When Ammon Marshall’s kidnapper posted a video of him on Facebook with his soon-to-be wife, Ash Leigh Kimball, his parents were thrilled. “It was the most beautiful first-look video I’ve ever seen.” Ammon’s mom said. The couple’s friends and family demonstrated support for their situation in the comments section. Ash Leigh’s grandma commented “The most beautiful couple! So happy for you two!” and Ammon’s mission companion said “Congrats brother!” 

After the video had been posted for three days, Ash Leigh’s one-time mutual date, Jared Peterson, was the first to watch the video all the way to the end. “I don’t think most people watched more than the first 30 seconds,” he said. “It was pretty clearly a ransom video after the first scene of them running through the woods.”

The police began investigating, and after watching the whole video, realized that they were dealing with a kidnapping case. “We were shocked,” said Ammon’s mom. “It looked so much like every other first look video we’ve ever seen, we never imagined it might not be.”

The kidnapper, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed exasperation. “This is potentially the most important day of their lives, and no one even cared enough to watch the video to the end.” As of yesterday, the couple’s parents realized their children were kidnapped, and are now negotiating to resolve the situation.