''Held Hostage'' is a

Lifetime Movie LMN, an initialism for the Lifetime Movie Network, also known as Lifetime Movies, is an American pay television network launched on June 29, 1998 and owned by the Lifetime Entertainment Services subsidiary of A&E Networks, a joint venture between ...

starring

Julie Benz Julie Benz (born May 1, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Darla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Darla on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel (1999 TV series), Angel'' (1997–2004), and as Rita Bennett on ''Dexter (TV s ...

that aired on July 19, 2009. It is based on the true story of Michelle Renee Ramskill-Estey who also wrote the novel. Hal Foxton Beckett was nominated for a

Leo Award The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...

for the music featured in the movie.

Plot

Michelle Ramskill-Estey (

), a single mother, is kidnapped by three masked men and held hostage until she is forced to rob a bank which is the only option she has to save her only child's life while they are both wired to explode.

Actual events

In November 2000, Michelle Ramskill-Estey and her 7-year-old daughter Breea Ramskill returned to their

Needles, California Needles is a city in San Bernardino County, in the Mojave Desert region of Southern California. Situated on the western banks of the Colorado River, Needles is located near the California border with Arizona and Nevada. The city is accessible v ...

home, only to find 4 men, armed with guns. They strapped fake bombs to the two and ordered Ramskill-Estey to drive to a

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

location, where she worked, and give them the $360,000 in the vault. Three people were charged, two men and one woman. The two men were convicted and the woman was acquitted of all charges. The story was shown on '' I Survived...'' and '' 48 Hours''.

Cast

as Michelle Ramskill-Estey * Brendan Penny as Chris Clark/Money One *

Sonja Bennett Sonja Bennett (born August 24, 1980) is a Canadians, Canadian actress and screenwriter. Her film debut was in the Canadian feature film ''Punch'' (2002), for which she won the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Fi ...

as Sandi Clark *

Natasha Calis Natasha Calis (born 27 March 1999) is a Canadian actress known best for her role in the 2012 supernatural horror film ''The Possession'', where she plays the role of Emily Brenek, a possessed girl, as well as her role as Claire McDeere in the 201 ...

as Breea Ramskill

Other media

The case was reconstructed for an episode of the Japanese television show ''World Extreme Mystery'', which aired in 2019.

References

External links

* 2009 television films 2009 films 2009 crime drama films American crime drama films Crime films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films based on American novels Lifetime (TV channel) films American drama television films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language crime drama films {{US-tv-drama-film-stub