Nancy Travis Remarks on Chilling Parallels Between Van Oosten Kidnapping & Nancy Guthrie
What To Know
- The 2017 kidnapping of Connie and Larry Van Oosten draws chilling parallels to the recent Nancy Guthrie case.
- The Van Oostens’ ordeal is dramatized in Lifetime’s Rescued By Faith: The Connie and Larry Van Oosten Story.
- Actress Nancy Travis, who portrays Connie, emphasizes the universal power of faith and resilience.
In 2017, grandparents Connie and Larry Van Oosten went through an unthinkable ordeal when they were abducted at gunpoint from their home in rural Illinois, forced into the trunk of a car, and held captive in a secret bunker. The couple vanished without a trace—much like the disappearance now dominating headlines surrounding Nancy Guthrie.
“As soon as [Guthrie’s kidnapping] happened, I thought ‘My God, is this a parallel or what?’” shares actress Nancy Travis, who plays Connie Van Oosten in Lifetime‘s Rescued By Faith: The Connie and Larry Van Oosten Story. “All I can do is sympathize with what that family is going through, and certainly Nancy Guthrie herself. … It does make me wonder if it was somebody that they knew and just a desperate person — those same sort of circumstances.”
While the Van Oostens’ story ultimately has a happy ending, Guthrie’s fate is still unknown.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” admitted Travis when she was approached to play the real-life Connie Van Oosten. More than the horrifying abduction story, it was the title — Rescued by Faith — that really intrigued her.
Lifetime
“I found it so fascinating, and something so universal … when you or anyone is in a place of turmoil or struggle, facing life and death situations, and that notion of believing in something that has you in their hands,” Travis explains. “And somehow that gives you comfort, and that gives you power, and that makes you unafraid of whatever the outcome is.”
The couple relied on their faith in God to find the courage to survive and ultimately live to tell their story.
“She was able to psychologically unhinge [her captor by] using her faith and distill and know the lie that he was using,” Travis shares. “When she was able to figure it out — before she knew who it was, and that this doesn’t add up — I do think she might’ve been able to unravel him and get him to release them.”
When Travis spoke with Van Oosten about her experience, she said the most chilling moment came when her abductor taunted, “Where is your God now?” In that instant, Van Oosten knew she was facing true evil.
While it’s terrifying to follow this ordinary couple’s nightmare, especially with Guthrie’s horrifying abduction story still in headlines, this is ultimately a story of faith, resilience, and hope.
“It’s a very human story,” Travis concludes. “I am proud to be a part of it and certainly proud to play Connie.”
Connie and Larry Van Oosten have written a book about their ordeal, Rescued for a Reason: An Unbelievable True Story of Kidnapping, Theft and the Power to Overcome, which is available on Amazon.
Lifetime’s Rescued By Faith: The Connie and Larry Van Oosten Story recounts the couple’s harrowing ordeal and will air Saturday, April 4 at 8/7c.
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