretly recorded by the man and obtained by nbc news. it captures the sounds of the two having sex as well as rehearsing their stories about the kidnapping.

   >> if they just knew you were here by yourself all night long with a gun -- they would have a fit.

   >> reporter: quinn gray 's lawyers say she was suffering from an untreated, undiagnosed manic phase of bipolar disorder . and that in her poor mental condition she believed the story that her husband owed him $50,000.

   >> i was crazy then. i mean i was completely -- i was just doing what i was told to do. you have to understand that.

   >> reporter: gray's lawyers defended their client last week on "today."

   >> we believe that is an audio recording of a woman who's been kidnapped, abducted and being raped.

   >> reporter: her lawyers also dispute investigators' claim that the two had an ongoing romantic relationship .

   >> not one e-mail, not one text message, not one cell phone record. they've done computer searches. there is nothing that supports their contention that it is a faked kidnapping.

   >> reporter: to you nor, quinn gray is being treated at a mental health facility in georgia, a condition of her release from jail.

   >> what do you want to say to your family?

   >> i love you and i hope to see you soon.

   >> quinn gray is expected to be released from that mental health facility before the end of this month with the next pre-trial hearing scheduled for january. as for jasmin, nbc news has spoken with his attorney who will not comment on this case.

   >> peter, thank you very much. peter alexander of nbc news. reid gray is quinn 's husband. reid , good morning. thank you for being here.

   >> good morning.

   >> it's a complex and bizarre story. i just want people to understand. you completely believe your wife, her story, that she was in fact kidnapped and forced to do the things that we've now heard that she did and that she's suffering from mental illness . why are you so convinced of that?

   >> matt, first of all, it's been a roller coaster of emotion from the onset. there are times when initially when you sit in front of the fbi and they present you with evidence that she was a mastermind of this and you have no choice but to believe that entirely at that point. after the last eight weeks, you come to really understand what really happened. i believe in all my heart she was kidnapped. i also believe at some point -- i'm not sure exactly when -- she believed that she needed to be a part of this. it was hard for me to understand when or why that happened. devastating, to say the least. but i am standing by her now because i believe that she has a mental illness and that's why we are here.

   >> your marriage has not been without its problems. admitted on both sides, episodes of infidelity. why don't you think this was just another episode of infidelity?

   >> certainly over the last year things were traumatic in our relationship. being a product of a divorced family, i've done everything i can to try to keep my family together. that last such episode in june led to quinn going to rehabilitation, alcohol rehabilitation, and it was at that point where i made a decision that we would end this marriage unless she went forward with this. that eight weeks before this abduction were some of the best eight weeks we've ever had in our life. i couldn't imagine for a second that she would have made this up.

   >> you mention the treatment for alcohol abuse . that's somewhat important here because you feel that for years she was drinking and that in some ways self-medicating, and that masked the impact of this undiagnosed mental disorder , this bipolar disorder , and that when she was treated for alcohol abuse and stopped drinking, the mental illness came to the forefront.

   >> several years ago -- actually you know, you're first dating, in your 20s, you go out, have fun, nobody notices those types of things. as you progress into your 30s it becomes more apparent. and quinn even letting me know as recently as a couple weeks ago that there were times in the last couple years that she would drink at night just to stop moving the furniture around in the middle of the night because her mind kept racing. these are things she never shared are me. the entire time i did know her grandmother suffered from bipolar disorder , as well as her sister. this from what i understand from the psychiatrist was a matter of self-medicating.

   >> so this audiotape that's getting so much attention, you feel that when people hear excerpts from this tape, they need to listen to them through the filter in your opinion of a woman who's mentally ill . i've listened to the entire tape. you shared it with me. and it was very tough to listen to. i can only imagine what it would be like for quinn 's husband to listen to this. the first 20 minutes , as has been reported, is basically a sex tape of these two having sex . and i have to be honest, reid , in my listening to it, it did not sound as if she was an unwilling participant in that sexual encounter . when you listen to it, do you think she's being forced to have sex?

   >> i feel a couple things are happening. i feel that she's definitely participating. i'm not sure after four days of being with this person what she believes and what she doesn't believe but i agree with you, there are times when i just want to shut it off and be finished with the whole thing, but i have to remember that there are many times when i heard his voice and him saying things that i believe he knew i would hear this audiotape at some point as well.

   >> there is a portion of the tape, latter portion of the tape, where they are discussing what appears to be a cover story . how they're going to get their story straight. let me play a portion of that and get your reaction on the other side.

   >> if you go under the assumption that she didn't know she was being recorded, that makes her sound guilty.

   >> as guilty as can be. i certainly don't deny it. when i hear that, i am saddened for her, saddened for my children. saddened for myself. but i know there's definitely something not right because that's not the wife that i know.

   >> there is another portion of the tape where they are talking about the amount of ransom money to be asked. were you asked for $50,000. here's where they're discussing how much they should actually ask for.

   >> i was watching your face just now as she said on that tape, "either that or you just blow his head off." she's talking about you. you kind of shook your head and smirked a little bit.

   >> i shook my head the same way when the fbi played it for me. it's probably the most hurtful, devastating words i've ever heard. i think of my children. i think of myself and i think of how this is going to affect lives goint forward. i know at that point when i heard that i was so shocked that i knew something was wrong. i knew something was definitely wrong. that person that i knew so well would go to the extent of talking about that.

   >> but again, you see this -- this is mental illness that she was in such a state of --

   >> manic.

   >> -- manic state that she went along with this and said these things even if she didn't believe them and this was just her in an altered state . how do you -- you believe her. you're paying for her defense. you think she is not the woman that she's being portrayed to be. the sheriff obviously disagrees. reid , if this goes to trial, do you think quinn 's attorneys can convince a jury of her peers that your wife is the woman you think she is and not the woman that the sheriff thinks she is?

   >> i think that's going to be very difficult, matt. i think where the sheriff -- first of all, i need to say that law enforcement did a wonderful job. she's home alive at this point. i have no complaints there. i believe she was abducted but i believe very, very early on, because of her mental illness , she became a part of this and it's because she's mentally ill that i have to stick by her. you put the divorce hat on, the next second you put on this is a family member who has a mental illness and i can't abandon that person.

   >> i know you speak to her. this morning, i think. she could be watching this. i'm not sure.

   >> maybe.

   >> you think you can heal this family and carry on this marriage?

   >> i will do my best to try to accomplish that, matt. i don't know what will happen and again, i listen to these tapes and i think about a marriage and i have to put that to the side and i have to think about my two children and my role as a father and i have to think about my role as her husband and what i need as a family member to do for her through this next portion of the next weeks or months. the marriage part will definitely come later but initially i have to care for her because of the state that she's in right now.

   >> we will closely follow this story. reid gray, thanks for coming in today. i know it is not easy.

   >> thank you.

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