world just like conrad. and i can't even imagine anything like this happening again. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. thank you for watching >> i was tied up and tortured. these people almost murdered me. i was terrified. >> a mother just fighting for her child, that's universal. >> yeah. >> she survived a harrowing ordeal in one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> he brought he out to kill me. >> then from across the world, her kidnapper found her again. >> he reached out on facebook.

>> did your heart stop? >> it was scary that he could find me. >> for the first time, she shares her dramatic story. how she helped secret agents hunt down her captor. >> this all plays likal thriller. >> absolutely. >> the setting. a perfect island paradise. the plot, a daring under cover sting. >> u you were supposed to get - >> zple some money. >> yes. >> how much did you get? >> $10,000? face-to-face with her kidnapper at last. >> i just broke down. >> it's still hard for you. >> this is real life like pan. >> would she get justice? >> i fought the courage in that momentag and i said, "i'm ready" hello and welcome to "dateline. request itself amanda was a furious jung u young journalist

in the world's most dangerous hot spot. suddenly, she became the story. kidnapped by raptors in somali. what happened endured her. what happened after she washe freed was almost as terrifying. her is kate snow with the capture. >> ayman dark, ayman do i love you. >> imagine being the mot on the ought end of the call. >> if you guys don't by a $is million for me by one week, they will kill me. okay. >> your daughter, a world away in the hand ofug kidnappers. >> amanda -- >> mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. >> both mother and daughter trauma hitted in their own ways by a callous can'tor. p their stories are intertwined,

amanda -- >> my head was pulled back and there was a serrated knife. >> and her mother. lorinda stewart. >> did you keep it together? >> i ydid. i had to be strong for her. >> driven by strength, courage and endurance, these women would not only survive this ordeal, but their determination in a completely new chapter of their story would ultimately lead them to triumph over one of the men who had triedz them so brutteri them so beautifully. >> it almost seems like sting. >> it does. we often refer to this plan as the hail mary plan. >> before all ofha that, this story begins in a small town in western canada, where a young woman yearned for a world beyond herfo town. >> one constant was i wanted to be a world traveler. i wanted told go to every count

in the world. >>y amanda began to that reali seeing her world in the '90s. at 19, she was off to venezuela. >> we are driving in the back of a pickup truck back to the town of santee alaina. >> the would world was wide opened to me at that time. >> so wide opened, she kept moving, kept pushing forward. >> going from india to pakistan. it dil 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 grew concerned, semi-as her daughternc trekked into acte war edzones. she triedve to talk amanda out those trip, but she says her daughter was head strong and the moreea amanda traveled, the mor she began to see a path to something else. >> she thought, finally, you would-to write a book people need. >> sheop resolved to turn her

wonder lust into a journalism career. she wanted to get morere experience but also cover stories she cared about. >> you need to get out there and go somewhere, where you can get a break? >>u i am starting to look litt further out onto the horizon. >> how far? one of the most dangerous maces in the world. >> what other stories are out there that i feel passionate about? at the stopna of my list was somalia. >> amanda knew she had to tell her mother about her plan. >> and you are thinking what? >> i would really rather she didn't r go. >> maybe you were to use your mom's words a little head strong? >> yeah,s i was head strong. i don't think i had spent enough time thinking ability what would happen if something did go wrong. >> soon enough, she would find out just how wrong thing could go. on theng plane into mogadishu s remembers a fellow passenger turning to her and her colleague nigel brennan with a stern warning. he said to me, your head, your

head alone is worth half a million in mogadishu. be careful. >> as amanda left the airport, the capital city was chaotic. back at home, amanda's mother lorinda worried about her daughter. >> i just made sure every time you take talked to her i told her i loved her. >> amanda got to work on her third day in somalia, she was in a car s with nigel chasing a story. >> the vehicle started to slow down and i looked up about a dozen armed men were emergeing from where they had been hind, allha of them with ak-47. next thing i knew my door was pulled opened and then i found myself lying face down in the dirt spread eagle with a gun held to the back of my head. >>ba terrifying. i asked, is this about money? and he said to me, ah, it might

be something like that. >> all the way back in canada, her mother lorinda stopped hearing from her daughter. she began h to fear the worst. she didn't want to be right. but she knew kidnappings were common inna somalia. >> you must have felt so helpless. >> i felt we were so far apart and we didn't know where our daughter was. >> i think i would have been a collapsed w puddle on the floor. >> well, i knew i couldn't. i couldn't. >> she reached out to canadian officials who told her this was, in fact, a kidnapping, by islamic rebels and they scrambled to set up a recording system if case the kidnappers called. >> the next morning my cell phone rang and it was adam, who was negotiator for the kidnappers. >> canadian investigators had lorinda lead the negotiations. but what she couldn't know then was just how much terror the man

who called himself adam would bring into her life. >> i am calling to say i don't want to pay any money, otherwise, one million for your daughter. >> when this m adam called her day four, he had a surprise. >> hey, talk the to your daughter. >>ey amanda. >> mom? >> amanda, i love you, sweetheart. >> proof that amanda walls alive. 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 couldn't know how long she'd be held, but feared the worst. >> i was the only female in a group of about 16 men. so there was a a lot of scary thoughts. >> coming up, the danger and terror escalates. >> tonight they have brought me out to b kill me -- >> and later, a twist straight out of a hollywood thriller.

>> you are an under cover agent? >> correct. >> can amanda help turn the tables on her captors? >> my heart started pounding and fell to my knees and i started crying. >> when "dateline" continues. n s theraflu dissolves in seconds, so it's ready to work before your first sip, and absorbs quickly to target and attack 8 cold and flu symptoms fast. try theraflu. you have fast-acting power over pain,

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what we make has to work. we strive to protect you. at 3m, we're in pursuit of solutions that make people's lives better. . nearly a month after being kidnapped, one morning the captors came for amanda and her

colleague nigel. they were taken out of tear r m their room and marched outside, there he was the man known as adam. >> we were terrified and a small video camera was brought out. we were told to beg for our lives. >> september 17th, 2008, lorinda turned on the tv in canada and saw this. a hostage video only a al jazeera. she was crushed. it was the first time she had seen amanda and she didn't look good. what was your feeling as you watched it? >> i just want to bring her home and never, never let her go. >> weeks turned to months and then their captors separated amanda and nigel. >> 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. she feared she would be raped. then one day a captor entered her room. >> it turns out your fears were justified? >> he did cross that line and my worst fears were realized. and my whole experience in captivity really changed. >> somehow, she held on and then one night amanda was jostled awake and driven out into the desert alone. what happened next was terrifying. >> they brought me over to an acacia tree. had me kneel. my head was pulled back and there was a serrated knife. >> the ruthless kidnappers told a desperate ayman dark, she only had three minutes to plead for her life, with her traumatized mother on the other end of the call. >> 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. >> 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 just felt like i had to. >> that i had to be strong for her. >> canada does not pay ransom to kidnappers, so if lorinda wanted to buy amanda's freedom, she was on her own. a world away in somalia, amanda and nigel locked in separate rooms discovered something. if they each stood at their windows, they could hear each other. they began to hatch a plan. >> i realized we might have a chance to escape out that

bathroom window. which at first seemed like an impossible idea. >> each time they used the bathroom, they chipped away at the mortar holding the bricks together blocking the window. then they would replace the loose bricks until one day the hole was big enough and they made a break for it. >> from the moment that i dropped down a out of that bathroom window and hit the sand below, i knew that it was bad. >> they sprinted for a mosque. the one place where they thought they'd be safe. >> right before we stepped in, i looked back and i saw 21 of our young captors. >> inside the mosque, one person stepped forward to try and help amanda, someone she'll never forget. >> 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.

>> that feeling would be fleeting. >> i just clung on to her and i started pouring out my heart to this woman and she began pleading with my captors to let me go. >> her pleas were ignored. the kidnappers circled amanda guns drawn and began dragging her out of the mosque. >> 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. >> after the escape attempt, adam and the gang clearly grew frustrated and adam took it out

on lorinda. >> if i had the money, i would pay you. we are not playing games. it's you that are playing games. >> the escape attempt made things much worse for ayman california they tied your arms and 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. >> after that, adam forced her onto the phone again. it's one of the hardest calls to listen to. >> amanda. >> mommy, mommy, million moy, million moy, million moy, millimommy, listen to me please. >> amanda. >> they need a million dollars now because they started to

torture meeee. >> the calls were agonizing. the calls of amanda and nigel desperate to have their children home eventually hired a private security company to help. months went by and one night her captors came to her room. >> they marched me outside and had me sit down on the cement and began sawing through the chains that had been the on my ankles for ten months. >> amanda and nigel hadn't seen each other for months, but now they were thrown into the back seat of a car and driven into the dark smolly nigomali night. >> we are both crying. and i think this is it. >> then a man appears at the window. >> he says to me, why are you crying? here, talk to your mother.

>> she said to me, amanda, you're free. >> amanda's mother lorinda had never stopped negotiating and adam had agreed to accept $680,000 for both amanda and nigel. the captives flew out of somalia into kenya, they were wisked away to a hospital. mother and daughter finally reunited. >> i barely recognized her. it was relief, it was joy and it was heart. heartache to see her like that. >> i would not be here now if it was not for my mother. my mom gave me life and she saved my life. >> amanda lindhout was finally safe, back with her family, but adam, the one who tormented them so much wasn't finished with them yet. a single word from him would bring it all back. coming up. >> did your heart stop?

>> it was so scary that he could find me. >> a facebook message from across the world and a daring undercover plan to catch a kidnapper. >> it sounds like something out of a movie. >> we didn't think it would work. >> when "dateline" continues. work. >> when "dateline" continues lop. align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24/7. so, where you go, the pro goes. go with align, the pros in digestive health.

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amanda lindhout was back home in canada, struggling to move

beyond the horrific events in somalia and trying to cope with the idea that the captors who so terrorized her might never be brought to justice. and as amanda tried to get her life back on track. there was an interruption. >> i had enrolled in a program in eastern canada. it was during a break between classes. i was checking my e-mails. i saw i had received a facebook message. >> one word, hello. it was from the last person she ever wanted to hear from. >> it was a message from adam there did your heart stop? >> it was so scary that he could find me even though i was safe and across the world and was at home, it was really disarming. >> that one simple message was about to launch a new and dangerous chapter of her story. the messages didn't stop there. lorinda heard from adam, too. but her communications with him extended beyond hello. out of the blue, you get this

facebook message from adam. it must have been shocking? >> it was a total shock. it was kind of terrifying, too, because it just felt like it was right in my space again. >> adam taunted lorinda. he said he was reaching out because he had journals amanda had written in captivity, deeply personal writing that had helped her get through it all. >> what were you thinking when you applied that? >> i was hoping that i could get him to send amanda's journals. >> but if lorinda wanted those precious journal, adam said, she'd have to pay. for lorinda it was outrageous, her daughter's kidnapper trapped her down with more demands for cash. that when she reached out once again to the royal canadian mounted police. in ottowa, a staff sergeant named larry laren got a call from his bosses.

>> we become aware adam has been in touch with her. tant my team was engaged to pursue that to the full extent. >> a 30-year veteran, he ran priority undercover projects for the royal canadian mounted police. his mission, find adam. if that was even his name. >> he reaches out on facebook, which means you have his facebook address, right? >> we do. >> you kind of know where he is. >> we know he's in somalia. >> right. >> we suspect he is using an alias, so the principle course of action tant is who is adam? and so to do that, we have to engage him directly through an under cover operation. >> under cover agent? >> correct? is he going to start getting in touch with adam? >> yes. >> that's where this man comes in. he's a canadian investigator who we've agreed to refer to by his cover name ak. >> right off the top, we want to

acknowledge we are hiding your identity. we've changed your look. >> yes. >> that's because are you an under cover agent? >> correct. >> ak reached out to adam first by phone. the under cover agent told him he was a media consultant for amanda's family. amanda didn't know about ak or what he was doing. all she knew was adam's facebook messages had triggered some kind of investigation. >> i didn't really know what was going on. i knew there was the hope to catch this guy. >> ak and adam communicated on and off for years. it was slow work. but ak knew pushing too hard could crater the operation and patience paid off. >> one day i received an e-mail from him which was a scanned copies of 16 letters. >> they looked like letters, but they were actually pages ripped from amanda's journals. adam had originally asked for thousands of dollars for them. but now. >> i call him up and i ask him about this he says, yeah, i send you the letters, i don't need

any money for them. our relationship had evolved to the point where he trusts me enough now. >> then adam shared a new idea. he told ak he was a scholar and wanted to write a book, a history on somalia. as implausible as that sounds. to investigators, it was an unexpected gift, a way to get adam on the hook. >> you are telling a kidnapper. >> yes. >> -- who you believe was involved in this really major kidnaping? >> yeah. >> a plot of crimes that you are going to help him publish a book? >> yes. >> it does, we often refer to this version as the hail mary play. we didn't think it would work. as it was continuing, we were surprised, ours. >> you didn't think he'd want to write a book? >> no. >> and i will pursue this with you? >> no, he convinced himself he wanted to write a book and he was able to write this book. >> that's our in. >> that's your in. >> we looked at him and thought

how are we moving forward? how are we gathering evidence? that's our goal, gathering the evidence and maybe one day bringing him to justice. >> money, fame. to amanda, it was just the kind of bait that could trap her kidnappers. >> it totally fits in line with what i knew out of this man. he struck me as the kind of guy whose ego was so big. of course, if somebody told him he is capable of writing a book he would think that. >> the mail mary play was in motion. but investigators knew they needed more than phone calls and e-mails. their next move, get adam to meet in person. >> coming up. >> we need to see him. >> we need to see him to identify him, fully. >> a meeting a at perfect island paradise. under cover agent and unsuspected kidnapper dangerously face-to-face. >> can you believe he's saying all this? >> it was amaze zplg when

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i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. new evidence that trump manager paul manafort was instrumental in ukraine for the democratic committee e-mails. plus big news, published intern am documents from the mueller investigation, released in response to a court order. and investigators are still trying to determine what caused a fire in california now threatened by powerful winds. firefighters are with theling several fires throughout the state. now back to "dateline." "datelin. welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. amanda lindhout was working out the trauma from her kidnappers.

they ensnared a plan for a man called adam, after years of phone calls and e-mails an under cover investigator had earned adam's trust. now it was time to tighten the net. continuing with the capture, here's kate snow. >> as the hunt for her kidnapper progressed, amanda continued to recover and heal. part of that journey included sharing that story with the world, four years after being freed, she released her memoir, a house in the sky. it became a best seller. >> in my own life, books, family people said to me have you read this book? you reached a lot of people. >> most people don't get kidnapped. and people know pain and lots and adversity that they don't think that they can get through so what i feel people find in the pages is inspiration and a reminder that they are strong, too. >> her strength would become

crucial to the operation now under way. investigators knew they had her kidnapper adam on the hook him they also knew in order to get justice for amanda, they needed more than long distance conversations. >> we need to see him? >> we need to see him to identify him fully. >> whose idea was it to meet face-to-face? >> it was his idea. >> imagine meeting with one of the amanda's kidnappers face in to face? where in the world to do it? somalia, too dangerous, canada, too risky. how about paradise? maushs mauritius, beautiful water and mountain vistas and luxury resorts. a.k. convinced the kidnapper he would serve as his book agent and invited adam here to talk about the project. >> adam lives in mogadishu in a really difficult place to live

and you are bringing him to a place where europeans come on vacation? >> i think what it did is solidified my status as an international business person, someone that had the means to get him what he wanted, essentially a book contract. >> adam took the bait. here he is in mauritius with a.k. >> did you ever get worried he'd figure you out? >> he turned to me, what did you think of me? your english is so great. i turned it back on him, what did you think of many e? and he said, first i thought you were intelligence, but now, now we are brothers. >>ancy a backdrop of serene stillness and beauty, the brothers continue to talk and even relax. they each had something to gain in this face-to-face meeting. >> he had one objective, getting that book deem? >> he did.

>> it seemed you had one objective? >> definitely we had one objective. >> the objective whereas to see him confirm that adam was, indeed, the man who had terrorized amanda and lorinda. next, they wanted him to admit his involvement in the kidnapping. that's where the phony book deal came in. >> we knew he was interested in writing a book. with ebrought props, one was a book cover we had designed. i was going to design a contract with him that laid out his and my relationship vis-a-vis the publisher. >> the contract had a trap buried in it, adam would have to disclose any wrong-doing in his past. >> it had a special par graph, a disclosure par graph to encourage him to tell us his story. >> he signed and incredibly, he told his story, including details of his involvement in the kidnapping. can you believe he is saying this all out loud? >> in my head, i was dancing.

it was amazing, you couldn't ask for better evidence. >> he even described his role in one of amanda's worst days that hostage video only a al jazeera. >> i showed am video on al jazeera. he pointed to himself and said, i'm the one that shot that video. >> amanda vividly remembers that video and adam that day. >> adam was now manning that, setting the stage for this video. i would say there was a great deal of excitement among all of them that they were going to be doing this little video and you know in their mind. >> it would get azblengs surely getting attention and money. >> in mauritius, investigators accomplished two big thing, identified adam as the kidnapper and got to him admit his crimes. after all that work it still wasn't enough to arrest adam. mauritian law prohibited a.k. from recording the confession. >> so have you no video or audio

of what he is saying? >> no, correct. >> investigators wanted to have the strongest evidence they could against adam in order to prosecute him under canadian law. >> you were leaving mauritius with a success, but you need more? >> yeah, we do. >> how did you feel when you left here? >> conflicted. >> you are leaving him, watching him go back to somalia. >> it was, as investigators, we succeeded in getting the every day, in getting the identity. but we had to let him go, like a catch and release program. >> in order to catch adam and bring him to justice, they were hoping they could lure him even farther from home, a place where they could control the setting. all the way to canada, but how on earth would they convince adam to do that and how long would it take? . well, you want justice, this is dragging on for years. >> and as the years passed, i started to think the likelihood of that would diminish. >> coming up, investigators set

a trap. >> i'm so excited. >> i'm, i'm intelligent person. >> it played out like a movie. >> i answered the phone and my heart started pounding. >> when "dateline" continues. ws ♪ ♪ no matter how you stay fit keep it light with light & fit's rainbow of delightful, protein-packed flavors. ♪ ♪

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justice and -- kidnapper to justice. >> every month i would have visit with rcmp. during these meetings they could never tell me very much, but enough to give me at least a little bit of confidence that they might be able to bupull th off. >> a.k. and his team considered the undercover operation in mauritius a success. i wasn't enough. they wanted more. why did you go to canada? >> we didn't want him arrested overseas. we wanted him in the country to deal with him in the most efficient way possible. >> in order to get adam in canada, they had to get him there. a.k. had to convince him the fake book deal was real. >> he thinks you are his book agent? >> i'm his book agent. so we were now at the point he

was going to meet the publishers. it's difficult to do to send him a plane ticket out of somalia. >> difficult it would turn out? >> you will bring an international kidnapper into canada? >> correct. >> that doesn't sound easy. >> the dichotomy we are usually in the business of keeping them out of the country. >> planning for a kidnapper would take time and threaten the operation. once again a.k. played the long game. >> i kept putting him off, we will be meeting with the publisher soon. then at one point i had to fake a heart attack. >> i'm sorry, had you to fake a heart attack? >> fake a heart attack. that was the way we were able to put him off for a while. >> yeah in real life you were doing other cases? >> yes. >> finally, after years of hard work and delays for amanda and her mother, everything was in place and adam was on a plane to canada. >> he arrives at the airport in ottowa. he comes in, there is big hugs.

we sit down, and we talk about the impending book deem, the publishing deem that was about to be signed. >> adam was looking forward to a different kind of future, little did he know that is precisely what he would get out of this deal. >> i go into the room with adam. first we have a board room set up for a meeting. the book publishers arrives, come in he and i are allegedly old friends. >> this is my star. he wants to meet you. >> he was actually an under cover agents? >> both under cover agents. we chit chat, sit down and go over the contract. adam goes over everything he had done. >> so you would -- you would be the negotiator between the people that had amanda? >> and i told lorinda this. i'm the spokesman. i'm intelligent agent person. >> it played out like a movie,

it was excellent. >> he is actually confessing to you his crimes? >> why e. >> so back in the three months then, as far as i understand it from what lorifda told me, you were still the person on the phone? >> yes. >> you were supposed to get some money? >> why e. >> do you know how much? >> i don't know, but i was expecting more than that. >> what did they give you? >> $10,000. >> after that meeting, you walk out. >> yes. >> we sign the contract, everybody is very happy and we were walking out because i told him we were going for a tour of ottowa. >> that didn't happen? >> you were both arrested, you were arrested, too, you were under cover? >> uniform police handcuffed us both. >> he was, you could see in his face, he was clearly thrown by this. and i had to play up you know get your hands off my client what are you doing here? this is ridiculous. they handcuffed us both and led us off if different directions.

i went for a beer, he went to jail. >> it's been seven years since amanda lindhout had been chained in a squalid cell in somalia terrorized and tortured by hurt kidnappers for 466 days. now adam was in chains, himself, amanda was home when she got the news. >> i answered the phone and i was home alone and my heart started pounding. and he said, weave arrested adam. and i fell to my knees and i started crying and the next day i woke up and it was my 34th birthday, on the front page of every newspaper in canada was his face. a face that i hadn't seen in over five years. especially came in right after and she was crying and i think she was saying they got him, they got him, they got atam. >> and what were your feelings?

>> i was crying. and i couldn't even speak. >> and immediately my mind went to, well, there's going to be a trial and i will have to testify in that trial and the weight of that and what that really meant to me and would mean to my life became real. >> amanda is about to take the witness stand and come face-to-face with her captor at last. >> coming up. >> she's crying. she was upset. >> i was so afraid to see this man again. >> what would happen inside that courtroom? >> i wondered if i could do it. >> when "dateline" continues. n s n s the only one to combine a safe sleep aid. and the 12-hour pain relieving strength of aleve. so...magic mornings happen. there's a better choice. aleve pm.

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as unlikely as it may have seemed, authorities had their man in the kidnapping of amanda lindhout. and they got him in canada. the royal canadian mounted police announced adam's capture to the world. >> this arrest is a testament to the investigative team's perseverance, and i wish to thank them for their excellent work. >> reporter: with the investigation over, it would now be up to amanda herself to keep adam behind bars. it would take everything she had to do it. >> i'm going to have to testify, and i'm going to have to face this man in court. >> you're going to have to see him? >> yeah. >> reporter: before that could happen, amanda would have to assist the prosecution team in building its case against the kidnapper. >> and the group of us would meet every couple of months for

two and a half years. >> wow, that's exhausting. >> it was exhausting. this was such a difficult story for me that there was still so much real active trauma in the telling of this story. and i just so appreciated the time that they took with me, guiding me through the process. and as the trial date was getting closer, i can't even say that it became easier. the idea of facing him caused me a lot of pain. >> reporter: croft michaelson was the lead prosecutor. >> what were the biggest challenges? >> one was the magnitude of the file. my recollection was there were more than 700 e-mails between a.k. and adam alone. the second challenge was -- are the witnesses actually gonna be able to testify? >> reporter: the man known to amanda and lorinda for so long as "adam," was actually a 40-year old somali national named, ali-omar ader. he pleaded not guilty to the

kidnapping. on october 5th, 2017, the trial began in the kidnapping of amanda lindhout. >> feels like the biggest day of my life. >> reporter: "dateline" was with her that morning as she made her way to the courthouse. >> what was going through your head? what were you worried about? >> in those moments before entering the courtroom, i wondered if i could do it. i was so afraid to see this man again. >> the thought of seeing him? >> the thought of seeing his face. but i gathered myself. i needed to do that, as much for myself as anything. >> i just saw you gather yourself just there, when you said it. it's still hard for you? >> it is. and i expect it always will be. this is real life, like, pain. and then the doors opened and i walked into the courtroom, and adam was sitting directly in front of me. and i kind of crumbled. >> reporter: now came the moment

for amanda to testify against her kidnapper. >> can you describe it for me? >> she was crying, she was upset, she was afraid. and then she swung her head over and she looked at adam in the box. and she stopped crying and gave him a look, like i -- i would never want anyone looking at me like that. >> what kind of a look? >> it was a firm resolve. >> seeing him sitting across from me as a prisoner in that box, that was also the truth now. >> it's a reversal. >> exactly. and he looked so small, in a way, sitting in that box. >> reporter: in her testimony amanda spoke openly about how adam terrorized her. she was on the stand for one long day. >> okay, my name is adam, and i'm from mogadishu. >> reporter: but her mom lorinda spent three days in court listening to the phone calls that would prove crucial to the case.

>> i am not lying to you. >> you do not want amanda to be home because if you want you should pay the money. >> so, again, you have to relive it. >> yeah. it was empowering. the truth was being told. there was a small part of me that actually felt sorry for him. >> compassion for him. >> yeah. >> adam's defense was that he himself had been taken hostage, and they had threatened him. >> reporter: in the end, his defense didn't work. the man known as adam was found guilty of kidnapping. for his crimes, he was sentenced to 15 years in a canadian prison. victory for amanda lindhout. amanda read a victim's impact statement at sentencing. in it she addressed adam. "i am the victim. i am also the survivor."

she said, "i am the one who will go out and live the lessons of this. i choose to lean into the lesson and challenge of finding forgiveness, compassion and peace." >> reporter: those words, bringing to a close not one, but two improbable stories. amanda lindhout's kidnapping and the years spent in pursuit of justice. >> ten years of your life? >> ten years, yeah. five years for the undercover operation, ten years in total until conviction. >> worth it? >> absolutely. >> he's sitting in prison right now in this country. do you think about that ever? >> it's justice. but i don't take joy in any suffering of any other human being. >> have you forgiven adam? >> i can't say yes or no to that question because it's not a forgiving because adam deserves to be forgiven. but i deserve to have the freedom in my life of not being full of that anger all the time.

and keep pointing my feet towards forgiveness. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. 6:00 in the east, 3:00 out west. here's what's happening. just boos, just cheers or both? president trump waking up in new york after a big fight night. what to make of his strategy in the impeachment battle. a new week of depositions. in stom -- nancy pelosi's message to democrats. why she's worried some may be on the wrong track. coast to coast battle. where the president is