Lessons from Adobe co-founder’s kidnapping ordeal

Chuck Geschke passed away on April 16.

It was around 8.55 in the morning on May 26, 1992. Chuck Geschke, millionaire co-founder of Adobe, parked his green Mercedes 500SL at his Silicon Valley office.

A grey Ford pulled up in the lot. A young man got out, holding a map.

“Do you work here?” he asked Geschke.

“Yes, can I help you?” Geschke replied. He thought the man needed help with directions.

And then Geschke vanished.

The understated man who changed technology with Adobe passed away on April 16 at the age of 81. But he nearly lost his life in 1992, when the man with the map turned out to be a kidnapper, with an accomplice sitting in the Ford.

The two men, in their mid-20s and inexperienced, demanded a heavy ransom, ultimately amounting to $650,000, from his family. They were captured five days later by the FBI as one of them tried to pick up the money. But Geschke came within minutes of death at the hands of one the kidnappers, who was panicking over the delay of his partner who had gone to collect the ransom.

The name of the man with the map was Mouhammad Albukhari, aka Steve, according to a detailed account of the incident in the Silicon Valley community newspaper ‘Town Crier’. Once Geschke was within grabbing distance Lin the parking lot, Steve revealed a gun beneath the map and took the tycoon hostage. Driving the car was Ahmad Sayeh, aka Rock.

Steve covered Geschke’s eyes with pieces of duct tape and made him wear sunglasses. The kidnappers immediately made the seriousness of their plan clear. If their instructions weren’t heeded, they would bomb Geschke’s home and almost the entire street. They also said once they had extracted the ransom, they would pass him on to their Lebanon-based organisation and demand even more money.

Geschke enjoyed huge amounts of luck during this nightmare, but there were some smart things he did that helped.

While in the kidnappers’ car, he noted where the sun was coming from and got an idea about the direction they were travelling in. Two, when they asked him how long it would take him to arrange the money, he fed them half-truths. This way they were assuaged while it allowed Geschke to keep some cards close to his chest. Thirdly, when the kidnappers started talking to his wife for ransom – after taking a break during which everyone watched the movie ‘Ghost’ -  Geschke got his daughter Kathy involved in the almost four-day negotiations. She was younger and in a better frame of mind to talk to the kidnappers. And it made them believe the family was serious about paying the ransom.

“They said if I lied to them, both my life and my family’s life were going to be in jeopardy, I figured the only thing I could do was play it fairly straight with them,” Geschke said. “They were very interested in what could be made liquid. They clearly wanted to get money fast.”

In the face of death, or perhaps because of the heightened focus it caused, Geschke’s mind worked fast. Steve and Rock were not ready to let Kathy drive with the ransom in the family’s Cadillac, fearing she would smuggle another person in the big car. But Geschke told them that was the only option as the family’s other two cars were due for repairs. Sure enough, an FBI agent was hiding in the back of the Cadillac. And dozens of others, plus a SWAT team, were zeroing in on the target from different directions.

Also, when Steve did not return from the ransom pickup, Geschke played with Rock’s mind, raising the possibility that Steve had double-crossed him.

And then the FBI arrived.  “Hi. I’m Larry Taylor. I’m with the FBI,” Geschke heard the magic words.

He did not believe it.

“Really. I’m Larry Taylor, and I’m with the FBI.”

The ordeal was over. Albukhari (Steve) and Ahmad Sayeh (Rock) were sentenced to life imprisonment.

It was not easy for the Geschkes to return to normal life. For years they struggled with the trauma, flashbacks, fears and media attention. They changed their address. But now and then they would be relaxed enough to laugh about the experience, at times discussing who would play them in a movie.