Barbara Jane Mackle, kidnap victim buried alive

Kidnappers took Barbara Jane Mackle of Coral Gables from a Georgia motel room on December 17, 1968, buried her alive in a box on an isolated hillside and demanded a half-million-dollar ransom from her father, developer Robert Mackle. For 83 hours, the 20-year-old Emory University student remained underground until the ransom was paid and Mackle was found — dirty, cold, but unharmed. Her kidnappers turned out to be Gary Steven Krist, a lab technician, and Ruth Eisemann-Schier, a graduate student at the University of Miami’s Institute of Marine Science. Krist served 10 years in prison. Eisemann-Schier was paroled after four and banished to her native Honduras. Miami Herald reporter Gene Miller wrote a book with Mackle about her experience: 83 Hours Till Dawn.

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