This Father’s Day will mean significantly more for the family of Panta Leon.
It comes four months after the Gill’s Pier man was kidnapped from a commercial bus in his native Mexico.
Panta was traveling to visit with family in Ceylea, a town in the north-central area of the country. His youngest sister had died the previous month and he wanted to be with there with family.
“This is the same journey I had been on with my wife, 6-month-old son and 6-year-old daughter in 2019 and along prior to that,” he said. “So, I felt comfortable that all would go well. An hour into my trip my life forever changed and so did my thoughts on how safe bus travel is in Mexico.”
Panta drove with a friend to Matamoros to hop on a bus to make the 10-hour trip.
About an hour into the trip, the bus stopped in the boarder town of Reynosa to pick up more passengers. Ten minutes later the bus turned off the main road onto a dirt road and them stopped. From his window, he saw five men in dark, plain hoodies.
“Two men, dressed the same as the others came in yelling and holding handguns,” Panta said, explaining they said they needed to check the bus. No details were given. “I did not resist, but I knew this was trouble for me.” The men took the passenger’s phones, handcuffed them, took his trademark cowboy hat, and hit them on the head with handguns and were tossed into the back of a black van, occupied by a woman and a small child, age 2.
“The way they treated us to this point made me think my life was over,” Panta said.
After a bumpy, dusty ride, the van stopped and the captives were taken to the back of an old cement block building with no doors. Access was through a large hole at the rear of the building that was covered with plywood, secured with screws that were removed to access the structure.
“I could hear the drill,” Panta said.
They called his wife, Mary, who was home with their children, Sofia and Delfino, ages 11 and 6, respectively, asking for the phones password.
••• “Two men were talking Spanish and Panta was asking me to give them in t information they needed,” Mary recalled. “I knew, once the call ended, that my husband was no longer safe on the bus, but that something terribly wrong had happened.”
Mary, a devout Catholic, fell to her knees and began to pray.
“At that moment I could not have both fear and faith in my heart,” she said.
After composing herself, she received a message from a credit card company, alerting her that their card was being used in Mexico.
Using this information, the mother-turned-sleuth tracked the kidnappers’ trail.
She spoke with a family friend who put her in contact with the FBI.
“I shared all the places the credit card charges had been made,” Mary said.
Meanwhile, Panta was being beaten in with a baseball bat in front of an older hostage, who implored the kidnappers to stop. They responded by beating him more severely.
Panta, who shares his wife’s faith, was comforted remembering he was carrying handmade rosaries, holy cards, holy oil and water and gifts for his family.
“I was numb at this point. I know I was given the grace of God not to feel the pain from the beatings and the unnatural position we had to stay in for days (tied up and piled in the rear of the van),” he said.
The kidnappers were demanding thousands of dollars in ransom through phone calls to Panta’s family in Mexico and Mary in Leelanau.
And while Mary was able to come up with the ransom, was advised not to answer the kidnappers’ demands.
Frequent beatings to the head, ribs, knees and back were with baseball bats.
At the end of the third day, Panta witnessed one of the kidnappers talking to a woman on his cell phone.
“Minutes later, we pulled up behind a bus… the same company as before,” he said.
The hostages were then told to get on the bus and say nothing. They’d have eyes on them.
The bus took them to a town and dropped him at a terminal.
“Not knowing what to do, since eyes were on us, we sat for a few minutes,” he said.
After some time, Panta got to the courage to ask a stranger of help and he found an “angel” who gave them enough money for waters.
The stranger helped Panta contact family members through social media.
“He made our last night in Mexico feel like God still had good people in my country,” Panta said.
••• Mary’s prayers and the prayers in a chain that extended world wide were answered of Sofia’s 12th birthday, March 7.
“It was just after blowing out her candles that we go the call,” Mary said. “Her father’s voice melted our hearts as he said, ‘Happy Birthday, Sofia.’ It was the best birthday gift ever.”
Panta needed three weeks in Texas just to get well enough to take the train home.
He is still recuperating having recently completed his physical therapy and is healing much faster than expected.
However, he has hearing loss in one ear as a result of the beatings and may not be helped by hearing aids.
The Leons consider his release and return home a miracle. So why not pray for another for his hearing.
“I have no doubts that our Father in Heaven is capable of anything,” Mary said, thanking all of those who prayed for her family. “Panta proves it.”
