♪ it's like a bloody movie. and it is. it's just so intense and so deep. you go through all of these range of emotions that you don't know, you know? that was the first time i started to hear about my life. i could have been an entirely different person. >> it was a mind-boggling mystery for almost 20 years, and she was at the center. >> i'm john walsh. 1-year-old savanna lee barnett is missing from isle of palms, south carolina. >> a child who suddenly vanished. >> the most important thing in my life was taken from me. just instant horror of where is she? >> what had happened to baby savanna? the answer would come decades later and astonish the world. >> it happened so fast, i couldn't fathom what was going

on. >> imagine, your mother a fugitive, your father a stranger. your home, your name, your past -- was any of it real? >> the first thing i felt, just pit in my stomach. i just felt like it was my fault. >> a mother's crime. a father's pain. >> what kinds of emotions did it stir up when you would see that crib? >> it would just make me cry. >> a daughter forced to face the shattering truth. >> i was shocked and i was just terrified. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning with "finding savanna." >> in 20-some years, will i recall how you tucked and curled against my neck and chest? >> reporter: a father's love. harris todd once tried to put it into words.

>> in 20-some years will i recall how i often held you long after you had fallen asleep, listening to you breathe? >> reporter: tried to express what it meant to cradle his baby daughter savanna. >> and you, what will you remember of these wondrous days as a baby girl along with your old father whose entire life you now are? >> reporter: back in 1994, harris could not imagine that these wondrous days would abruptly end. that the next 20 years would turn a father's love into a father's nightmare? >> losing you took most of the life out of me. and sometimes i feel like i'm already dead and just haven't fallen over yet. >> reporter: it all began in charleston, south carolina, when harris, a financial advisor, met a beautiful flight attendant named dorothy lee barnett.

everyone knew her as lee. >> reporter: when she's at her best, she's a very vivacious and attractive and alluring person. very lively and interested in a lot of things. >> she was very outgoing, very friendly. she lived life to its fullest. >> reporter: patty roth was a fellow flight attendant and one of lee's best friends. they had traveled the world, but patty said lee ultimately wanted a conventional life. >> lee and i both wanted marriage. we wanted children. we wanted animals. we wanted the picket fence. >> reporter: harris thought that he could build that life with lee, but early in their relationship he noticed some problems. he said she was overly emotional and sometimes quick to anger. still, he thought love would conquer all. >> i suffer from the misconception that i can fix things. that i can make things better. >> reporter: they married in december 1991. but within months, harris said, it became apparent that his

fixing skills were no match for lee's behavior. >> i mean, i never knew what was going to face me when i came through the door after work. and it could be nothing, and it could be nothing but screaming and yelling and throwing pots. >> reporter: things got so bad harris told lee he wanted a divorce. he said, lee told him that she was pregnant. >> everything fell apart when she told him that she was pregnant. >> reporter: patty said what actually made the marriage go sour was harris' refusal to have children. >> he wanted her to terminate the pregnancy, and that was just not an option for lee. it broke her heart. >> reporter: lee says that you didn't want her to have the child? is that true? >> not at all true. i never said that. not once. >> reporter: either way, the marriage was over. harris left lee when she was still in her first trimester. and lee initiated divorce proceedings. when baby savanna was born in

may 1993 she asked for full custody. >> i felt at the end of the lee day, lee would have her child. harris would have visitations. >> reporter: but to everyone's surprise, harris counter-sued. you decided you wanted full custody? >> from my point of view, i decided that before the baby was born. it was like a responsibility that i suddenly realized had, if you will, been thrust upon me. >> reporter: the fight for savanna turned into an epic battle. a family court showdown that became one of the longest and most contentious that charleston had ever seen. there will be mothers everywhere saying shame on him. how can he, you know, try to rip that baby from her arms when she's still nursing. she's built this bond. >> i wasn't trying to take her away from her mother. i just felt that i was the more stable parent. >> reporter: at the hearing, harris and others testified that lee's behavior was erratic, sometimes violent.

one psychiatrist testified that lee had a mood disorder. according to harris' lawyer, graham sturgis, lee's emotional outbursts were on full display in the courtroom. so much so that the judge had to take action. >> as the case wore on, it was clear that her level of anxiety and frustration rose until the judge required that a bailiff stand behind her chair with his hands on her shoulder to keep her seated. >> reporter: some people might say that she felt that her baby was slipping away from her. and that any mother might start to lose her mind a little bit in court. >> i think there's truth in that, but it's also indicative of her inability to control her behavior. >> reporter: but on lee's behalf, two other psychiatrists testified she had no mental or emotional disorders, and was a perfectly fit parent. and as for her allegedly manic behavior? patty and other friends testified they had never seen it. >> i saw lee almost every day for a couple years, and i did

not see any episodes like that. she was full of life. she had a lot of energy, absolutely saw no depression. >> reporter: after 2 1/2 weeks of acrimonious testimony, it was up to the judge. harris was with the toddler when the phone rang. >> savanna and i were in the yard, and it was a warm day, and she was barefoot walking on the grass. >> reporter: what do you hear on the phone call? >> the judge awarding me full and sole custody. >> reporter: harris was too emotionally depleted from the vicious custody battle to jump for joy, but he was surprised by what he suddenly felt. >> that overwhelming sense to protect and care for a child. i didn't anticipate the depth. >> reporter: were you feeling an intense bond with savanna at this point? >> oh, tremendous. i'd never been happier in my entire life. >> reporter: but lee was reeling from the verdict that allowed her to see savanna only every

other weekend. the judge wrote in his ruling that the psychological and emotional problems experienced by the mother, if left untreated, will create conflict and havoc in the child's life. >> she was angry. she thought it was corrupt. >> reporter: babs mccambridge was lee's friend and savanna's baby-sitter. she went with lee to pick up savanna for a visitation weekend two weeks after the verdict and said she was horrified when harris handed over baby savanna. >> she had black and blue marks on her forehead. she had blood on her nose. lee sat in the back seat with with the baby, and she was crying. and we went to the emergency room. >> reporter: did you ever harm savanna? did you ever abuse her? >> heavens, no. she fell when she was with my mother at the house. that's all it was. >> reporter: the emergency room

report supported what harris had told lee. savanna's injuries were consistent with a minor fall. the e.r. doctor wrote he found no signs of abuse. >> i mean, i would never have let a hair on that baby's head be harmed. >> reporter: but lee was convinced harris was an unfit parent and refused to return savanna until harris forced her to do so by emergency court order. the situation seemed to stabilize for a time. but then came april 24th, 1994. a date harris would remember forever. savanna had been with lee for a weekend visitation, and once again, lee failed to bring the baby back. but when harris went to lee's home -- >> nobody was there. and then all calls were fruitless. nothing turned up. >> reporter: was there a moment where you thought, i'm getting really scared here. i think that maybe my daughter's not coming back? >> no, i didn't even imagine anything that horrible. >> where had they gone? when we come back --

>> you have that just instant horror of where is she? >> a father's misery would soon become a worldwide mystery. >> i'm john walsh. 1-year-old savanna lee barnett is missing. >> did you worry that savanna could be in danger? >> yeah. lilly.

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harris todd's ex-wife lee had failed to return their baby daughter savanna after a weekend visitation. so he went to her house to get the baby back. but the house was not only empty, it was completely cleaned out. >> you have that just instant horror of where is she? >> reporter: harris immediately notified all missing children's agencies. since parental abduction of a child is a federal crime, fbi agent chris quick was assigned to the case. >> i wasn't thinking this was well thought out initially and that, you know, we'd have this case resolved in a week, two weeks. >> reporter: did you worry that savanna could be in danger? >> yes. is she this woman who's really caring for her child and going to take care of her child? or is this the woman who does harm to the child? >> reporter: if lee had family or friends who had any information about her whereabouts, they didn't volunteer it. so agent quick put a trace on their phones.

any calls from lee? >> no. the thing that trips up most people that are running from the law is not having that discipline to talk to old friends or going back to places that they're familiar with. and as this case went on we realized that dorothy lee had that discipline. >> reporter: quick discovered that lee had inquired about a job in australia or south africa and that her mom owned a home in the central american country of belize. so he put tabs on flights to those countries. >> they turned up nothing. >> reporter: did you assume that maybe she had changed her identity? >> yes. like a new license, maybe a new passport. >> reporter: lee seemed to have vanished without a trace. but out of the blue, a message appeared. >> savanna and i belong together. and nobody besides god has the right to destroy that. >> we had found out five days or so after the kidnapping,

relatives and associates received a letter and a videotape from dorothy lee. and it states, "to whom it may concern, i recently lost custody to my beautiful 9 1/2-month-old nursing baby. this happened because of a truly evil person, b. harris todd, and a totally corrupt family court system." >> reporter: now agent quick knew this child abduction was not a spur of the moment decision. lee had a well thought-out plan. >> i promise and swear on my life that i will continue to take care of my daughter. i will keep her safe. i will never allow anybody to harm her again. >> i mean, that was an attempt to embarrass and destroy me. but it's not surprising. you know, she is building a case for whatever else, to justify what she did. i just hope you know that i love you. >> reporter: though he had nowhere to send it, harris made

his own home video, a message to savanna. >> i just hope you're safe and clean and healthy out there wherever you are. >> reporter: it took a lot out of harris to shoot that video in savanna's room. >> every morning i would come in and wake her up, feed her, dress her, and we'd head off. and you know, i couldn't bear to see the crib empty. >> reporter: what kind of emotions did it stir up when you would see that crib? >> mostly tears. and it would just make me cry. so i left the -- i'd keep the door closed. when i walked down the hall, i'd just touch the door. that was about all i could do. >> reporter: but harris also began to take action. he wrote to john walsh of "america's most wanted" who recorded a public service announcement for him. >> i'm john walsh. 1-year-old savanna lee barnett is missing from isle of palms, south carolina. >> reporter: and he appeared on "unsolved mysteries" which

dedicated an entire segment to his case. >> i wake up now every morning with a broken heart. >> reporter: harris' tv appearances generated hundreds of leads. >> those leads came from everywhere, anywhere from california, georgia, alabama. we would follow those up and try to determine if that was dorothy lee or the child. nothing. nothing panned out. >> april 24th, 1996. you're gone two years now, which is unimaginable. i don't know how old you'll be when you see this, if you ever see this. i'll be here for you whenever you do come back. >> reporter: then finally, four years into his search, harris thought that moment had arrived. someone had seen a little blond-haired girl about 5 years old, walk into a grocery store in mexico.

>> the woman who called in was there when the little girl's mother came to the door and said, "savanna, come on." you need to come home. >> reporter: coming up -- mexico? private detectives are on the case. >> the lady said that, yes, the little girl comes in here by herself because her mother has bad headaches and doesn't come out sometimes for days. >> reporter: did that sound like lee to you? >> it did, yes. >> had mother and daughter been found? ♪

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♪ so this is where i keep all the files and notebooks that i've amassed over the years. i have got everything in here from maps and letters and copies of everything. >> reporter: are there a lot of dead ends here, too? >> oh, there are plenty of dead ends. >> reporter: but after four years of searching, harris todd thought he'd found his daughter in a small town in mexico. especially after a source gave a description of the girl's mother. >> the lady said that, yes, the little girl comes in here by herself all the time to play

games or whatever because her mother has bad headaches and doesn't come out sometimes for days. >> reporter: did that sound like lee to you? >> it did, yes. mm-hmm. >> reporter: harris hired private detectives to check out the lead. what was the report you got from the detectives? >> they found absolutely nothing. you know, they checked everything out. they went everywhere, and they never found the little girl, for that matter. >> reporter: perhaps lee and savanna had been there and left. or maybe it wasn't them at all. either way, it was another dead end. >> you run through the cycle of excitement and disappointment enough times and you just say, well, look, do you really want to put yourself through that again? because there's a wealth of pain associated with this, and i can only dip into it so often and survive. >> reporter: how much do you think you've spent on your search?

>> i spent everything i had and everything i could borrow. graham sturgiss, my attorney, told me that i better quit spending enough money or there wouldn't be anything for her to come back to. >> reporter: fbi agent chris quick knew the chance savanna would come back was getting smaller and smaller. you were kind of grasping for straws. >> to some extent, you're right. >> reporter: must have felt cold? >> oh yeah, definitely. definitely. after the three or four years, it's considered a cold case. >> reporter: harris tried to move on. tried to fill that gaping hole in his life. one thing that helped, he said, was his niece, who was just three years younger than savanna. >> i spent an awful lot of time with her. i mean, from a very early age. i did homework with her every day. would walk her to school, pick her up from school. >> reporter: did you think to yourself i should have been doing this with my daughter? >> yeah, i thought about it. you know, when you go see your child in the thanksgiving play,

you see them singing the christmas pageant. well, i was watching my niece instead of my daughter. but i was thinking about my daughter at that time. >> reporter: time marched on. harris continued working as a financial adviser at merrill lynch. he had a few relationships, but he never remarried. after ten years the fbi assigned a new agent, ed klimas, to the case, but nothing new turned up. >> i believe that the chances of success for this case were probably very slim at that point. that they had disappeared to a foreign country that we would never be able to locate them. >> reporter: about the only thing that changed were the images on the missing persons posters. from the baby harris had loved to a computer simulated image of a teen he barely recognized. >> if i die before i wake from this nightmare -- >> reporter: he'd stopped filming his messages to savanna long ago, but he wrote one last poem. >> and please do keep an eye out

across the fields. watch the end of the long driveway. someday my daughter will be there asking for me. >> reporter: had you given up? >> no, but one has to face reality. i mean you just say, well, look, here it is. she's 16. she's 17. she's 18. and you don't know where she is. so -- >> reporter: perhaps the only sign that harris had not abandoned all hope was savanna's room. it stood just as she had left it almost 18 years before. then you get an e-mail totally out of the blue. >> i did. >> reporter: what did it say? >> it said essentially, i have information about your daughter. but again i learned to temper my expectations over the years. because the well had long since gone dry. so all of a sudden the bucket goes down again and this time it

comes up and there's water in it. coming up -- >> were you just floored? >> completely floored. >> that mysterious e-mail. turns out someone else had been doing some detective work, too. >> they tracked you down. >> they told me, we feel like you have a right to know your daughter. ♪ (politely) wait, wait, wait! you can't put it in like that,

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♪ almost 18 years had gone by since harris had seen his daughter savanna. so it was hard to comprehend the e-mail that arrived in the early morning hours of november 27th, 2011. a single line that said "i'd like to speak with you with regards to your daughter." was there that little bit of hope? >> oh sure. there always is. >> reporter: that maybe this is real?

>> yes, yeah. >> reporter: the e-mail was from a couple living in a beach town on the sunshine coast of australia. they claimed to have known lee and savanna for more than 12 years. harris immediately wrote back. >> do you have any pictures? anything that you could send me to corroborate this? it's a horrible thing to have to admit that i have no idea what my daughter would look like at this age. >> reporter: but you would know what your ex-wife would look like? >> i would. >> reporter: the photo arrived a couple of days later. and there was no doubt. that was his ex-wife, dorothy lee barnett. and there on the opposite side stood a tall girl, nearly a woman. would that be savanna on the left? hi, harris, the couple wrote. that beautiful girl on the left is indeed your daughter, savannah. were you just floored? >> completely floored. you know, how wonderful is it to have a picture of your grown daughter, to just see, you know, how pretty she is and she had a

big smile, and i could recognize my smile in her smile. >> reporter: i would just be staring at that photo constantly. >> i was at a loss for a while. i had to refrain from looking at it very much, because it was just too much after all these years. >> reporter: the couple told harris they had met his ex-wife and daughter in 1999. they knew them as alex and samantha. lee was married to a south african named juan geldenhuys with whom she had a son. although lee never spoke about her past, the couple had long suspected that savanna was not juan's biological daughter. what did the couple tell you about how they had discovered this secret? >> you know, i think it was a gradual process on their part. >> reporter: the couple told harris lee and her husband divorced in 2008 and that recently they themselves had had a falling out with her. they had always wanted to know more about their friend's mysterious past so they decided to do some investigating of their own.

lee had once mentioned that she had a home in belize. armed with that, savanna's birth date and other tidbits of information they had picked up over the years, they searched the internet and discovered lee's secret. they're real detectives. >> i think so. >> reporter: they figured it out. they tracked you down. >> and then, essentially knowing the wrath that they would face if my ex-wife ever found out that they did it, they went ahead anyway. they told me, we feel like you have a right to know your daughter. >> reporter: harris gave the couple's information to fbi agent ed klimas. and now that they knew lee's alias, the fbi was finally able to figure out how she had left the u.s. without being detected. she had set her abduction plan in motion by getting a fake birth certificate about two months before taking savanna. >> dorothy lee barnett goes to become fictitious person named alexandria maria canton. she went to texas to obtain a

texas driver's license, then used the information from that to obtain a united states passport. what we learned was she had left the united states, went to malaysia, and then from malaysia went to south africa where she met geldenhuys. from there in 1999, she moved to botswana. in 2003, she moved up to new zealand. and then after a couple of years she moved to australia. >> reporter: an 18-year-old mystery solved. in the movies, on tv, they find the person and they rush out to make the arrest. story's over. did that happen in this case? >> no. we had to get the state department involved. department of justice involved. and we had to get a provisional arrest warrant that the australians would accept because we have to abide by their laws. >> reporter: harris wanted to fly to australia right away, but the fbi asked him to let bureaucracy take its course.

harris had waited 18 years. he figured he could wait a bit more. i think some people, though, may say that a real father would have gotten on that plane the moment he found out about where his daughter was. >> if i'd showed up in australia without any backup and run into my ex-wife or my daughter, i would have had no legal backing at that point. >> they could have caused, you know, an altercation. he could have been in trouble with the local authorities. alexandria and samantha geldenhuys could have fled. and then we'd be back to square one. >> reporter: a year passed. then almost two. that was too much even for a patient man like harris. he bought his plane tickets and told the fbi he was going no matter what. you weren't going to wait any more. >> i wasn't going to wait. and it just so happened that suddenly the paperwork went from the bottom of the stack to the top. >> reporter: harris' determination may have forced

law enforcement's hand. on november 4th, 2013, two days before he landed in australia. lee was finally arrested. >> she didn't appear surprised. she was very cordial. and she seemed to be very calm. so she expressed a willingness to talk to us. >> reporter: lee also asked if she could make a phone call to savanna. coming up -- >> i couldn't fathom what was going on. >> an astonishing moment of truth for savanna. >> the first thing that popped into my head, does that mean that my dad isn't my dad? >> and her father. >> i kept thinking i'll get to see her. ♪ >> when "dateline" continues. affordable renters insurance. with great coverage it protects my personal belongings should they get damaged, stolen or destroyed. [doorbell] uh, excuse me. delivery. hey. lo mein,

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>> and brad said, she's crying. and it's not like mom to cry. she's a very strong woman. so she said, look, i'm being arrested. and of course, i went, oh my goodness, you know? i'd never expect out of anyone in the world my mom would have done anything. it was a brief conversation about how she was married previously in america and she conceived me with him, and then something became unsafe, and she just took me and ran. so the first thing that popped into my head, i said, does that mean dad isn't my dad? >> reporter: as far back as savanna could remember, juan geldenhuys had always been by her side. she believed he was her biological dad, something lee kept reinforcing. >> mom would relay things, you know? like, you sleep like your dad. or you know, you look like your dad. so i've always grown up with that. >> reporter: but tragedy struck in 2011 when juan, by then divorced from lee, fell sick with cancer. the man savanna thought was her dad died just a week before lee was arrested. >> he fought very long and very hard, but it was inevitable.

but i'm happy because the last words i said to him was i love you and the same with him. >> reporter: savanna said she had barely begun to mourn her father's death when the news came that she was someone else's daughter. >> i've never heard harris todd. i've never heard savanna. i found out that i was biologically related to him, and he'd been helping the authorities to find my mom and i. >> reporter: imagine finding out that your mom was an international fugitive wanted by the fbi. imagine realizing that you were living a life you were not meant to live. and savanna said it was a good life. >> i grew up in mainly cape town, south africa. and that was just great. we used to go down to a beach in cape town and just spend family. mom's very into going to the beach and having fun there. >> reporter: she remembered going to game reserves in botswana and competing in swim races in new zealand. >> i had a lot of friends.

i had animals. i was educated. i had dancing. did piano. i had a mom. i had a dad. i had a brother. i had a house. and i was given everything they possibly could afford. it was just -- it was normal. it was so normal. >> reporter: so normal. and, as savanna now discovered, so different from the chaos of her first year as a baby back in charleston. she scoured the internet for articles written in the u.s. about the life she never knew. read about the custody battle. about how harris and others described her mom as mentally ill and violent. >> i've never, ever seen anything like that in my entire life. she's not got a mental illness. she's not violent. you know, unless she did this whole 180 and changed her entire attitude, then that's not who she is. >> reporter: so who was the mother that savanna knew? >> the most important thing i think is her compassion and the ability to encourage anyone and

everyone. everything i am is because of the support, love and nurturing that i have had. >> reporter: she was afraid, she said, that with the revelation her mother was a fugitive, lee's australian friends would abandon her, but they did not. >> everyone stepped up and they said, what can we do, you know? i had about 20 people living at the house trying to help me with everything. and you know? so it really, really shows that everything that she's given to them, they're giving back to her. >> reporter: word of lee's capture had reached charleston. savanna was flooded with supportive e-mails and phone calls from lee's former friends and from family. she had often wondered about her relatives in the united states, like her grandmother and her uncle. now suddenly she was meeting them for what seemed like the very first time. >> beautiful house and my beautiful granddaughter. >> hello. >> oh my goodness. looks like her mommy did. >> reporter: now, the biggest reunion of all seemed like it was about to happen, too.

lee was in an australian jail fighting extradition back to the u.s., and the man she wanted to keep away from savanna all those years was just a few miles away asking to meet his long-lost daughter. >> the fbi interviewed my daughter, and they informed her of me. i was told that she was looking forward to meeting me. >> reporter: but savanna's priority was to get her mom out of jail, not meet the man who helped put her behind bars. >> so i slept on it for a couple of nights, and i created an e-mail. and i just said i appreciate everything, but right now i can't even sit down to eat, you know? so i appreciate him coming over. but i'm sorry, you know. that's pretty much what it was. >> reporter: there would be no emotional meeting between father and daughter, at least not in australia. if harris was disappointed, he didn't show it.

he'd learned long ago to keep his emotions at bay. was it heartbreaking for you that you went all the way over there and she wasn't ready to see you? >> no. >> reporter: but we're talking about your daughter and seeing your daughter and hugging her and telling her, i'm your dad. >> yeah. well, i didn't give up on that. i was there for about a month. and it wasn't until the third week that i finally realized that that just wasn't going to happen. >> reporter: so harris flew home, wondering if he'd ever see his daughter. after nine months in an australian jail, lee was extradited and flown back to charleston to face three federal counts of international parental kidnapping and passport fraud. and hot on her heels was savanna, returning to the city of her birth. going home to defend the mother who raised her and perhaps to meet the father she never knew. >> emotionally, i think that it's a decision i will make when

i'm ready. coming up -- at last. >> i need to see for my own eyes what kind of person he is. >> a moment 20 years in the making. >> when she came to the door, i held my hand out. i didn't know whether she wanted to shake my hand or not. ♪

♪ in december 2014, savanna, with her boyfriend along for support, returned to charleston for the first time in 20 years. she came for her mother, who was behind bars facing kidnapping charges and a prison sentence. >> for 20 years, all of america's been like she's crazy. or she's stolen a kid and no one knew whether i was safe or not. so first off, me coming back happy, healthy and grounded would have to raise some questions, you know? >> reporter: samantha has gone on record as saying she never saw anything wrong with her mom. she had a loving childhood. great relationship.

it really flies in the face of everything that we heard early on. >> well, there's a saying. we don't know who discovered water, but we're certain it wasn't a fish. and a lot of times you can be raised in an environment and not necessarily know what it was until you happen to get outside of that environment and look back in. >> reporter: savanna returned home to a big welcome as lee's old friends gathered around to see her baby daughter all grown up now. to patty roth, lee's close friend who had held savanna the minute she was born, and patty's daughters who would have been her friends. and to charleston, the beautiful city that could have been savanna's home if life hadn't taken such a turn that

ultimately led here, the charleston jail where her mom was awaiting trial. >> we don't know what's going to happen. i'm looking forward to going to trial, to be honest. >> i think we're going to give it all we got and that's all we can really say, right? >> it is. that's it. >> so we can only hope. >> and she said to me, i've done this all for you and i've succeeded, you know. she doesn't care what happens to her. >> reporter: lee's defense for what she did had not changed from the allegations she had made 20 years before, namely that harris had abused savanna that time when she picked her up with the bloody nose. lead prosecutor nathan williams said he re-investigated the incident but, like the original inquiry, found no evidence to support lee's charge. >> the first doctor said there was no problem with it, they didn't think a second opinion was needed. the defendant in this case got a second opinion from their pediatrician, who said the same thing. and so there was an indication that she was looking for an answer that wasn't there.

>> reporter: not only that, williams' investigation revealed that lee had started to plan her escape even before she accused harris of harming baby savanna. >> we know contemporaneously, with this allegation of abuse that was unfounded, she was also getting false documents, false driver's licenses, false passports and setting the table to flee the country with her child. to try to rationalize it and claim that it was based on something that isn't true, to me, is a clear indication of guilt. >> reporter: "dateline" asked lee for an interview, but she declined. in the end, she pleaded guilty to all the charges against her. savanna spoke at the sentencing. she began by giving her name. >> i didn't know which one to give. so i gave all of them. and i said, samantha mulga geldenhuys. i said savanna lee barnett, savanna catherine todd. and i spoke the truth. i spoke from the heart.

i remember saying that she gave me every opportunity. and she's given me the most incredible life. >> reporter: the judge sentenced lee to 21 months in prison. what did you think should be the punishment for lee? >> over a third of my life was essentially taken from me. the most important thing in my life. even if my daughter disagrees with it, i think her mother deserved to spend more time in jail for what she did. if for nothing else than a warning to any other abductive parent. >> reporter: there's been a lot of claims of revenge, that you put on this facade of trying to find your daughter when it was really about finding lee and making sure she paid. >> no. i'm not seeking revenge, not seeking revenge. all i wanted was my daughter, that's all. i love my daughter. and unfortunately, my ex-wife took her. and it's not revenge to want my daughter back.

>> reporter: the daughter harris lost 20 years ago had been in charleston for several weeks. seemingly meeting everyone who had played a role in her past except him. but then a little after christmas 2014, he got the e-mail he'd been longing for. savanna wanted to meet. just one rule, she said. no talk about her mother or the case. and no photos. >> i'm not going to be ditching my mom by any means. but i wouldn't expect them to ever see each other again. but i need to have a mature, adult relationship and see for my own -- in my own eyes, and gauge myself what kind of person he is. >> reporter: harris happily agreed, and a few days later, here they were, father and daughter face-to-face on the doorstep of the house that once was savanna's home. >> when she came to the door, i

didn't know whether she wanted to shake my hand or not. but -- so i held my hand out. and she said, no, i want a hug. >> reporter: that must have felt so good when she said that. >> oh, shoot, felt great. >> reporter: harris led savanna to what was once her bedroom, with its little wooden crib and baby toys. a place where time had stood still until now. >> to be honest, i was trying to make sure that i didn't fall apart. i didn't want to just stand there and cry or anything like that. here's a daughter who remembers nothing about her father. here's a father who remembers everything about his daughter and has longed for her for years and years. well, it's very hard to put those two things together. it's -- >> reporter: it's like two different worlds coming together. >> right. you know, life is not like a hallmark movie. >> it was natural. no, there was no uncomfortable. there was no awkwardness. i think that i'm a natural-born speaker.

and it seemed to be that he is too. i learned very much a lot about him and my family on his side. and yeah, it was very pleasant. >> reporter: lee was released from prison in may and has to spend two years of probation in the charleston area. she'll have to build a new life in the u.s. as a convicted felon. she may never be allowed back into australia. but savanna returned there, to the place she calls home, to continue her college studies. since her visit she has not been in touch with her father. but if there is anything that harris has learned in the last 20 years, it is that there is always hope. >> you know, my daughter's her own person now. she can make her own decisions. and whether my daughter wants to contact me or not, she knows where i am. and she knows i want to hear from her, whatever happens. that's all for this edition

of "dateline." i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this sunday morning, donald trump's call to temporarily ban muslims from entering the country may have thrilled his supporters but it's disgust it had establishment. >> you really have no choice. it's so out of control. it's so terrible. >> why republicans fear a ticket headed by trump is a ticket headed for disaster. plus, could we be looking at a contested convention? our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll on the republican race shows a serious three-way contest developing with new signs that ted cruz and marco rubio are on the move. rubio joins me exclusively. also, a global deal on climate change. i'll talk to secretary of state john kerry about the agreement in paris and about fears of

homegrown terror. and joining me this morning for insight and analysis are veteran journalist and author of a new book about cyber terrorism, ted koppel. helene cooper of the "new york times." molly ball of the "atlantic" and jerry seib of the "wall street journal." welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." good sunday morning. 50 days until voters start expressing their opinion. we have two new polls on the republican race for president. according to what may be developing into a three-man race, let's get to these numbers. donald trump is back on top in our new national nbc news/"wall street journal" poll sitting at 27%. up four points since late october, the highest number he's had in our poll so far. ted cruz is surging, now in second, sitting at 22, more than double where he was in october. marco rubio also on the rise. and look at old ben carson, the one-time leader. believe it or not, he led in the

last nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. he's dropped dramatically to 11%. here's the rest of the candidates who picked up at least 1% in our poll. jeb bush still stuck in single digits. then this bombshell out of iowa. cruise surging into the lead with 31%, a 21-point gain since october. trump is holding steady at 21% followed by carson who, here, too has crashed. he's down 15 points since october. then rubio and bush. so what we think we're seeing that's emerging here is perhaps a three-way race with trump and cruz representing the insurgents at the republican gate and marco rubio counting on becoming the candidate of the faction he needs but is reluctant to acknowledge, the republican establishment. i caught up with senator rubio in greenville, south carolina and i asked him if donald trump had been good for the republican party and rubio's candidacy. >> obviously i don't agree with everything he says. there's a lot we have a