A woman met her husband in a Bible group. Six kids later, she discovered he was holding a couple captive in the basement

NEED TO KNOW

• After meeting in a bible study group, Donielle Showvay and Chad Schipper settled into a life that feels “too good to be true”

• Nearly two decades after their marriage, Schipper was arrested for a horrific crime that turned their family of eight upside down.

• Now their story is being examined in a new episode of Hulu Betrayal: Secrets & Lies titled “The Kidnapper Who Studied the Bible”

When Donielle Showvay first met Chad Schipper at a college bible study at Randin’s sister’s college, she could never have predicted how their lives would end.

Showvay looks back at the beginning of their relationship in episode 3 of the eight-part docu-series Betrayal: Secrets & Lies titled “Bible Study Kidnapper” premiered April 12 on ABC. She laughed, recalling that on their first date, the two of them watched movies – including So I married an ax murderer — with her sister and the boy her sister was interested in at the time.

“He was known for being very smart, very kind,” Barbie Dangond, a college friend of Showvay and Schipper, recalled in the episode.

Showvay and Schipper went on to marry and settle into a life that Showvay recalls thinking was “too good to be true.” Not long after, Schipper came to his wife with a jarring confession: He had had a “sexual encounter in a public bathroom with a man.”

Even though a marriage counselor advised Showvay to leave Schipper, she was determined to keep the relationship going, and a few months later, she discovered they were expecting their first child, a daughter named Grace.

The couple, who would welcome six children together during their 17 years of marriage, moved to a larger home in Erie, Ill., as Schipper’s financial consulting business continued to grow. In the new house, Schipper had an office on the first floor in which he spent many hours – often working late into the night and sleeping downstairs, much to Showvay’s dismay.

At one point, he tried to forge a business relationship with a couple in their church who had just made a large sum of money. After several meetings, Larry and Connie Van Oosten declined to work with Schipper, believing he was still too early in his financial career. At this time, Schipper decided to start buying real estate to renovate and rent out for additional income.

Schipper spent more time away from home – always explaining his absence as related to one of the rent payments. One night in 2017, everything changed when one of the couple’s children saw a car approaching their house without him recognizing it. At the same time, Schipper texted their daughter Grace to wrap the sledgehammer handle with black electrical tape. While the girl thought it was a strange request, she complied and was told she would receive “special treatment if she did a good job,” she recalled in the episode.

A few nights later, Showvay woke up to loud bangs as the house was filled with police looking for her husband – and asking questions about Van Oostens.

It turned out that Schipper – using a sledgehammer that his daughter had prepared – broke into Van Oosten’s house in the middle of the night and kidnapped the elderly couple with a stun gun, duct tape over their mouths, eyes and handcuffs. To communicate with them, Schipper used a voice-distorting device and at one point asked them, “Where is your God?”

Schipper then drove the couple to a bank and forced Connie inside and took a check for $350,000. According to the episode, he told her that if she didn’t, he would kill Larry. While in the bank, Connie wrote a note on a church flyer in her wallet and gave it to the teller. The letter said she was in trouble, leading police to search for Van Oostens’ whereabouts.

“We’ve dealt with a lot of violent crimes, but this case was strange. It was almost like an episode of a TV series. Criminal mind,” said Chris Endress, retired captain of the Illinois State Police.

Because the check was sent to an LLC linked to Schipper, police went after him. After a car accident, Schipper was taken to the hospital and quickly confessed to the kidnapping.

While searching one of his homes, police discovered a room with a television screen broadcasting security footage and an elderly couple could be seen in a concrete room shackled to the wall, blindfolded. They then found a steel door in one of the house’s cabinets that led to the soundproof basement.

During a police interview in the episode, Schipper told police he “felt desperate” and was “trying to buy time” due to the failure of his business. It was also revealed that Schipper allegedly embezzled money from his clients, stole money from various family members, and forged documents to borrow money from his parents’ house. According to police, the money he tried to get from Van Oostens was how he planned to repay his debt.

Schipper was ultimately sentenced to 60 years in prison, a result that Tim Mohs, Showvay’s father, called “glorious.”

While going through a divorce that conflicted with Showvay’s faith, she knew it was “the only safe option” for her and her children. Schipper tried to contact her through letters from prison, even pretending to be a Southern woman to try to convince her to forgive him – all to no avail. Showvay has not spoken to him since his arrest.

“I have a really hard time figuring out what reality is as opposed to what I think reality is,” Showvay said. Through navigating her new life, she reconnected with her “first love” Billy, whom she dated as a teenager and married him.

Grace said: “Our mother has grown up a lot, she is a stronger, more confident person. “She smiles a lot now, especially when Billy is in our house. I saw a lot of happiness in her that I had never seen before. I love her laugh so much.”

New episodes of Betrayal: Secrets & Lies airs weekly at 10pm Sundays on ABC and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu

Read the original article about Humans