Case snapshot
Barbara Jane Mackle was 20 years old when two kidnappers forced her into a car outside an Atlanta motel, drove her to a remote wooded area, and buried her alive in a fiberglass capsule with a ventilation tube, a battery-powered lamp, and two plastic water jugs. For more than three days in December 1968, she lay underground while her family scrambled to meet the ransom demand and investigators raced against a ticking clock.
The abduction window
December 17, 1968. Barbara Mackle was staying at the Rodeway Inn in Decatur, Georgia, recovering from the flu. She had just finished finals at Emory University. Her mother, Jane Mackle, had driven from their home in Coral Gables, Florida, to help her recover. They shared Room 137.
At approximately 4:00 a.m., someone knocked on the door.
A man’s voice announced he was a police detective. He said Barbara’s boyfriend, Stewart Woodward, had been in a car accident. Jane opened the door. Two people forced their way inside. One was a man wearing glasses and holding a shotgun. The other appeared to be a younger man, possibly disguised.
They zip-tied Barbara’s wrists. They told Jane to stay calm, that this was a kidnapping, that Barbara would be returned safely if the ransom was paid. Then they forced Barbara into a car and drove away. Jane was left alone in the motel room, clutching a ransom note demanding $500,000.
By 4:30 a.m., Jane had contacted her husband, Robert Mackle, a wealthy Florida real estate developer. By dawn, the FBI was involved.
Inside the capsule
Barbara was driven for what felt like hours. She was blindfolded. The man told her she would not be harmed if she cooperated. When the car stopped, she was led into the woods. She could feel dirt and leaves under her feet.
Then she saw it. A wooden box, partially buried in the ground. A fiberglass capsule, roughly the size of a coffin but reinforced and sealed. Inside were two water jugs, a small battery-powered fan, a lamp, some candy bars, and a tube that led to the surface for air.
They told her to get in.
She did. The lid closed. Soil was piled on top. Then silence.
Barbara later described lying in near-total darkness, rationing water, trying to stay calm, whispering prayers. She could hear nothing from the outside. She had no idea if anyone was coming. The capsule was ventilated, but barely. The air was stale. The temperature underground was cold.
She stayed there for 83 hours.
The ransom demand
The ransom note was specific. It demanded $500,000 in $20 bills, delivered to a location that would be disclosed later. It warned that any involvement from law enforcement would result in Barbara’s death. It stated she was buried in a remote location with limited air, and that time was critical.
Robert Mackle, despite being one of the wealthiest men in Florida, didn’t have half a million dollars in cash readily available. He contacted his bank. He contacted the FBI. He made it clear he would pay anything to get his daughter back.
The FBI worked quickly but carefully. They knew the clock was running. If Barbara was truly buried with limited oxygen, every hour mattered. But they also knew that paying a ransom without understanding who they were dealing with could end in more violence.
A second contact came. The kidnapper called and instructed Robert Mackle to deliver the ransom to a specific location near a highway in Atlanta. Mackle followed the instructions. He placed the money in a suitcase, drove to the location, and left it as directed. Then he waited.
Barbara was not immediately released.
The break in the case
The FBI traced the ransom calls. They traced the motel registration. They traced the car spotted near the Rodeway Inn on the morning of the abduction. And they found a name: Gary Steven Krist.
Krist was 23 years old, a former convict with a record of escapes from youth detention centers and a history of theft and forgery. He was smart, calculated, and had a fascination with elaborate schemes. His accomplice was Ruth Eisemann-Schier, a 26-year-old woman from Honduras who had been living in the United States on a student visa.
Krist had rented the fiberglass capsule components from a marine supply company weeks earlier. He had purchased plywood, ventilation tubing, and battery-powered equipment from various hardware stores. He had carefully researched the Mackle family, selecting Barbara as the target because of her father’s wealth and the timing of her illness.
After collecting the ransom, Krist and Eisemann-Schier fled. But they made mistakes. Krist used his real name on a boat rental receipt. He was spotted purchasing supplies with ransom money. The FBI issued warrants. On December 20, 1968, just three days after the abduction, Krist was arrested in a mobile home near West Palm Beach, Florida. Eisemann-Schier was captured weeks later in Oklahoma after a nationwide manhunt.
The rescue
Krist gave up Barbara’s location after his arrest. He told investigators she was buried in a wooded area near Duluth, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. He provided coordinates. He claimed she had enough air to last several days.
FBI agents and local law enforcement raced to the site. They found fresh dirt and a small white tube sticking out of the ground. They began digging. Within minutes, they uncovered the capsule.
Barbara was alive.
She had been underground for 83 hours. She was dehydrated, cold, and shaken, but physically unharmed. She later described the moment the capsule was opened as the most overwhelming relief she had ever felt. She could see daylight. She could hear voices. She was free.
The trial and sentencing
Gary Krist was charged with kidnapping. He pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence, hoping to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1969.
Ruth Eisemann-Schier also pleaded guilty. She became the first woman ever added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. She was sentenced to seven years in federal prison and was later deported to Honduras after serving her time.
Barbara Mackle testified at both trials. She described the abduction, the capsule, the fear, and the relief of being found. She became a symbol of survival, but she struggled with trauma for years afterward.
In 1971, she published a memoir titled “83 Hours Till Dawn,” co-written with Miami Herald reporter Gene Miller. The book detailed every moment of the ordeal and became a bestseller. It was later adapted into a television movie.
The aftermath
Gary Krist was paroled in 1979 after serving ten years. He later earned a medical degree and practiced as a physician in Indiana under an assumed name until his past was revealed. His medical license was revoked in 2003.
Barbara Mackle, now Barbara Mackle Boggs, eventually moved past the public spotlight. She married and lived a quiet life in Florida. She rarely spoke publicly about the kidnapping, preferring to focus on the decades that followed rather than the 83 hours that defined her in the public eye.
The kidnapping of Barbara Mackle remains one of the most harrowing abduction cases in American history. It was meticulously planned, shockingly executed, and resolved only because the kidnappers left just enough of a trail for investigators to follow before it was too late.
Where to dive deeper
- Documentary: “83 Hours ‘Til Dawn” (CBS)
- Book: “83 Hours Till Dawn” by Barbara Jane Mackle and Gene Miller
- Podcast: “The Kidnapping of Barbara Jane Mackle” (Morbid)
