imagine being the mother on the other end of this call. >> if you guys don't pay $1 million for me by one week, they will kill me, okay? >> narrator: her daughter was on the phone a world away, she had been kidnapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> i feel so awful, i can't believe they're doing this. i hate doing this to you guys. >> narrator: this mother negotiated with kidnappers, with her daughter's life on the line. >> did you keep it together? >> i did. i had to be strong for her. >> narrator: and the daughter faced unimaginable fears. >> my head is pulled back, and then there was a serrated knife. >> narrator: their stories are intertwined, amanda lindhout and

her mother, melinda stewart, a mother driven by strength, courage and most of all endurance. a story amman za anda is tellin the first time in a book she's written and tonight. amanda's childhood wasn't idyll idyllic, her parents divorced when she was 8, her mother worked mostly cashier jobs to raise three children. life wasn't easy for mother and daughter. amanda yearned even after an early age for a world beyond her hometown. >> one constant was that i wanted to be a world traveler, i wanted to go to every country in the wor the world. >> you're a kid and how old are you? >> 12 years old. >> the images that i saw on

"national geographic" was everything that my hometown wasn't, a dream really. >> narrator: amanda realized her dream when she was 19 after saving up from her job as a waitress, she went on for first trip to venezuela. >> the whole world was wide open to me at that time. >> narrator: so wide open, she travelled to guatemala and the middle east. and on a trip to africa in 2006, she found not only adventure, but something else. love. >> i see an attractive manage sitting on the porch in front of the hotel and that was nigel brennan. >> narrator: nigel, an australian photo journalist was drawn to her as well. >> what were those first weeks of your relationship like? >> i saw him capturing images and telling stories that he felt

really passionate about. >> narrator: but the passion and adventure that amanage da -- amanda in africa was short lived. he had a wife. >> he told me he had something to addition close. i felt sort of devastated by that news. >> narrator: amanda and nigel went their separate ways. she went to india. >> you cross boundaries. going from india to pakistan, it did feel like a big deal to me, it was something i really wanted to do, and i did it. and afghanistan was right next door. >> narrator: mom lorinda wasn't thrilled but she said her daughter was headstrong, and the more amanda traveled, the more she saw a path to a career.

>> at first she was traveling just for the sake of traveling and seeing the world. then she thought, i would love to write about the people that i'm meeting. >> narrator: amanda sold her first story in photos about the remote kuchi people of after staafter -- afghanist afghanistan. working for iran was less than ideal, but amana managmmaanda ha steppingstone to another job. >> to be paid to live somewhere exotic must have been really attractive. >> yeah, absolutely. >> narrator: but war reporting was more daunting than she expected. >> i'm also starting to look like a little bit further out on to the horizon. what other stories are out there that i feel passionate about? at the top of my list was

somalia. >> narrator: somalia, one of the most dangerous countries on the planet, so much so few reporters travelled there. there's been no national government for more than 20 years. islamic rebels rule much of the country, but amana managmmaanda as a freelance journalist wanted to make a name for hers. >> she told me that she was going to somalia. >> narrator: kelley cox was amanaa mana amanda's best friend. they had traveled together before she went to somalia. >> she said that there was children starving in the refugee camp and no one was telling their story. >> narrator: as amanda was starting this new phase of her professional life, her personal life intruded. she heard from nigel after his divorce. >> you tell him where you're going? >> i tell him where i'm going

and he's still interested in pursuing journalism. why not invite him to go with me? >> narrator: ammanda told her mother about the trip. >> were you, to use your mom's words, a little headstrong? >> i was headstrong and i was even a touch naive. i don't think that i had spent enough time throughout any 20s on what would happen if something went wrong. >> he said to me, your head, your head alone is worth half a million dollars in mogadishu, be careful. coming up, a single terrifying moment that transformed ammanda lindhout's life. >> he was armed with an ak-47.

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i don't think that i had spent life. >> narrator: it looked peaceful from above as amanda and nigel descended into the war torn somalia in 2008. >> as i looked out my window, it was untouched paradise from the sky. but as soon as our plane touched down in mogadishu and we got off, i knew what many had told me about somalia was true. >> narrator: the capital city seemed lawless. this was after all the city where 18 u.s. army rangers died

in the battle for mogadishu depicted in the movie "blackhawk down." >> we got a blackhawk down. >> was there something in the area? >> it was very palpable in the airport. a very chaotic environment. >> narrator: the pair went to their hotel and met their local staff and security team, the people they hired to protect their lives. those first few days, they moved around somalia with ease. >> i feel like i settled into the mogadishu experience. >> narrator: back at home, amanda's mother melinda was worried about her daughter. >> every time i talked to her i told her i loved her. i couldn't say it enough. >> narrator: amanda managed to tampa down her nervousness and get to work. >> narrator: as you were going

down the road, what were you doing? >> i'm looking out the window, and i'm lost in thought. the vehicle started to slow down and i looked up. about a dozen armed men were emerging from where they had been hidden behind that vehicle with ak-47s. i just went into shock. the next thing i knew, my door was pulled open and i found myself lying facedown in the dirt, spread eagle with a gung he gun held to the back of my head. >> terrifying. >> that was the line in the standing of my life. there's my life before that moment and there's my life after that moment. >> narrator: in that moment, she feared her life might end. but instead, she was picked up and shoved back into a car with nigel, three gunmen crowded into the front seat, several more in the back. she didn't know who they were or why they were being taken.

>> we went on this wild desert drive offroad. and one of the leaders of this whole kidnapping operation was in the front seat. i asked, is this about money? and he said to me, uh, it might be something like that. >> narrator: 9,000 miles away from mogadishu,'re in sylvan lake canada, amanda's sitting on the porch, the radio said that amanda had been taken hostage. >> do you remember john's voice on the phone? >> he said i don't know what to do. i felt like we were so far apart and we didn't know where our daughter was. >> narrator: melinda was still in shock when she arrived at her ex-husband's house. she was desperate to know what to do next.

>> i knew i had to pull myself together. >> i think i would be a collapsed puddle on the floor. >> i knew i couldn't. i couldn't. because if i did, who would she have? >> narrator: canadian officials suspected this was a kidnapping. they scrambled to set up a recording system. they told melinda that amanda was likely taken by rebels. >> narrator: they had amanda and her friend nigel. the ransom, 1.5 million for each of them. >> so the next morning, right before noon, my cell phone rang and it was adam who was negotiator for the kidnappers. >> hello? >> hello. >> narrator: when he called on day four, he had a surprise for lorinda.

>> okay, lorinda, talk to your daughter. >> amanda? >> mom. >> amanda, i love you, sweetheart. >> narrator: that call was the first proof that amanda was still alive. l l lorinda being coached by the negotiators -- >> he has asked for $1.5 million. >> oh, my god. >> narrator: amanda begged her captors to understand that the ransom might never be paid. >> my family is trying to make money. >> hello? >>arrator: then the call disconnected. >> did you have that kind of none? >> i was a single mom, raising my children. and her dad certainly wasn't in a position to pay that kind of money.

>> narrator: by then, canadian officials had routed lorinda's phone to an operations center they kept covert, she lived there, always ready for the next call. >> after the first couple of weeks, we realized that this might go on for longer than we hoped. >> narrator: on the other side of the globe, amanda and nigel couldn't know how long they would be held, but amanda feared the worst. >> i was the only woman among 16 men, so i had lots of scary thoughts. >> narrator: you played detective. >> i learned to annalize everything. >> as the stakes for her daughter rises dramatically. >> they have brought me out to kill me. >> we knew things had taken a change. >> when "dateline" continues. [ kelly ] people say it's really hard to follow a healthy routine.

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>> narrator: amanda lindhout and taken to a compound in mogadishu. >> nigel and i were put in a room together, there were thin foam mattresses on the floor and a sheet on each one. >> narrator: that was amanda's new reality, her mother lorinda's reality was the lead role. family members usually don't participate in the negotiation, it's too emotionally draining, but because she had developed a rapport with the kidnappers, the

canadian officials asked her to keep talking. >> every phone call i had elicited the kidnappers and we were trying to find out as much information as we could. >> narrator: can you read some of these to us? >> i have to know if amanda and nigel are alive. >> you're playing detective. >> i learned to analyze everything. >> you put your entire life on hold. >> absolutely. i was scared to leave the phone at all. >> narrator: lorinda's entire existence revolves around the negotiations. in the weeks following the kidnapping, there were dozens of ransom calls. aid workers and journalists had not only been kidnapped but had also been killed in somalia. lorinda feared her daughter would be next. kelley travelled to lorinda's

home and found out firsthand just how strong a mother's love can be. >> she really didn't have a choice. i'm not sure that i could do that. i have a whole new respect for lerr forlfor lorinda and how strong she is. she literally worked around the clock, 24/7. >> narrator: by the third week of captivity, amanda's and nigel's existence were reduced to one room. what amanda missed the most was seeing the sky. some of their captors were nicer than others. some threatening. she says abdullah was the worst. >> almost as soon as we had been taken, abdullah seemed to lay some claim on me. >> narrator: during their ordeal, amanda and nigel were moved house to house many times, some worse than others, mold on the walls, cockroaches and rats on the floors. they were always trapped indoors, but all that changed nearly a month after they were taken. they were rousted out of their room and marched outside.

>> we were terrified and a small video camera was brought out and set down on the ground before us and we were told to beg for our lives. >> narrator: it was a pivotal moment. on september 17, 2008, lorinda turned on the tv and saw this, a hostage video on al jazeera. she was crushed. it was the first time she saw amanda and nigel and it didn't look good. >> we're just analyzing her, how she looks, how she's holding herself. >> you take your negotiator cap off and put your mom hat on. >> it was terrifying, to be honest, i couldn't keep my mom halt on very long because i couldn't function. >> narrator: she could not hear, but the video made the situation very real.

>> what were you feeling as you watched it? >> i just wanted to bring her home. never let her go. >> narrator: weeks passed and each day grew longer and more desperate for both mother and daughter. and then after two months, their captors moved amanda and nigel into separate rooms and kept them apart. >> why was that so important? >> that day, as the days that followed were among the very, very worst because suddenly i'm alone with my own thoughts and my mind. >> narrator: amanda's mind ran wild, the only woman in a house with 16 men. she feared she would be raped. >> it turns out your fears were justified. abdullah starts coming to your room. >> yeah.

this is very hard to talk about. he did cross that line and my worst fears were realized. and my whole experience in captivity really changed. >> locked in that room, a simple act gave amanda strength. >> i would just walk in circles in this room that itches held in. i would walk with the dreams of the life that i hoped one day i would be able to go on and live. and that's what helped pull me out of the slump that i went into immediately after abdullah started paying those first visits to my room. >> then one night in the fourth month of captivity, she was jostled awake and driven out to the desert alone. what happened next was terrifying. >> they brought me over to an acaicia tree, they pulled my head back and there was a serrated knife.

>> i can't imagine the horror you must have been feeling. >> so many times in those first months i had feared that my head would be cut off because it was something that they threatened us with a lot. i was sure that that was it, that they were going to kill me. >> it must have felt like an eterni eternity. >> it did. i felt despair because i didn't want it to be the end. >> and then they hand you a phone and who's on the phone? >> my mom. >> narrator: desperate, amanda had only three minutes to beg for her life. >> mom -- >> amanda, amanda, i love you. amanda, how are you? >> mom, listen, listen to me. >> okay. >> if you guys don't pay $1 million for me by one week, they

will kill me. okay? tonight they have brought me out to kill me. but they have given me one more chance to call you guys. >> amanda, amanda, stay strong, stay strong, hon. >> that phone call definitely made it harder. not to let my imagination go. >> did you keep it together? >> i did. i did. >> how? >> i just felt like i had to. i had to be strong for her. but after the call, we just sat there and cried. things had taken a change. they weren't going to be nice anymore. >> coming up, a daring new plan -- >> we might have a chance to escape.

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>> narrator: amanda and nigel had been in captivity for might ha have -- for five months, but it wasn't until she was taken out into the desert with a knife to her throat that she actually thought she would be killed. >> as the day grew closer and then came and went, i realized that that was a fear tactic, but more importantly, i just could not continue to let myself live in that dark place in my mind. i had to become stronger. >> narrator: amanda and nigel each in separate rooms had discovered if they stood in just the right spot, they could hear each other.

they began to talk about getting out. >> nigel had begun investigating in the bathroom and thought we might be able to escape out that window. which at first seemed like an impossible idea. >> narrator: from that window, they plotted a an escape. >> the mortar that held those bricks in place was crumbling and we had a pair of nail clippers that our captors had given us. >> nail clippers? little tinny ones. >> narrator: every day they chipped away, hiding their work by stacking the bricks up again. each brick loosened meant they were that much closer to freedom until one day the hole was big enough.

they had heard the daily calls to prayer so they knew a mosque was nearby. their plan was to jump down and head there to safety. that was the plan, at least. >> from the moment i dropped down out of that bathroom window, i knew it was bad. >> narrator: nothing outside looked like they thought it would. before a neighbor spotted them, they ran. >> we did find the mosque and right before we stepped in, i looked back and i saw one of our young captors standing about 20 feet away. >> narrator: weak and winded from running for the first time in five months, amanda and nigel ran into the mosque hoping someone there would help. >> abdullah is coming? >> abdullah chases me me around

the mosque again. >> narrator: their kidnaps would stop at nothing to get them back. >> it must have been crazy. >> people running and shouting and screaming, more people coming into the mosque with guns. >> narrator: amanda struggled to make sense of the chaotic scene. the men finishing their prayers were confused as well. then it was the unlikeliest person who stepped forward to try and help amanda. someone she'll never forget. >> she came directly over to me and she embraced me and she called me her sister in english. it was the first woman that i had seen in about five months and when she hugged me and held on to me, it was the first time in that five months that i felt something akin to being safe. i just clung on to her and i started pouring out my heart to this woman.

telling her about abdullah's sexual assaults and she began pleading with my captors to let me go. >> narrator: the captors circled amanda, guns drawn, they grabbed her and began dragging her out of the mosque. just then the somali woman made her boldest move. >> that woman threw herself on top of me and was drug part way across the floor with me until she couldn't hang on anymore. and right before they pulled me out the door of the mosque, i looked back and i saw her on the floor, she had tears pouring down her face and she still had her hands outstretched to help me. >> you don't know whatever happened to that woman? >> no, i don't. >> narrator: after such a brazen attempt, her kidnappers would make sure she would never again have the chance to escape.

>> coming up, negotiations get tough. and for amanda, the darkest days are still ahead. >> i made a very calm decision to end my live. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] elevate your style. introducing the all-new corolla. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> narrator: ammanda and nigel tasted freedom for a brief moment but they were violently recaptured and amman za plunged into the darkest depths of their captivity. >> we had crossed the line with our kidnappers and it was like everything that followed was punishment. i was alone and locked up in a room that i named the dark house. it was a room that was pitch black. >> no light? >> no. >> no windows? >> no. >> that's enough to drive somebody crazy. >> it was terrifying. >> amanda was sexual assaulted that day by her captors, some acted, some watched. there was no one to help, nigel was still held separately.

>> it feels like that's a pivotal point where they do pretty terrible things, but they're all in it together now? >> the abuse that happened to me after the escape united them in my suffering. that prevented any one from judging the other. >> narrator: severe beatings followed, they kicked and punched her, leaving her with bruised ribs and broken teeth. amanda was not even allowed to move off the matt, let alone around the room, something that had one given her solace. >> my prison was now the matt on the floor and i was in chains. >> do you remember what you were saying to yourself in the dark to get through every hour, every minute, every second? >> in the dark house it was very often every second, every minute. i felt like i was hanging on by a thread. but the dark room was also where i found my house in the sky, which is the place that i would

go, a safe place that was in my own mind. where i could escape my reality, this brutal, violent existence. >> narrator: amanda doesn't suffer in the house in the sky. the hardest part was knowing it wasn't real. but this imaginary place was a tool she used to make it through the darkest days. back in canada, her mother lorinda searched for strength too. ten months passed since the kidnapping. all that time lorindaed that the canadian officials to guide her through the negotiations. but now they had shut down the operations center. >> you're all by yourself now, no negotiators sitting next to you, just you on the phone. that's an unbelievable amount of pressure. >> you do what you have to do. and i had to do it. i didn't have a choice.

>> are you healthy at that point? >> i wasn't eating, i wasn't sleeping, i was just running on adrenaline. >> amanda and nigel's family decided they need help so they hired a security company that specializes in helping hostages get out. they helped raise the ransom money. it had been almost a year since they were taken, their deteriorat deteriorated. >> they felt like if only my family could come up with this money then they would have their lives back and they took that growing frustration out on me. >> narrator: at home in the canadian rocky mountains t private security company suggested that lorinda, having a relationship with the captors,

be firmer with the kidnappers. >> they felt like this would help secure nigel and amanda's release. so she was a little bit firm. >> if i had the money i would pay you. we are not playing games, it's you that is playing game. >> narrator: things got much worse for amanda after that phone call. >> they tied your arms and your legs and pulled your body up by ropes and leave you? >> yeah, it's very hard for me to go back to that and think about what happened to me during those three days. that i was tied up in that room. yeah, the three longest days of my life. >> after three days, they let her down, but told her they would be back. >> when they left the room and i

lay there on my mat alone, every single part of my body screaming and throbbing and absolute agony, i made a very calm decision to end my life. >> narrator: amanda had a small razor blade allowed for hygiene, she was going to use it. >> at the moment i was going to slit my wrists, i saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, a small bird came through the window and looking at me, and he flew out. and what i felt next was this almost overwhelming desire to live and to be part of the world. >> narrator: amanda couldn't know how close her mother was to making that a reality.

>> coming up, a mother, a daughter, a moment 15 months in the making. were they prepared for what was about to happen? >> it was heart ache to see her like that. >> and coming up next friday on "dateline." >> if that is heaven, i will take hell. >> innocent and beautiful, she was raised here, a shadowy church where girls were ordered to marry a man old enough to be their great grandfather. >> he was 85 and i was 19. >> but she resisted, even took on the leader who ruled them all. >> he pointed his feinger at me he says i will break you. >> break her? try again. she got out and help investigators uncover the truth about this powerful prophet. >> it will just rock you, it's so horrible. >> a sinister secret caught on tape.

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había estado todo ese tiempo over to a new group and that unpredictability of what might happen to me was so terrifying. >> narrator: one night they came to her room guns drawn, she feared that was it, she and nigel would be passed off to another group. >> they produced a small saw and gang sawing through the chains that had been on my ankles for ten months. >> nigel and amanda were thrown into the back seat of a car and driven into the dark somali night and thrown put into another car. >> we're both certain that this is our new crew. then that car drives for 30 minutes and then it stops. then about four men with guns

surround this car that we're in. and i think, this is it. >> narrator: what they couldn't know is what had been engineered back in canada. for more than a year, amanda's mom continued to hold secret fund-raisers. the kidnappers said they would accept $360,000 for both amanda and nigel. >> he phoned me and said, the gang has agreed. i think i started screaming. and i was thanningiking him. >> amanda and nigel's family flew to somalia. >> three days later, they're still there, it's dangerous for them, they've got all this money. >> narrator: at the last minute, the deal had hit a snag.

the kidnappers wanted more money than they had agreed to. the family made a difficult decision, call off the deal and bring the security team back to kenya. >> we need the kidnappers to know that we were serious. we're not going to leave our money just sitting there. >> narrator: lorinda is forced to renegotiate with the kidnappers. >> we renegotiate, come to an agreement again, send our team back in with the money. >> that was the very same night amanda and nigel found themselves crying in that car with no idea what was happening. >> and then i smell cigarette smoke. >> why does that register with you? >> because al shabab is a group of extremists. i'm pretty sure none of them would be smoking. >> tobacco is forbidden? >> yes. >> you're smart enough to go, wait a second, maybe it's not what i think. >> and a man appear at the

window. >> narrator: what amanda didn't know was this man was a somali middle man sent in to broker their release. >> he says to me, why are you crying? here, talk to your mother. then he hands me his phoning and my mother was on the other end and she said to me, amanda, you're free. >> amanda and nigel flew out of somalia and landed in nairobi, kenya. they were whisked away to a hospital and lorinda finally got to see her daughter after 15 1/2 months. >> people asked me what that was like the first time i saw her and i know what they're envisioning, like us running in slow motion and, you know, laughing and crying. but i barely recognized her. it was relief, it was joy and it was hard, heart ache, to see her

like that. >> we took a moment to just look at each other. she's never looked more beautiful to me than she did in that moment. >> narrator: amanda and lorinda went home to western canada, she took time to heal her body and mind and to reconnect with friends and family. >> i think i took a lot of time to re-evaluate the life that i lived and to figure out what really matters in life. >> one of my big regrets was itches always wanting to be out in the world, not maybe taking care of my family. could i have given more thought to who would be affected by the choices that i was making? absolutely. >> narrator: in her darkest hours in captivity, she made a promise to herself.

if freed, she wanted to help oth others. to fulfill that promise, she started an organization that educates somali women and children. her best friend kelley is proud. >> amanda has gone on to do incredible things since she was released. i think that's a key part of her healing. amanda being raped and not having a voice, she was that much better able to help the women of somalia. >> narrator: amazingly, just a year and a half after her relief, she did the one thing no one thought she would. she went back to somalia on a relief mission. >> what are you feeling? >> honestly, i feel ready. i feel ready for this. >> narrator: we met up with her on her way over the border. somalia was still a dangerous place.

there were still men with guns on every corner. >> you look at the little kids here. and that's the whole reason. >> narrator: as difficult as it was going back, it's been part of her healing. >> when you were in captivity, you said you always thought about the sky. this is a sky. >> yeah, this is a sky. >> narrator: amanda still travels, but she no longer feels the pull to get away. in fact she now lives just a stroll away from her mom. >> i would not be here now if it was not for my mother. she devoted her entire life for those 460 days to bringing me back home. so there's a really special and new bond because of that, my mom gave me life and she saved my life. >> what would you say about her? >> she is the strongest person that ever met in my life. her strength is inspiring. >> narrator: amanda is sharing her inspiring story with the world.

she's written a book "a house in the sky" the title a reference to how she survived. >> there's been this theme in my life, it seems, of houses and moving houses, i moved around so much as a child and then as a captive in somalia and now i have found my house, my place in the world. this is my house in the sky. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll be back again next friday at 9:00, 8:00 central. .

nbc bay area news begins with breaking news. >> that breaking news is in the allum walk area happening right now. >> police are investigating another homicide. the city's 35th of the year. george kiriyama is near 680. george? >> reporter: we just got out here a few minutes ago. i'm going to step out of the way so you can see what i am seeing. police blocking off the entrance here off of capital avenue. officers just told