coping, and who's to say was the right way. maybe julie's. now that the court cases depositions and lawsuits are finally over. >> every morning, i wake up and i love her more and more each day, just like i did when she was here. you know, i have gotten to that point sometimes, when i look at a picture and i smile and i'm so glad for that because, for 23 years, nothing made me smile more than my daughter. >> hello, i am andrea canning, and this is dateline. >> she was young, worked hard and loved adventure. one moment, she had her whole life in front of her, the next -- >> it's a gun at your neck. >> abducted by strangers.

>> she said, don't move, don't scream. >> this u.s. citizen taking deep into the wilderness, chained to a tree, pulled there might be worst in-store, her family out of their mind and worry. >> i could not believe it. >> the american embassy leaping into action. >> this is going to be a long process, not to be solved overnight. >> but could she do something to save herself? with a suppressing tool, she set in motion a daring plan >> you would unlock the lock while no one was guarding you. >> and then one night in the darkness -- >> i started seeing flashlights. >> was the nightmare over or about to start all over again? ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to dateline. this is an extraordinary story of survival. a young woman who was abducted,

how her family and investigators raced to save her, she was plotting to save herself. she gave it everything she had with bravery and a belief in herself and a little something hidden in the bottom of her bag. >> here is kate snow with kidnapped. >> translator: we are with the girl. elisa is with us, do you understand? >> a young woman held captive in the south american jungle, chained to a tree, hundreds of miles from her family. >> she's just such a good woman. you feel really angry. you don't know what to do. >> translator: do you want her alive, or do you want her dead? >> kidnappers had targeted her for a reason. they thought and american family would pay up. >> how big an alarm bell goes off when an american is being hostage? >> the u.s. government starts moving when an american is being held hostage. >> she was only 24, but elisa

levy lived to tell about an ordeal that most of us could ever imagine. weeks of isolation, pain and fear. >> i did not want to die. i really wanted to try to do something about it. >> this is a story of strength, stamina and survival. how one young woman rose to a harrowing challenge. elisa used every ounce of determination and creativity that she had. she was willing to do anything, everything she could, to keep her family and herself alive. >> in a sense, elisa levy comes from two different worlds. ♪ ♪ ♪ her father, james levy, is an american, born and raised on long island a few miles from new york city. her mother, alicia ortiz was an ecuadorian schoolteacher. the two fell in love when james was a peace corps volunteer in the 19 80s, and they married soon after. >> translator: i had no idea that i would marry a green go. >> there are four children are all dual citizens of the u.s. and ecuador.

>> i always thought it would be better to take the kids to the states and bring them up in the states. >> but this american dad found their family adored the rural peaceful life in south america. james and his wife built a in the border of the ecuadorian jungle just over the border from columbia. they started an environmental group, el tropical, to protect the endangered reinforced around them. elisa, there are others that are,, loved her life in the wilderness. >> tell me about lisa. >> a beautiful, strong, young woman, very intelligent and focused on what she wanted to do. even as a child, she was always interested in plants and flowers. >> elisa his brother and sister, and he and maria. >> since it was with the, she always took care of us. >> she was protective? >> yeah. >> elisa always had a strong adventure street, was ready to find a new bird, explore a new patch of land. her mother always admired her spirit but kept a mindful i. >> translator: children are a

mother's life. >> you always want to protect your little girl, right? >> yes. >> still, her mother was eager for elisa to see the world, especially america. , as a teenager, elisa lived with her family in long island, worked at apple bees and dunkin'donuts. when she returned to ecuador, she enrolled at catholic university in the capital city of quito, where she studied botany and biology. this became her passion, the school bicycle club. she organized weekly races in the narrow streets of quito, took long bike trips to the countryside. elisa's other passion was el tropico, the environmental foundation started by her father. after college, she volunteered their, they can schoolkids into the jungle, teaching them to identify ecuador's hundreds a species of birds. elisa's ulises volunteer work with our el tropico took her from quito two the place where

she grew up, the north of ecuador, near the columbia border. the areas lush forced are home to a wider variety of tropical plants and birds, but they can also be a habitat for criminals. >> unfortunately, there is some serious crime issues here. >> fernando masseuse, born and raised in the bronx, works for the u.s. state department. at the time, he was the regional security officer in ecuador, the top american law enforcement agent in the country. >> the northern border is an area that has a lot of security challenges. >> how lot paramilitary organizations in columbia, traffic in drugs and contraband, and often used rural villages on the ecuador side of the border to refuel. in 2009, the best known group was called the farc, the revolutionary armed forces of columbia. they held french politician ingrid betancourt hostage in the jungle. for six years. but when you grow up somewhere, you don't necessarily see it

the way outsiders do. >> the area where you are working, maybe as a bad reputation for being dangerous, but you never felt it in any danger? >> not all, no. >> that's why elisa was not suspicious when a man from her hometown area called one day saying he was an official who wanted to start a bird project in another town near the columbia border. >> remember how you felt about that phone call? was it odd? was it normal? >> no, it was normal. >> she told him that she would be in the area soon, and she would meet up with him if he sent a driver to pick her up. saturday, october 17th, 2009, one of elisa's brothers drops her off with a driver of a trooper, whose supposed to take her to the meeting. >> you pull up with your brother, you see the blue trooper, you get out and get right in? >> yeah.

>> still, as she drove off, she had her brother right down the troopers license plate number, just in case. at first, things seemed fine. the driver was calm and friendly, but about an hour into the trip, he picked up two strangers, who said that they needed a ride, but that's not what they wanted. >> just points me with something here and says, don't move, don't scream, shut up, don't do anything. >> it's a gun? >> yeah. >> at your neck? >> yeah. >> coming up -- elisa's family learned what has happened to her, and after a chilling phone call -- >> do you want her alive, or do you want her dead? >> they wonder, what can they possibly do to bring her home? when dateline continues. copd isn't pretty. i'm out of breath, and often out of the picture.

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>> saturday, october 17th, 2009, ask your child's eczema saturday, october 17, 2009, elisa levy, a 24-year-old us elisa levy, a 24-year-old u.s. citizen was in the back of the suv, hurdling down dirt roads in remote ecuador, with a gun to her neck. but her family back in quito did not know a thing about it. the last they heard from her, she was off to a meeting about tropical birds. when she did not return to the city as scheduled or called, they started to worry. >> we thought that it was an accident or something like that happened. >> a mudslide, you could not get out of the town. >> a mudslide? >> yeah, it's common in rural areas here. you don't think the worse. >> elisa's father james was in san francisco at an environmental conference.

the family did not want to worry him, but after two days,, they sent a panicked email. >> would elisa ever do that? go away for two days without calling? >> his first thought, that border region where el tropico that's its work, where her daughter was ready for that meeting. >> the areas that were working is kind of complicated. there are a lot of things going on there. >> complicated? >> yeah. >> on monday, october 19th, two days after elisa disappeared, her mom got a phone call from a stranger. >> translator: he took me, don't worry, elisa it's okay. we have her in columbia. >> the caller told her in no uncertain terms, elisa had been kidnapped. >> translator: i said, why are you doing this to us, and the line cut. >> what is going through your head there? >> translator: it made me feel horrible. i threw the phone against the

wall. [crying] >> i could not believe it, because it's not something that usually happens. >> you ever worried about her much, or was she so independent and adventurous that you thought, well, elisa can take care of herself? >> i think that is one of the big mistakes i made, to work in this area, it's such a complicated area for so many years, and doing positive work with so many different communities on both sides at the border. everyone is on our side. it was an innocent, stupid way to look at things. >> elisa's father got on the next plane back to ecuador. it was time to take action. >> my first reaction was to try to deal with this on our own. >> the biggest question the family faced now was one that with not even occur to most americans. did it make sense to call in law enforcement? in ecuador, many people don't trust the police, even with a crime as serious as kidnapping, some ecuadorians try to solve the problem themselves. >> but there is another option. the ecuadorian police have an elite anti kidnapping unit known as -- 100 special agents trained to

track kidnappers, help families through the hiring process of negotiating a ransom and also, whenever possible, launch rescue raids. >> we realized that we could not do it by ourselves, and we needed help. >> with no other good choices, they levys called -- >> translator: call me, pepe. yeah. >> pepe, the pseudonym he goes by, was the top agent assigned to her case. he asked us to hide his identity, because he works undercover. >> translator: have 40 or 45 kicked up his eight year, but we got it under control. >> 40 to 45 a year? >> translator: yes. >> but this case was different, the victim was a u.s. citizen. pepe contacted the levys two contact the american embassy in quito. when james made the call, he was put through to the top u. s. security official in ecuador, fernando masseuse. >> how big an alarm bell goes off when an american is being held and hostage? >> the u.s. government starts moving when an american is being held hostage. >> quickly? >> yeah. >> it's not unheard of for americans to be kidnapped in

ecuador, but usually, they are quick jobs. a tourist in a taxi held for a few hours, forced to withdraw cash from atms. this case seemed far worse. >> god forbid that this is somehow associated with the farc in columbia, and the victim was going to be taken to a jungle and spent five years there. >> like betancourt? >> exactly. >> wednesday morning, october 21st, four days after elisa's kidnapping, agents arrived at the levy home. >> we had to get them prepared mentally. look, this is going to be a long process. it will not be solved overnight. >> the authorities told the levys that they would try to track down elisa's captors, but the most crucial work and solving and abduction is communicating with the kidnappers themselves. the ringleader had left a phone number wait elisa's mom, who would make that call? the agents decided that james levy, who now goes by a spanish name, jaime, had the department to take on the delicate task. >> jaime seemed to be able to

handle it. >> it's an incredibly difficult thing to do, to talk to the kidnappers of your own child. >> definitely. >> but the u.s. and ecuadorian agents were prepared to help. they brought sample scripts, telling jaime what they expect their captors to say, and what he should say in return. after a coaching session, he made the call, recorded. >> hello? >> translator: hello, this is jaime levy. i am searching for my daughter, elisa levy. it >> translator: you're calling about the girl? >> translator: who are you? why is this happening? is she okay? >> translator: are with the girl. elisa is with us. do you understand? >> translator: okay, what do you want? >> translator: look, she is fine, everything is okay, don't worry about that. >> translator: can i talk to her? >> translator: no, she is not here right now, but she is fine. what is going on, this is about money. we'll speak tomorrow.

we can talk then about how much for the girl. >> the call lasted four and a half minutes, the longest four and a half minutes of jaime levy's life. >> were they angry with you? were they polite with you? what were they like on the phone? >> tough, angry, threatening. >> translator: do you want her alive, or do you want her dead? >> translator: how can you ask something like that? i want her alive. >> to keep himself from breaking down, jaime avoided eye contact with his wife. >> i had to ask alicia to go out of the room. it was difficult, very difficult, you can imagine. >> so you did not cry, did you? not during the phone call? >> no, not during the phone call. >> but that evening, when the agents filed out of the house, jaime sat in his study with a bottle of whisky and wept. >> terror in the jungle, as her family pleads for her release, elisa's kidnappers grow increasingly menacing. >> it would say like, don't you ever think of screaming, because we will kill you.

>> when dateline continues. terror in the jungle. as her family pleads for her release, elisa's kidnappers grow increasingly menacing. andrea canning (voiceover): coming up-- elisa levy: like, i was just saying, like, "don't you ever think of screaming because we'll kill you." andrea canning (voiceover): --when "dateline" continues.

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elisa levy's parents in quito we're working feverishly for her release, bringing in law enforcement agents and opening phone negotiations with her kidnappers. less than two miles away, but many roads apart, elisa was in a remote corner of ecuador. she could not know her family was fighting to free her. she only knew that the past four days had been the most painful, disorienting, terrifying of her life. when those strangers had first jumped in the suv, a gun to her neck, she was not even sure what was real. >> i did not know what was going on. i was thinking we had a car accident, and i hit my head, and i am dreaming or something. >> you're dreaming?

>> yeah. >> but it was aid that bear that elisa could not escape. the man with the gun spoke to her directly. >> he said, yeah, don't move or scream, if you help, nothing will happen to you. >> elisa the not say a word or move a muscle. two men pushed her into the well of the vehicle and threw a blanket over her head. >> they put handcuffs and put something in my mouth -- >> something in your mouth? like a gag? >> something like that. >> elisa was driven for more than an hour along bumpy, rural roads, and then the trooper pulled to a second stop. the door opened. she heard someone approaching. >> this guy touches my arm and says, if you collaborate, everything will be fine. behave and come with us. >> elisa realized she recognized his voice. it was the same man who had been calling to arrange a meeting with her about the bird project. >> there was something messed up going on. >> her captors directed her from the vehicle. it dawned on her that they're

taking her somewhere isolated, more dangerous. >> we started walking through some woods, and they're talking like, yeah, be quiet. whispering and saying like don't you ever think of screaming, because we will kill you. >> from her first moments in captivity, elisa was determined to stay calm and alert. she knew one wrong move would cost her her life. >> did you think about screaming? >> no, no, because, no, i did not think about doing anything, and he's depicting at the time. >> when the kidnappers finally removed the blanket from her head, she saw that there were heavily armed and wearing ski mask. they claimed that they were gorillas from a paramilitary group, and elisa's ordeal was about to get even worse. her captors told her that she was not the only one in danger. they threatened her parents and a siblings back in quito. >> we have a lot of people around your house, so if you tried to escape or something, it will be just, don't even think about it. >> they convinced you that they had people all around family, as well? >> yeah, i did not even want to think if it was true or >> you can't take that chance?

>> yeah, exactly. >> the strangers asked elisa if she had a gps chip under her skin. that may sound odd, but in latin america, the ultra rich sometimes implant checking devices so that they can find family members in the event of a kidnapping. >> who do you think i am? it sounds like i am a millionaire. >> when they ask that, did it occur to you that they thought that you had a lot of money? >> i told them, i don't have a lot of money. >> but the kidnappers were not convinced. it totally said that they were sure that she had money. at their all, she is a u.s. citizen within american father. >> he said, no, we've been tracking your family for 12 years. we know everything. we do all your activities and everything. >> one of the armed men ordered her to send a message to her parents. she made a quick recording into a stranger cell phone, repeating the words he told her to say. >> just say, mom and that, i am fine. do whatever they say and don't talk at the police. >> i did not want them to worry about it. just try to, you know, somehow

to let them know that i was fine. >> you're not fine? >> yeah but, if i would be crying on the message, my mom would breakdown, so, i am trying to sound that i was fine. >> the kidnappers rifled through elisa knee's backpack. they took her cell phone, watch, her ipad, but they left her with a change of clothes and some books, and something else that she remembered much later, a few loose hairpins down at the bottom of her back. >> she spent that first night in a tiny, makeshift tent, handcuffed to a tree and watched over by two guards with guns. elisa knew that she had to stay centered, keep from breaking down. she focused her mine on her hometown. >> thinking about my childhood, thinking about my family, all the nice things i've done, i was all the time trying to remember things like that. >> to keep yourself positive? >> yeah, and when people came to talk to me, it was like a back to reality. >> and reality hit hard the morning of sunday, october 18th.

>> they put a chain on my feet. >> they put a chain around your legs and ankles? >> my ankles, yes. >> what was that chained to? >> to a tree right by the door at the tenth. >> alone, chained to a tree, lisa levy did not know if anyone realized that she was missing, or if her family had been armed. she had no idea what would come next. >> did you think that you would survive? >> i did not want to think about that. >> coming up, a frantic father negotiates for his daughter's life. >> translator: if you want her back, it will be $1 million. >> could her family come up with the money in time? >> when dateline continues. (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. [music playing] that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things.

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former gop presidential candidate and arkansas governor, asa hutchins said, has thrown his support behind nikki haley just days before the new hampshire primary. hutchinson has been a vocal critic of donald trump, and posted on x, that trump quote, tried to divide america. and a number of u.s. personnel were checked out for possible traumatic brain injuries, and at least one iraqi service member was hurt. after a missile and rocket attack on the airbase in western iraq. and now back to dateline! dateline >> jaime levy, an american kate snow (voiceover): jaime levy, living in ecuador was negotiating for his daughter's release. >> translator: hola, this is elisa's, how is she? >> his little girl was somewhere out in the jungle, kidnapped by dangerous criminals. jaime was feeling betrayed by the country where he made his home. >> if you ever in the back of your mind think about kidnapping as a possibility?

>> i had thought about it a little bit, but we don't make any money. but that's the impression that people have here. an american, you're probably a millionaire. >> less than a week into elisa 's captivity, in a phone call recorded by law enforcement agents, the kidnappers ringleader put a price on her life. >> translator: if you want to her back, it will be 1 million u.s. dollars. >> 1 million u.s. dollars. >> that's a lot of money. possible for this family? >> [speaking non-english] >> following instructions from law enforcement experts, jaime tote the ringleader, he would not consider paying the ransom until he knew for sure that elisa was alive. kidnapping experts call it a proof of life. even though elisa's captors forced her to report a message early on, they never actually sent it to her family. >> no pictures, no talking to elisa? alicia? >> no.

>> so jaime asked the ringleader questions only his daughter could answer, the name of her grandmother and godfather. >> and when you got the right answers back on the line, what was that feeling? >> at least we knew that she was alive. >> translator: okay, okay, we will do everything you tell us, but take care of my daughter, please. >> the levys knew that they needed to come up with cash for the kidnappers. >> how much money where you prepared to send them? >> the only thing we really have is this house, so the bank offered us 80,000 dollar loan on the house. >> 80,000 is less than 10% of the $1 million the kidnappers wanted. in desperation, jaime called his family back in new york. >> my brother was going to cash in his retirement plan, and my other sister was going to do that also. >> they were willing to do that for you? >> yeah, and then we were going to sell the house and paid them

back. >> i guess you do whatever you have to do at that point. >> translator: of course, of course, everything. >> jaime would talk to the ringleader every day or two, negotiating the ransom. jaime offered $80,000. the ringleader said it had to be closer to that million dollar mark. jaime set he could not possibly raise more than 150,000. basically, they were haggling over the price of his daughter 's life. >> making the negotiations even more tense, again and again, the ringleader issued a dire warning, don't call the police. >> translator: they want to note that you talked to nobody about this. it would be best for your daughter if you communicate with nobody about this. >> translator: no, sir, i am here with my wife and son. there is nobody else. >> it was a lie, of course. even as he spoke, jaime was

surrounded by a fbi agent, a state department official and a top operative of the ecuadorian anti kidnapping police. >> translator: the police don't know. >> in reality, law enforcement agents were on the hunt for elisa's kidnappers, identifying and surveilling known criminals in the area who could be suspects. >> we were able to undertake basic intelligence operation, big outs, investigations. >> but in a kidnapping investigation, pepe told us, time is never on his side. communications from the ringleader were getting shorter, sharper. >> things turned a little bit, a kidnapper started getting anxious. >> you can tuck that day weren't getting the results that they wanted. >> the tension inside the levy home was palpable, so was the pain. the little sister maria found and old stuffed animal of elisa in the room that they used to share as kids. >> i used to talk to my sister, when i was going to sleep. i used to have a teddy bear that was her. >> you think that she could hear you?

>> i don't know. energy is so powerful, maybe it's like, when you are connected and feel it so much, i used to close my eyes and imagine her. we all set she was fine, she's fine. >> the whole family was doing all that they could to send positive energy to lisa. >> what would you say? >> translator: that we love her very much, that her family was thinking about her. she is a strong woman who can handle a situation like this. >> of course, the levy family had no idea what elisa had been through over the past four days or what she had yet to endure. >> coming up, elisa's kidnappers up the ante. >> this guy said, we might cut a finger off. >> cut your finger off? >> yeah. >> when dateline continues. ♪♪ when you have moderate—to—severe eczema, it's okay to show off. with dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin.

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lisa levy's family was nowhere close to raising the million dollar ransom in her kidnappers were growing angrier by the day meanwhile lisa set chained to a tree with her life hanging in the balance here again it is kate snow with kidnapped. october 31st 2009, three weeks into. the u.s. citizen was still change to a tree in the ecuadorian jungle, exhausted

unable to move more than a few feet, her body aching from the confinement. she was struggling to remain strong. but fighting off her fears is growing more difficult from the moment she disappeared. her family back in keto was sending her mental messages of hope. as she sat alone for hours alyssa almost felt she could hear her mother's. >> voice i don't know if it wasn't me, because i was desperate or whatever. especially at night. i felt a lot of energy coming, did you hear your mother when did she say? i miss, you she drew comfort from those imagine in the dark of night although she had never been very religious she started to pray >> i would pray every night, a couple of things that i know, and i felt the people pray with me. i don't know how to explain it, but i was not able to feel sad

anymore. i was just calm. >> the two guards watching over her were the only human contact she had. their boss, the ringleader, came and went from ramshackled what about 50 yards from her tent, but elisa never saw him. she came to think of her guards as the good guy who what bring her rice and beans, we assure hurt that she would soon be released, and the bat guy who often threatened to kill her or her family back home. but she never learned their names. she was determined not to become overly attached to her captors. she's been fiercely independent and comfortable in the wilderness from the time that she was a little girl. now, she used those qualities to keep her mind occupied. she gazed up into the trees for hours, trying to identify birds by their songs and colors.

>> it actually was a really nice forced with a lot of birds and things to see. >> and by daylight, the one novel that she brought with her was always open, a colombian love story. >> i read that book like 12 times or even more. >> over and over again? >> yeah. >> but then, night would come again, the chains around her ankles made it impossible to sleep for more than an hour or two at the time, every noise in the trees seemed like a it could signal a new danger. lying awake, she'd imagine herself soaring on her bicycle, and she would dream about a big bite trip she was organizing to raise money for conservation in just a couple of months. >> i don't want to miss the trip around south america that were planning. that's what i want to do. >> she cried alone, not once did she let her captor see

that. she did not want to show weakness, especially to the guard she called the bad guy, who treated her roughly and issued dark threats. >> we might just sell you to a different group. >> a bigger group? >> yeah. >> a more scary group? >> i had no idea that they did that with people, but -- >> elisa understood his warning. her current captors could sell her to the farc, and even more brutal guerrilla group with expertise in holding hostages. it took extraordinary will power, but elisa forced herself to push aside our fears. >> i am all but myself. if i get sad and start thinking about it all over the again, is not going to be good for me. i better be positive. >> elisa was making a conscious effort to cultivate the guard she called the good guy. it was starting to work. he spoke to her more often at mealtime. he even brought her yarn. >> so i start doing a scarf. >> you had knitting needles with you?

>> no, he brought them. >> did you ever think of using the needles for anything else? >> i was afraid because from the beginning, i had no idea if i did something, my family could be hurt, so i did not even think about that. >> the needles would be no match against guns, but elisa thought of a way to use them. she knitted for scarves for the good guard, and an exchange, she asked him for information. he gave her a key nugget, her parents were alive, he told her and negotiating for her release. >> he was like, they're talking, everything will be fine, just calm down. >> but the guard that she called the bad guy was escalating's threats. >> this guy said, we might cut you a thinker of the pressure

your family. >> cut your finger off? >> yeah. >> of course, elisa did not know about the u.s. and ecuadorian agencies on the hunt for her captors. now, the colombian government had joined the effort too. >> the law enforcement 30s including -- >> zeroing in and circling the? >> if anybody as experience in kidnapping matters, it's the columbia authorities. >> some of the specifics are classified, but the colombians provided high tech equipment to help the team track the location of the ringleaders so cell phone there was no way to know if he was in the simplest as elisa, but the kidnappers we're leaving behind other clues to. >> we'd like to say that there is no such thing as the perfect crime. they always leave a trace. >> and it was elisa herself who gave them their best clue. remember when she first client into the car, she asked on her brothers to make note that the license plate number. investigators check the number against video vehicle passing through toll plazas all over ecuador. the kidnappers trooper was recorded passing through several poll boots and heading

to the columbia border. but 18 days into her captivity, out in her makeshift tent and a remote patch of forest, elisa levy it's not sitting around waiting to be rescued. >> i did not want to die. i did not want to keep thinking that my family was thinking that i was dead. i wanted to try to do something about it. >> there were stretches of time when the two armed guards would wander off. the only thing holding elisa in the kidnappers encampment was that chain binding her to the tree. >> and the chain, i assume, has a big lock on it? >> actually, it had a small lock. >> the knitting needles were too large to pick the lock. was there another way? she thought about it 100 times, but now desperation sparked creativity. >> remember, her captives had taken her electronics but not her backpack and those bobby pins mixed in with loose change at the bottom. she reached and and pulled out two and bend them into tools.

>> over the next three days, whenever the guards were out of sight, she maneuvered the pins in the locks keyhole. she tried again and again. finally, the lock popped open, but elisa seemed cautious. the bad guy seemed brutal enough to shoot if she tried to escape. >> so what i did, i would climb in the trees nearby and tried to see where i was. >> so you would unlock the lock, climb up in the trees and tried to see where you were, all while nobody was close guarding you? >> yeah. >> and then go back and sit down and put a lock back on? >> yeah, -- >> it's pretty brave. >> yeah, i was afraid that they might see me. >> with each climb, elisa grew more bold. soon, she would have to decide whether to run from her kidnappers. she closed her eyes tight, praying for guidance from her mother, miles away in quito. >> i heard this, or i had this communication, i don't know, with my mom -- >> you heard your mother's voice? >> oh, i believe it was my mother's voice.

>> what did she say? >> don't risk yourself, don't try to escape. just wait a couple more days. >> but elisa could also read the signals that she was getting from her guards, both spoken and silent. she was running out of time. >> coming up, suddenly, movement in the deep darkness of the jungle. >> i start seeing some flashlights -- >> but who was it? rescuers or more danger? when dateline continues. with the majority of my patients with sensitivity i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum and enamel it relieves sensitivity helps restore gum health

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>> friday, november six, it it had been 20 days since the levy family had seen or spoken to 24 year old elisa, 20 brutal days. >> i mean, you can't do anything. you just had to wait and wait. and how was your mom through all this? >> it was like really hard. the police people told us that you have to be the support for your mother. she's really suffering. >> she's a good mom, a protective mom? >> it's true. >> saturday, november 7th, 2009, elisa look -- she heard rustling in the

forest. >> i start seeing some like flashlights. >> in the beams of light slicing through the trees, elisa could only make out silhouettes. there were many of them moving briskly and carying military style weapons. it occurred to elisa in an instant, these were farc rebels. >> it went through my mind that really fast, i will be years in columbia with this group. >> the lights and shadows kept advancing towards elisa's flimsy tent. >> you think you're in trouble? >> i was sure about that, this was like a terrorist group that was going to take me to the middle of nowhere for years. >> and then, one of the armed men burst inside the tent. >> he goes around me and holds me and says, it's okay, you're going to be fine. >> no, please, don't take me. >> he is saying, were from the police, were from the police, we're rescuing you. >> did you believe him? >> i was trying to, you know. i was just hoping it was not a dream, because i thought i might be dreaming. >> translator: we covered elisa with a blanket and put ourselves on top of her, so that she could not be harmed again. >> the man cradling elisa in a bulletproof blanket was pepe,

the undercover agent from the ecuadorian anti kidnapping police. >> he said, it's okay, elisa, i've been with jaime. when i heard my parents name, i was happy. >> translator: she began to hug me, and we told her what we always say to those we rescue, welcome to liberty. >> elisa -- alicia got the phone call. i remember i was still in bed, and she started screaming. everyone jumped up. >> translator: we all screamed and got up, it was the best moment of my life. >> you feel that you could just breathe again. >> she was safe, but was she really all right? they would have to wait hours to find out. >> the rescuers whisked elisa back here too quito. she was desperate to see her family. she had not even talk to them

by phone, but the police officials had a different idea. they wanted to publicize their victory so that their families of kidnap victims might feel more comfortable calling the police. they wanted to televise the levy family reunion live on camera. >> elisa was taken to the police headquarters to wait for a one pm press conference. officials would announce her rescue and finally allow her to see her parents, brother and sister. >> i can't remember like every single minute of that waiting. it was like a, long, long time. i could even say, that was longer than the three weeks that i was away. >> after a brief press conference, the levys walked through the crush of cameras into elisa's arms. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> it was a good feeling to know that our daughter was

safe. >> it was the best thing ever, just being able to see them. and also to feel that they're fine, they know that i am fine, it was all that i needed and wanted, just beat with my family. >> in the end, her captors had been common criminals, not guerrilla fighters at all. elisa's testimony helped convict the ringleader and the guard she called the good guy, but the bat guy is still at large. since her kidnapping, the she has a thought of the u.s. and south american agents that saved her every day, but she's tried to put those terrifying 21 days behind her. still, she agreed to come with me to a reconstruction of the place where she was held, created for us by the agents who rescued her. >> what does it feel like to be back here now? >> weird. >> weird? >> yeah.

>> elisa still remembers every detail. >> you're like, which chain, right? both ankles are just one? >> at the beginning, both, but then just one. >> what about going to the bathroom? >> i had to go as far as the chain with that we go. >> it would not let you off the chain to go to the bathroom? >> no. >> when you look back now, as he spent looking at this, can you believe you did 21 days in something that? >> well, i think i have not really assimilated all of this yet. the place itself was nice, the view at the forest. some people would not want to be in a forest for 21 days, but rather be there than a small dark room. >> you're a very positive thinker. >> well, my mind, sorry, it works like that to go through all that -- >> to keep you alive and sane. >> yeah. >> during those days chained to a tree, elisa found strength dreaming of the freedom she would feel soaring on her bicycle, and it may sound hard to believe, but just eight weeks after coming home, she left for that long planned bike trip through south america.

a 4000 mile journey covered by the local press. >> for me, it's been one of the greatest things in my life. yeah, after all that happened, it was like a healing thing. >> she was like trying to retake her life, not sitting on her bed to cry or stuff like that. >> she helped us. >> she helped you to get through it? im happy being alive, happy being with my family. happy to get a second chance >> hello.