bad part of it. i want them to come turn that bad situation into something positive. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >>ty'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "date line." >> it was the moment that i had been fearing. devastating when it happened. >> she was a reporter who suddenly became a prisoner. >> tonight they have brought me out to kill me. >> held captive in a land of chaos. >> i was in chains hanging on by a thread. >> her best hope for freedom -- >> i love you. >> her mother an ocean away. she would turn investigator, then negotiator.

>> we are not playing games. >> could she save her only daughter? hello and welcome to "dateline." amanda lindhout was a freelance journalist when she was kidnapped and taken hostage in somalia. on the other side of the world in canada her mother was determined to secure her freedom before it was too late. here now is kate snow. >> amanda, i love you. >> it's hard to 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? >> her daughter was on the phone a world away. she'd been kidnapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> i feel so awful. i can't believe they're doing

this, but i hate that i am doing this to you guys. >> this mother negotiated with kidnappers with her daughter's life on the line. >> i understand. >> did you keep it together? >> i did. i had to be strong for her. >> and the daughter faced unimaginable fears. >> my head is pulled back and then there was a serrated knife. >> their stories are intertwined. amanda lindhout and her mother, both women drich by strength, courage and most of all, endurance. a story amanda told in detail in the book she's written and here on "dateline." it all begins here in western canada in the small town of sylvan lake, a place that looks and sounds ideal, but amanda's

childhood wasn't. her parents divorced when she was eight. her mother worked mostly cashier jobs to raise three children. the family always seemed to be on the move. life wasn't easy for mother and daughter. amanda yearned even at an early age for a world beyond her hometown. >> one constant was that i wanted to be a world traveller, thatty wanted to go to every country in the world. >> you're a kid. how old are you? >> eight years old. >> and you had stacks of national geographic. >> the images that i saw on geographic was everything my tome town wasn't. like something out of a dream really. >> in the 1990s when she was 19 she saved up enough tips for her first big trip to venezuela. >> we are driving in the back of a pickup truck away from the village back to the town. >> the whole world was wide open to me at that time.

>> so wide open, she traveled to guatemala, then thailand, even the middle east. then on a trip to africa in 2006 she found not only adventure but something else, love. >> i see an attractive man sitting on the porch out in front of the hotel and that was nigel brennan. >> an australian photo journalist was drawn to her as well. >> what are those first weeks of your relationship like? >> we bonded. i felt very inspired by what i saw him doing, capturing images and telling stories that he felt really passionate about. >> but the passion and adventure amanda experienced with nigel in africa was short lived. there he had told her he had a girlfriend. that wasn't true. he had a wife. >> i received a phone call from a tearful nigel telling me he had something to disclose. i felt sort of devastated by that news. >> amanda and nigel went their

separate ways. she moved on. all the way to india. >> it's the interesting thing about pushing boundaries. you know, you cross one and the next is right there, so going from india to pakistan, it did feel like a big deal to me. it was something i really wanted to do and then i did it. and afghanistan is right next door. >> mom wasn't thrilled as her daughter trekked into pakistan and afghanistan, both active war zones. she tried to talk amanda out of that trip, but says her daughter was head strong and the more amanda traveled the more she began to see a path to a career. >> at first she was traveling just for the sake of traveling, seeing the world and then she thought, wow, you know, i would love to write about the people that i'm meeting. >> amanda sold her first story and pictures about the people in a village and she got her first call. working for iran was less than

ideal but amanda hoped it was a stepping done to a better job. >> this is amanda lindhout, press tv baghdad. >> to be paid to live somewhere exotic must have been really attractive. >> absolutely. >> but war reporting was more daunting than she'd expected. amanda wanted to get more experience but also cover stories she cared about. >> you need to get out there and go somewhere where you can get a break. >> i'm also starting to look 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. >> one of the most dangerous countries on the planet. so much so, few reporters traveled there. there's been no national government for more than 20 years. islamic rebels rule much of the country, but amanda on her own as a freelance journalist wanted to make a name for herself. >> she did tell me that she was going to somalia. >> kelly cox was amanda's best

friend. they'd traveled the world together. she remembers amanda's desire to go to somalia. >> she felt it was really important that she went there. that there were hundreds of thousands of refugees starving in the camps and nobody was telling their story. >> as amanda was launching this new phase of her professional life, her personal life intruded. she unexpectedly heard from nigel, now divorced. >> i get an e-mail from nigel which was out of the blue. >> so you tell him where you're going. >> i tell him where i'm going. he's still interested in pursuing journalism. why not invite him to come with me. >> amanda e-mailed her mother and the risky trip. >> and you're thinking what? >> i would rather she didn't go. >> do you think you were a little head strong? >> i was head strong and i was even a touch naive. i don't think that i had spent enough time throughout my 20s

thinking about what would happen if something did go wrong. >> it was on the flight into somalia that another passenger warned amanda and nigel just how wrong things could go. >> he said to me, your head head, your head alone is worth half a million dollars. be careful. >> coming up, they were strangers in a lawless land. then the single terrifying moment that transformed amanda lindhout's life. >> a dozen armed men were emerging, all of them with ak 47s. i went into shock. >> when "dateline" continues. a mighty small pill with concentrated power that works at liquid speed. you'll ask... what pain? advil liqui-gels minis. ♪ protect your pet

with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business

the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ p3 it's meat, cheese and nuts. i keep my protein interesting. oh yea, me too. i have cheese and uh these herbs. p3 snacks.

hey, want thedone.est internet? the more interes and now, xfinity mobile is included. you can get up to five lines. you can save 400 bucks or more a year, which you can spend on a funk-tastic music video. ♪ dance party boom. ♪ simple. easy. awesome. come see how you can save $400 or more a year with xfinity mobile. plus, ask how to keep your current phone. visit your local xfinity store today.

it looked peaceful from above as they descended into the war torn country of somalia in august of 2008. >> i get my first glimpse of somalia. just untouched paradise from the sky. but as soon as our plane touched down and we got off, i knew that what many had told me about somalia was true. >> the capital city seemed lawless. this was the city where 18 u.s. army rangers died in the battle depicted in the movie "black hawk down." >> it was more frenzy than any

place she'd ever been. >> it was very palpable in the airport. very chaotic environment. the pair went to their hotel and met the security team, the people they hired to protect their lives. those first few days they moved around with ease. >> i feel like i settled into the experience. >> back at home amanda's mother was worried about her daughter. >> i just made sure every time i talked to her that i told her i loved her. i couldn't say it enough. >> amanda managed to tamp down her nervousness and get to work for stories. that what she was doing in the car with nigel on the day that would change their lives. >> what were you doing? >> looking out the window and lost in thought. the vehicle started to slow down and i -- and i looked up. about a dozen armed men were emerging from where they had been hidden behind that vehicle,

all of them with ak 47s pointed out ours. i went into shock. next thing i knew, my door was pulled open and then i found myself lying face down in the dirt spread eagle with a gun held to the back of my head. >> terrifying. >> that was a line in the sand of my life. that was my life before that moment and there is my life after that moment. >> 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, it might be

something like that. >> >> 9,000 miles away amanda's father was sitting on the back porch in the sun when his phone rang. he was a radio journalist on the line. amanda's father called her mother in a panic. >> do you still remember john's voice on the phone. >> yeah. yeah. he was just in a complete panic and saying i don't know what to do. >> you must have felt so helpless. >> i felt like we were so far apart and we didn't know where our daughter was. >> her mother was still in shock when she arrived at her ex-husband's house. she was desperate to figure out what to do next. >> i just knew from the moment i walked in the door that i needed to snap myself together. >> i think i would have been a collapsed puddle on the floor. >> well, i knew i couldn't. i couldn't. because if i did, who would she have? >> canadian officials suspected

this was a kidnapping. they scrambled to set up a recording system. they told lor ren da amanda was likely taken by islamic rebels. >> the phone kept ringing. it was the kidnappers. >> they had amanda and her friend nigel. the ransom, 1.5 million for each of them. the negotiators told her as hard as it would be every time she answered the phone she had to stay calm. >> so the next morning right before noon actually my cell phone rang and it was adam who was negotiator for the kidnappers. >> hello. >> hello. >> when he called on day for he had a surprise. okay, lorenda, talk to your daughter. >> amanda? >> mom? >> amanda, i love you, sweet heart. >> that call was the first proof that amanda was still alive.

lorenda being coached by investigators told her daughter how much she the cap vtivators demanded. >> i have no idea. >> she has asked for 1.5 million. >> oh, my god. >> and -- >> amanda begged her captors to understand that the ransom might never be paid. >> my government is not paying money to me. my family is trying to make money for me. i come from a poor family. >> hello? >> then the call disconnected. >> did you have that kind of money? >> no, i was a single mom and raising my children and her dad wasn't in a position to pay that kind of money. >> by then, canadian officials had routed lorenda's phone. she lived there, always ready for the next call. >> after the first couple weeks we realized that this might go

on for longer than we hoped. on the other side of the globe amanda and nigel couldn't know how long they could be held but amanda feared the worst. >> i was the only female in a group of about 16 men so there was a lot of scary thoughts. >> coming up, the mother springs into action. >> you're playing detective. >> i learned to analyze everything. >> as the stakes for her daughter rise dramatically. >> tonight they have brought me out to kill me. >> when "dateline" continues. and it only takes one mosquito bite to transmit it. that's why you need to protect your dog with heartgard plus. just one real beef chew given once a month, every month, helps keep your dog safe all year long. test dogs for infection prior to use. in rare cases digestive and neurological side effects have been reported. for more information contact your vet. get your dog out of hiding. ask your vet about heartgard plus.

kidnapped on a dusty road in somalia by islamic rebels and taken to a compound. she had no idea where. >> we were shut inside of a room together. there were thin foam mattresses on the floor and a sheet on each one. >> that was amanda's new reality. her mother lorenda's reality an unprecedented role, lead negotiator, family members don't usually participate in the negotiations. 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 a list of objectives and we are trying

to find out as much information as we could. >> did you have this in front of you when you were on the phone? >> yeah, and i would also have a negotiator beside me. >> 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. >> lorenda's entire existence revolved around the negotiations and there had been dozens of nerve wracking calls. she was constantly trying to lower the ransom, all the while knowing that aid workers and journalists had not only been kidnapped but also killed in somalia. lorenda feared her daughter might be next. she reached out to amanda's good friend, kelly cox. kelly traveled to lorenda's home and saw firsthand how strong a mother's love could be. >> she didn't have a choice.

i'm not sure that i could do that. i have a whole new respect for lorenda and what she went through and how strong she is. she worked around the clock 24/7. >> amanda and nigel's existence was reduced to one room. her body was sore from the hard floor, the thing amanda missed the most was seeing the sky. some of their captors were nicer than others. some threatening. she as abdella was the worst. >> almost as soon as we had been taken, abdella seemed to lay some claim on me. >> during their ordeal they were moved house to house many times, some worse than others. mold on the walls, cob roach ro rats on the floors. they were trapped indoors but all that changed nearly a month after they were taken. we were marched outside. >> we are 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. >> it was a pivotal moment. >> lorenda saw this, a hostage video. it was the first time she saw amanda and nigel and they didn't look good. >> we're just analyzing her, how she looks, how she's holding herself. >> take your negotiator cap off and put your mom hat on. >> it was terrifying but to be honest i couldn't keep my mom hat on very often because i couldn't function. >> the video was broad without sound, so lorenda couldn't hear her daughter but the image of the masked heavily armed captors made the situation very real. >> what are you feeling as you watch it? >> i just want to bring her home. never, never let her go.

>> 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 and the days that followed were among the very, very worst because suddenly i'm alone with my own thoughts and my mind. >> 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. abdella starts coming to your room. >> yeah. this is very hard to talk about. he -- 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 i was 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 abdella 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 had brought me over to a tree. they had me kneel. my head is pulled back and then 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 eternity. >> it did. i felt despair because i -- i didn't want it to be the end. >> and then they hand you a phone? and who's on the phone? >> my mom. >> desperate, amanda had only three minutes to beg for her life. >> mom. >> amanda. amanda, i love you. amanda, amanda, how are you? >> mom, listen. listen to me. okay? >> okay. >> listen closely. 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? >> well, i just felt like i had to. that 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. if you can call anything they did nice. >> coming up, a daring new plan. >> we might have a chance to escape. armed with nail clippers and courage, the hostages make a dash for freedom. when "dateline" continues.

happiness is powerful flea and tick protection from nexgard. nexgard kills fleas and ticks all month long. and it comes in an easy-to-give tasty chew. and that makes dogs and owners happy. no wonder vets love it too. reported side effects include vomiting, itching, diarrhea, lethargy and lack of appetite. see your vet for more information on flea and tick protection you and your dog will love. nexgard. the vet's #1 choice. i'm still giving it my best even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'm up for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. so what's next? seeing these guys. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding.

don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis, the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor if eliquis is what's next for you. cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. still nervous [about buying a house? a little. thought i could de-stress with some zen gardening. at least we don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. just call geico. geico helps with homeowners insurance? good to know. been doing it for years. that's really good to know. i should clean this up. i'll get the dustpan. behind the golf clubs. get to know geico. and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be.

your top stories. paul manafort is behind bars after a federal judge revoked bail friday. he's accused of witness tampering in the special counsel's investigation. he has been under house arrest since october when he was first indicted for financial crimes unrelated to the trump campaign. >> china fires back against president trump. it's raising import duties on u.s. goods including electric cars and soybeans and whiskey. for now, back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." >> amanda lindhout was being held hostage for months when suddenly she was handed a phone with her mother on the other end of the call. amanda begged her mom to come up with the money to save her life but was the key to freedom right

there in amanda's hand? here again is kate snow. >> amanda and nigel had been in captivity for five months but it wasn't until she was taken to the desert, a knife held to her throat that she actually believed she was going to die in somalia. the kidnappers had given an ultimatum, your family pays up in a week or you'll be killed. >> as the day grew closer, and then came and went, i realized that it's possible 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. >> amanda and nigel in separate rooms each with a window had discovered if they stood in just the right spots they could hear each other. they began talking about getting out. >> nigel had done some investigating in the bathroom and realized that we might have a chance to escape out that bathroom window. which at first seemed like an

impossible idea. >> at their windows they plotted an escape straight out of a movie. >> that window, it was sealed. there had been bricked cemented across the front of it but as nigel had discovered the mortar was crumbling. and we had a pair of nail clippers that the kidnappers had given us. >> nail clippers. >> uh-huh. >> you used that. >> yeah, to carve away at that crumbling mortar until enough bricks disintegrated and mortar crumbled. >> 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'd heard the daily calls to prayer so they knew a mosque was nearby. their plan was to jump down and head there for safety. >> from the moment that i dropped down out of that

bathroom window and hit the sand below i knew that it was bad. >> nothing outside looked like they thought it would. worse, a neighbor spotted them. they had to get out of there. >> we just ran and nigel started zre screaming for help. 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. >> weak and winded from running for the first time in five months amanda and nigel dashed into the mosque clinging to the hope that someone there would help. >> you see abdella's coming. >> abdella chases me around, chases me outside the mosque again. the kidnappers were desperate to seize their valuable prisoners. they'd 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. >> amanda struggled to make sense of the chaotic scene. the men finishing their prayers were confused as well and then it was the unlikeliest person who stepped forward to try and help amanda. someone she'll never forget. >> she came direct oi 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 those 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 abdella's sexual assaults and she began pleading with my captors to let me go. >> the captors circled amanda,

guns drawn. they grabbed her and began dragging her out of the mosque. just then the 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 -- 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. >> after such a brazen attempt, her kidnappers would make sure she would never again have the chance to escape. >> coming up, negotiations get tough. >> we are not playing games. >> for amanda, the darkest days are still ahead. >> i made a very calm decision to end my life.

>> when "dateline" continues. r . they're both durable, flexible and nice to have at parties. but quilted northern is not a bouncy castle. it's just really nice toilet paper. i'start at the new carfax.comar. show me minivans with no reported accidents. boom. love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com.

like nothing you, ncy or she, has ever seen. filets of 100% real natural chicken or seafood. handcrafted, and served any way she wants. purely fancy feast filets. love is in the details. woman: it felt great

not having hepatitis c. it's like a load off my shoulders. i was just excited for it to be over. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. tell your doctor if you've ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. ready to let go of hep c? ask your hep c specialist about harvoni.

we're not on an island anymore. [ roaring ] what could go wrong? you good? yeah, you? [ roaring ] [ screaming ] nope. rated pg-13. amanda and nigel tasted freedom for a brief moment, but they were violently recaptured and amanda plunged into the darkest depths of her captivity. >> we had crossed a 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 light. >> no windows? >> no. >> that's enough to drive somebody crazy. >> it was terrifying. >> amanda was sexually 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 anyone from judging the other. >> severe beatings followed. they kicked and punched her leaving her with bruised ribs and broken teeth. she was not allowed to move off the mat let alone walk around the room.

>> my prison was now the size of the mat on the floor and i was in chains. >> can you remember what you're saying to yourself in the dark to get through every hour, every minute, every second? >> yeah, in the dark house, it was very often minute by minute. i felt like i was hanging on by a thread. but the dark house is also where i found my house in the sky, which is the place that i would go to a safe place that was in my own mind where i could escape my reality, this brutal violent existence. >> amanda didn'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 searched for strength too, ten months had passed since the

kidnapping. all that time lorenda had the canadian officials to guide her through the negotiations but now feeling they'd reached a stalemate, they shut down the operations center. >> and you're all by yourself now. no negotiator is 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? >> well, i wasn't eating, wasn't sleeping. i was just running on adrenaline. >> amanda and nigel's families realized they needed help and hired a private security company with expertise in getting hostages out. lorenda held secret fundraisers to help cover the expenses and raise the ransom money. by then it had been almost a year since amanda and nigel taken, their health deteriorated, food was scarce. amanda saw how frustrated their captors were getting while they

waited for their payday. >> they felt like if only my family could come up with this money they would have their lives back and they took that growing frustration out on me. >> at home in the canadian rocky mountains, the private security company suggested that lorenda who remained the point of contact for the kidnappers be firmer with the captors. amanda's friend kelly advising lorenda agreed. >> did we feel this would be a good decision, that this would get us one step closer to help secure amanda and nigel's release, yes, and so lorenda went ahead and she was a little bit firmer. >> if i had the money i would pay you. we are not playing games. it's you that are playing games. >> things got much worse for amanda after that phone call. >> they tie your arms and your legs and pull 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'd be back. when they left the room and i laid 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. >> 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 noticed some movement in the room and there

was a small brown bird hopping around in this little square of sunlight, curious looking at the room, looking at me and then he flew out and what i felt next was this almost overwhelming desire to live. and to be part of the world. >> amanda couldn't know how close her mother was to making that a reality. >> a mother, a daughter, a moment 15 months in the making. were they prepared for what was about to happen? >> coming up. >> it was heart ache to see her like that. >> when "dateline" continues. it flows into your dishwasher, gumming up its performance. add finish dishwasher cleaner with your detergent to help dissolve this grease so you're ready for your next meal. new finish dishwasher cleaner clean dishwasher. clean dishes.

i neverunderwear that's this, but actually pretty.leak always discreet boutique. hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly turns liquid to gel. so i feel protected... ...and pretty. always discreet boutique. you don't want to live with mom and dad forever, do you? i'm making smoothies! how do i check my credit score? credit karma. don't worry, it's free. credit karma. give yourself some credit. they work togetherf doing important stuff. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry. feed them... with centrum micronutrients. restoring your awesome, daily. centrum. feed your cells. from potentially deadly heartworm disease.hide the threat is everywhere. and it only takes one mosquito bite to transmit it. that's why you need to protect your dog with heartgard plus. just one real beef chew given once a month, every month, helps keep your dog safe all year long. test dogs for infection prior to use.

in rare cases digestive and neurological side effects have been reported. for more information contact your vet. get your dog out of hiding. ask your vet about heartgard plus. the vet's # 1 choice

you finished preparing overhim for college.rs, in 24 hours, you'll send him off thinking you've done everything for his well-being. but meningitis b progresses quickly and can be fatal, sometimes within 24 hours. while meningitis b is uncommon, about 1 in 10 infected will die.

like millions of others, ur teen may not be vaccinated against meningitis b. meningitis b stres quickly. be quick to talk to your teen's doctor about a meningitis b vaccine. almost a year and a half into captivity, amanda's desperate captors began to talk about other options, being sold off to a more violent islamic group called al shah bad. >> my fear was being turned over to a new group and that unpredictability of what might happen to me was so terrifying. >> one night, they came to her room guns drawn. she thought that was it, she and nigel would be passed off to the

more dangerous group. >> they marched me outside and then had me sit down on the cement and they produced a small saw and began 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. the car stopped and they were forced into yet another car. >> we were both crying. we were both certain that this is our new group. and then that car drives for five minutes and it stops. and then about 40 men were guns surround this car that we're in. and i think this is it. >> what they couldn't know is what had been engineered back in canada. for more than a year, amanda's mother had negotiated the ransom. the families continued to hold those secret fund-raisers. finally, adam, the leader of the kidnappers said they would

accept $680,000 for both amanda and nigel. >> he phoned me and he said the gain gang has agreed. oh, my god, i think i started screaming. i was like, yes. and i was thanking 4ihim. >> lorenda and nigel's family flew to kenya, next door to somalia. three former special forces officers were sent into mogadishu with bags full of cash. >> three days later, they're still there. it's dangerous for them. they have all this money. >> at the last minute, the deal hit a snag. the kid.nappers wanted more money. the families made a difficult decision, call off the deal and bring the security team back to kenya. >> we needed the kidnappers to know we were serious. we're not going to leave our money sitting there. >> from nairobi, lorenda was forced to renegotiate with the kidnappers. >> we keep negotiating, 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 with what was happening. >> and then i smell cigarette smoke. >> what does that register with you? >> because al shabab is a group of extremists. i'm pretty certain none of them would be smoking. >> tobacco is forbidden. >> yes. >> you are smart enough to go, wait a second, maybe it's not what i think. >> yeah. and then a man appears at the window. >> what amanda didn't know was that this man was a somali middleman sent in to broker their release. he says to me, why are you crying? here, talk to your mother. and then he hands me his phone 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 whisk withed away to a hospital and lore republicnda s daughter at the hospital. >> people often ask me what is that like to finally see your daughter. i know they're envisioning us running and laughing and crying, but i barely recognized her. it was relief. it was joy. and it was hard, heartache 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. >> amanda and lorenda went home to western canada. she took time to heal her body and mind and to reconnect with friends and family. >> i feel like i had a long time to re-evaluate the life that i had lived and to think about what really matters to me in

life. >> amanda struggled to forgive herself for the pain the kidnapping caused her mother. >> one of my big regrets was i was always wanting to be out in the world and not -- 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. >> in her darkest hours in captivity, she made a promise to herself, if freed, she wanted to help others. >> amanda has gone on to do incredible things since she was released. i think that's a key part of her healing. what happened to amanda, being raped and not having a voice, she's that much better able to help the women of somalia. >> oil and sugar. >> and amazingly, just a year and a half after her release, 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 -- i feel ready. i feel ready for this. >> we met with her on her way over to the border. somalia was still a dangerous place in august of 2011. we saw men with guns on every corner. >> you look at the little kids here. and that's the -- that's the whole reason. >> as difficult as it was going back, it was 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. >> amanda developed a new found appreciation for life and the person who never stopped believing in her. >> 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 that we have 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 i've ever met in my life. >> and she would need that strength going forward. after years of a lengthy undercover operation, canadian authorities lured one of the alleged kidnappers to ottawa and arrested him in 2015, charging ali omar otter with hostage taking for his alleged role as a negotiator. he pleaded not guilty and went on trial in october 2017. the trial lasted ten days. then, in december 2017, a verdict. an ontario superior court justice pronounced otter guilty. he faces up to life in prison. it is the latest turn in her remarkable story which she scared with the world in her book, a house in the sky. the title, a reference to how she survived. >> there's been this -- 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 -- have found my house and my place, my place in the world. this is my house in the sky. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. >> and a good morning to you. i'm richard louis in new york at msnbc world headquarters. 7:00 in the east, 4:00 in the west. here is what's happening for you changing its tune. the president flip-flops on immigration. where does the white house stand as thousands of migrant families are still being separated. behind bars, former trump campaign chairman paul manafort is in jail prompting the president's attorney to say there needs to be some cleaning up. >> after the investigation is over, then it has to be considered as a governmental matter, not by me. and what the history