>> i'm craig melvin >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> i was tied up in tortured. these people almost murdered

me. >> i was terrified. i'm >> i'm a mother just fighting for her child. that's universal. some >> she survived a harrowing ordeal in one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> tonight they have brought me out to kill me. >> then from across the world, her kidnappers 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 like a thriller. >> absolutely. >> the setting. a perfect island paradise. the plot, a daring undercover sting. >> you are supposed to -- get >> wet today give you?

>> they didn't think it would work. >> face to face with her kidnappers last. >> i just broke down. >> it's so hard for you. >> this is real, lifelike pain. >> would she get justice? >> i fought the courage in that moment. and i said i'm ready. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to "dateline. " request itself >> amanda was a fearless young journalist ready to brave the world and dangerous hotspots. then suddenly, she became the story. kidnapped by rebels in somalia. what's she endured at the hands of her captors nearly destroyed her. what happened after she was freed was almost just as terrifying. here's kate snow with "the capture. " >> amanda. amanda. i love. you >> imagine being the mom 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? >> your daughter, a world away, in the hands of kidnappers. >> amanda -- >> money, money, money, money -- >> both mother and daughter traumatize in their own ways by a callous capture. >> i understand. >> their stories are intertwined with. >> amanda -- >> my head was pulled back and there was a serrated knife. >> and her mother. lorinda stewart. >> did you keep it together? >> i did. 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 man who had terrorized than so brutally and it would take an elaborate international sting. it sounds like something out of the movie --

>> we does. we always refer to this operation as the hail mary plan. >> but before all of that, this story begins in a small town in western canada, where a young woman named amanda learned for a world beyond her hometown. >> one constant was that i wanted to be a world traveler. that i wanted to go to every country in the world. >> amanda began to realize her dream of seeing the world in the nineties. at 19, she was off to venezuela. >> we are driving in the back of a pickup truck back to the town of santa elena. >> the whole world was wide open to me at that time. >> so might open she kept moving. kept pushing forward. >> going from india to pakistan. it didn't 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. >> mama, florida, grew concerned. especially as her daughter tracked into active war zones. she tried to talk amanda out of those trips, but she says her daughter was headstrong and the more amanda traveled, the more she began to see a path to something else. >> she thought, i would love to write a book about the people i'm eating. >> she resolved to turn her wanderlust into a journalism career. she wanted to get more experience, but also cover stories she cared about. you need to get there and go somewhere where you can get a break? >> i'm also starting to look a little bit further out onto the rise. and >> how far? one of the most dangerous places in the world. >> while other stories are out there that i feel passionate about? at the top of the list with somalia. >>,,. >>,?

>>. >>,,? >>,. . >> soon enough, she would find out just how wrong things could go. on the plane into mogadishu, she 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 1 million dollars in mogadishu. the careful. >> as amanda left the airport, the capital city was chaotic. back home, amanda's mother, the linda, worried about her daughter. >> i just made sure every time i talked to her that i told her i loved her. >> amanda managed to tamp down her nervousness and got to work. on her third day in somalia, she was in a car with a nigel, chasing a story. >> the vehicle started to slow

down and i looked up. about a dozen armed men were emerging from where they had been hidden. all of them with ak-47s. next thing i knew, my door was pulled open and i found myself lying feast out in the dirt, spread eagle with a gun held in the back of my head. >> terrifying. >> i asked, is this about money? and he said to me, or, it might be something like that. >> all the way back in canada, her mother, linda, stopped hearing from her daughter. she began to fear the worse she. didn't want to be right that she knew kidnappings were common in somalia. you must have felt so helpless? >> i felt like we were so far apart and we didn't know where our daughter was. >> i think i would've been a collapse puddle on the floor. >> well, i knew i couldn't. i couldn't.

>> miranda reached out to canadian officials who told her this was in fact a kidnapping, by islamic raz bowls. and they scramble to set up a recording system in case the kidnappers called. >> the next morning, myself 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. >> there are two options. only to say, i don't want to pay any money. otherwise, to pay 1 million for your daughter. >> when this adam called lorinda on day four, he had a surprise. >> okay, lorinda. >> yes,. >> talk to your daughter. >> amanda? >> mom? >> amanda. i love you, sweetheart. >> proof that amanda was a life.

>> after the first couple weeks, we realized that this might go on for a longer than we hoped. >> on the other side of the globe, amanda couldn't know how long she'd be held, that 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 danger and terror escalates. >> tonight, they have brought me out to kill me. >> and later, a twist straight out of a hollywood thriller. >> you're an undercover agent? >> correct. >> can amanda help turn the tables on her captors? >> my heart started pounding and i felt to my knees and i started crying. >> when dateline continues. ♪breeze driftin' on by...♪ ♪...you know how i feel.♪ you don't have to take... [coughing] ...copd sitting down. ♪it's a new dawn,...♪ ♪...it's a new day,♪ it's time to make a stand. ♪and i'm feelin' good.♪

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[ male announcer ] you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research hospital. two months after we arrived, my three-year-old came to visit, and claire lit up. she was quiet before. and i thought it was just because cancer's hard, but she was really missing her siblings, and i didn't realize how much. all right, young lady. we're going to see how much you weigh, and how tall you are real quick. ♪♪ mama. hey, claire. [ laughter ] ♪♪ [ male announcer ] families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt you can wear to show your support to help st. jude save the lives of these children.

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being kidnapped, one morning, the captors came for amanda and her colleague, nigel. they were taken out of their room and marched outside. there he was, the man known as adam. >> we were terrified. i had a small video camera and he was brought out and we were told to beg for our lives. >> september 17th, 2008. lorinda turned on the tv in canada and saw this -- a hostage video on all josie era. she was crushed. it was the first time she'd seen amanda and she didn't look good. >> how are you feeling as you watched it? >> i just want to bring her home. i never let her go. >> weeks turned two 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 ryan wild. she feared she would be right. then one day, it kept or entered her room. it turns out your fears were defined? >> 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 a tree.

they had me neil. my hell had just was pulled back and there was a surrey knife. >> the ruthless kidnappers told a desperate amanda 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, honey. >> 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 we lorinda wanted to buy amends freedom, she was on her own. a world away in somalia, amanda and nigel locked in separate

rooms, had discovered something. if they each stood at their windows, they could hear each other. they began to hatch a plan. >> nigel realized that 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 brings together, blocking the window. then they would replace the loose bricks. until one day, the whole was bring enough and they made a break for it. >> from the moment that i dropped down out of that bathroom window and heard the sound 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 one 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 wouldn't 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 ever happened to that woman? >> no, i don't. >> after the escape attempt, adam and again 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. >> i am playing a game? you should see my game. how my game is. >> the escape attempt made things much worse for amanda. they tied her arms and her legs and pulled your body up by ropes and leave you? >> yes, 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 on to the phone again. it's one of the hardest calls to listen to. >> amanda --

>> money, money, money, money. listen to me, please. okay? >> amanda -- >> mom, you need to pay the million dollars now, because they've started to torture me. >> the calls were agonizing. the families of both amanda and nigel, desperate to have their children home, eventually hired a private security company to help. months went by and one night, amanda's captors came to her room. >> they marched me outside and then had me sit down on the cement and they produce a small saw and began sawing through the chains that had been 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 a dark, somali night. >> we're both crying. guns surround the car that we're in. and i think, this is it. >> then, a man appeared at the

car's window. >> he says to me, why are you crying? >> here, talk to your mother. and she said to me. amanda, your 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 and landed in nairobi, kenya. they were whisked away to a hospital. mother and daughter finally reunited. >> i barely recognized her. it was relief. it was joy. and it was heart, her take. to see her like that. >> i would not be here now if it was not for my mother. she 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, was it 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 kidnap or. >> it sounds like something out of a movie. >> we didn't think it would work. >> when dateline continues.

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problem is, not everyone's fully living in it. nobody should have to take a class or fill out a medical form on public wifi with a screen the size of your hand. home internet shouldn't be a luxury. everyone should have it and now a lot more people can. so let's go. >> amanda lindhout was back the digital age is waiting.

home in canada, struggling to move beyond that 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 university program in eastern canada, and it was during a break between classes i was checking my emails and i saw that i heard 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. >> 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 to. but her communication 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 to, because it just felt like it was right in my space again. >> adam talented 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 replied back? >> i was hoping that i could get him to send amanda's journals. >> but if lorinda wanted those precious journals, adam said, she'd have to pay. for lorinda, it was outrageous. her daughter's kidnappers had tracked her down with more demands for cash.

that's when she reached out once again to the royal canadian mounted police. and ottawa, a staff sergeant name larry got a call from his bosses. >> we become aware that adam has been in touch with her and at that point, 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 know, you kind of know where he is. >> we know he's in somalia. we know -- we suspect he's using an alias. so, the principal course of action at that point is who is adam? to do that, we have to engage him directly through an undercover operation. >> and work undercover agent?

>> correct. >> is it trying to get 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, a key. >> right off the top i just want to acknowledge were hiding your identity. we've changed your look. >> yes. >> that's because you're an undercover agent? >> correct. >> ak reached out to adam, first by phone. the undercover 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 that adam's facebook messages had turned to some kind of investigation. >> i didn't really know what was going on. i knew that there was the hope to catch this guy. >> ak and adam commuted on and off for years. it was slow work, but ak new pushing to hardwood crater the operation. and patience paid off. >> one day, i received an email from him which is a scanned copy 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 ask him about this and he says yes, i've sent you the letters. i don't need any money for them. relationship evolved to the point where he trusts me enough now. >> and then adam schiff had a new idea. he told he ak was a scholar and wanted to write a book. a history of somalia. as implausible as that sounds, to investigators, it was an unexpected gift. a way to get adam on the hook. you're telling a kidnap or -- >> yes. >> do you believe it was involved in this really major kidnapping and a lot of crimes, that you're going to help him publish a book? >> yes. >> it sounds like something out of the movie. >> it does. we always refer to this operation as that hail mary plan. we didn't think it would work. and as it was continuing, we were surprised ourselves. >> you don't think he would actually see, yes, i really want to write about.

>> no. >> and i'm going to pursue this with. you >> know. he convinced himself that he wanted to write this book and that he was able to write this book. >> that's here and? >> that's our in. we knew we wanted to talk to him. we looked and we thought, okay, how are we going to move this forward? how are going to gather evidence, because ultimately 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 bag that could trap her kidnap her. >> it totally fits in line with what i knew of this man. he struck me as the kind of guy whose ego was so big. of course, it was somebody told him he's capable of writing a book he would think that. >> the heel merry plea was in motion, but investigators knew the needed more than phone calls and emails. their next move? get adam to meet in person. >> coming up -- >> you need to see? >> we need to same. identify him fully. >> a meeting in a perfect

island paradise. undercover agent an unsuspecting kidnap her. dangerously face to face. >> can you believe he's seeing all this? >> it was amazing. >> when dateline continues.

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i'm craig melvin. amanda >> lindhout was working to move past the trauma from her kidnapping. meanwhile, investigators had hat hatch declaring plantings near one of her captors. and then who called himself adam. after years of phone calls, emails and other an undercover investigator had earned adam stress. now, it was time to tighten the net. continuing with the capture, here's kate snow. >> as the hunt for her kidnappers progress, amanda continued to recover and heal. part of that journey included sharing her 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, friends, families, book love people, say to me have you read this book? you've reached a lot of people. >> most people never will be kidnapped, but people know pin and loss and adversity that they don't think that they can get through. so, what i feel people find in

the pages's inspiration and a reminder that they are strong, too. >> her strength would become a crucial to the operation now underway. investigators knew they had her kidnapped her, adam, on the hook. they also knew that in order to get justice for amanda, the needed more than long distance conversation. you need to see? >> we need to see it to identify him fully. >> whose idea was it to meet face to face? >> it was his idea. >> imagine the opportunity to meet with one of amanda's kidnappers face to face. but we're in the world to do it? somalia? too dangerous. canada? too risky. how about, paradise? >> mauritius. four hours away from the kidnappers homeland of somalia, this island gem with its pristine beaches, crystal clear water, beautiful mountain of

this it is, and luxury resorts. ak convince the kidnappers that 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're bringing him to a place where europeans come on vacation? >> i think what it did to do though was it solidified my status as an international business person. somebody who have the needs to get him what he wanted, which was essentially a contract. >> adam took that bait. here he is in mauritius, with ak. >> did you ever get nervous that adam was figured out we were? >> i did angelina then we were walking around the resort and he turned to me and he said, what did you think of me? that's how i buttered him up a bit. i said you're english was great. you've come a long way such from some humble beginnings. and i turned it back on him and said, what did you think of me? he said, first, i thought you were intelligence. but now, now we are brothers. >> against a backdrop of serene

stillness and beauty, the brothers continued to talk and even relax. they each had something to gain in this face to face meeting. he had one objective. getting that book deal. and it seemed like you had one objective -- >> oh we, definitely had one objective. >> the objective was 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 that he was interested in writing a book. we brought pops and one of them was a book cover that we had designed. and i was going to sign a contract with him that laid out his and my relationship. these are the publisher. >> the contract had a trap buried in a. adam would have to disclose any wrongdoing in his past. >> it had a special paragraph and it that we had inserted. a disclosure paragraph 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 seeing all of this out loud? >> i was dancing. it was amazing. you could ask for better evidence. >> he even described his role in one of amanda's worst days. that hostage video on al jazeera. >> i showed him a video that had ears on al jazeera television. and he pointed to himself as if he was really, really proud of this and said, i'm the one that shot that video. >> amanda vividly remembers that video and adam that day. >> adam was now manning this and 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 in their minds -- >> because of the attention. >> getting attention and money. >> in mauritius, investigators accomplished two big things. they identified adam as the kidnappers and got him to admit his crimes. but after all that work, it still wasn't enough to arrest adam.

motion law prohibited ak from recording the confession. so you have no video or audio of what he was in? >> no. no. correct. >> investigators wanted to have the strongest evidence they could against adam in order to prosecute him under canadian law. you are 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. >> yeah, it was -- as investigators, we succeeded in getting the evidence. we'd succeeded in getting the identity. but we had to let him go. a catch and release program. >> in order to catch adam and bring him to justice, they were hoping they could lure him 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? you want justice, this is dragging on for years. >> and as the years past, i started to think the likelihood of that would diminish. >> coming -- up investigators set a trap. >> i'm the spokesman. >> right. >> i am an intelligent person. educated person. >> it played out like a movie. >> i answered the phone and my heart started pounding. >> when dateline continues. yand elderberry. the abcs of ckd yand elderberry. a is for awareness, because knowing that your chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes could progress to dialysis is important. b is for belief that there may be more you can do. just remember that k is for kidneys and kerendia. for adults living with ckd in type 2 diabetes, kerendia is proven to reduce the risk of kidney failure, which can lead to dialysis. kerendia is a once-daily tablet that treats ckd differently

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were doing their best to bring her kidnappers to justice, and she did her best to help them. >> every couple of months, i would have in-person visits with the rcmp. and 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 pull this off. >> ak and his team considered the undercover operation in

mauritius a success, but it was not enough. they wanted to get amanda's kidnappers to confess his crimes on canadian soil. >> why did you need him to go to canada? >> we did not want him to be arrested overseas, so we wanted him in the country, so we could deal with him in the most efficient way possible. >> in order to grab adam in canada, they needed to get him there. ak truly had to convince him of the fake book deal was real. >> so, he thinks you are his book agent? >> i am's book agent. we now got to the point where he would need a publisher, it was my job to then send him a plane ticket, which is difficult to do if you want to fly somebody out of somalia. >> difficult it would be an understatement, as it turns out. >> you want to bring an

international kidnap or into canada? >> correct. >> that does not sound easy. >> well, the dichotomy of it is we are usually in the business of keeping terrorists outside of the country. >> coordinating and planning and itinerary for a kidnap or would take time, and threat in the operation. once again, ak played the long game. >> i kept putting him off saying, we will meet with the publisher soon. and at one point, i had to fake a heart attack. >> i am sorry -- you had to fake a heart attack? >> yes,. that was the way we were able to put him off for a while. >> in real life, you are actually 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 ottawa, there are big hugs. we sit down and talk about the impending book deal, the publishing deal that is 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 boardroom set of four-hour meeting, the book publisher arrives, knocked on the door, comes on in. him and i are allegedly old friends. >> this is the publisher. >> nice to meet you. >> they are actually both undercover agents? >> both undercover agents. we had a bit of chitchat, sit down, go over the contract. and adam, as we had done in mauritius, he goes over everything he had done. >> so, you will be the negotiator between people who had amanda and nigel, and who else? >> and i told lorena that they accepted the thing. >> right. >> i am the spokesman. >> right. >> i'm -- i am an intelligent person. an educated person. >> it played out like a movie,

it was excellent. >> he is actually confessing his crimes to you? >> yes. >> so after the three months, then, you, but, as far as i understand, it from what lorinda had told me, you are the person on the phone? >> yes. i'm working. >> right. >> you are supposed to get some money? >> yes. >> do you know how much? >> no, i do not know, but i was expecting more than what they give me. >> what did they give you? >> $10,000. >> and after that meeting, you walk out? >> yes. we signed the contract, everybody is very happy. we were walking out, i told him we were going for a tour of ottawa. but that did not happen. >> you were both arrested? you are arrested as, well because you were still undercover? >> uniformed police handcuffed both of us. >> adam must have totally been shocked? >> yes, you could see his face, he was clearly thrown by this. and i had to play up, get your hands off my client, what are you doing here? this is ridiculous! they handcuffed us both, let us of indifferent directions. i went for a beer, he went to jail. >> it had been seven years since amanda lindhout had been chained in a squalid cell in somalia, terrorized and tortured by her kidnappers for 460 days. now, adam was in chains himself. amanda was home when she got the news. >> i answer the phone, i was

home alone. and my heart started pounding. and he said, we have arrested adam. and then, i fell to my knees, and i started crying. the next day i woke up, it was my 34th birthday. on the front page of every newspaper in canada was his face. a face that i had not seen in over five years. >> i came in right after, and she was crying. she said, they got him, they got him. they got adam. >> and what were your feelings? >> i was crying. i could not even speak. >> and immediately, my mind went to, well, there is going to be a trial. and i will have to testify in that trial. and the weight of that, 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 was crying, she was upset. >> i was so afraid to see this man again. >> what would happen inside that courtroom?

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>> it was exhausting. this is such a difficult story for me, 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 a closer, i could not even say it became easier. the idea facing him cost me a lot of pain. >> 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 emails between ak and adam alone. the second challenge was, will the witnesses actually be able to testify? >> 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. >> this is like, the biggest day of my life. >> 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 is still hard for you? >> it is, i suspect it always will be. like, this is real life pain. >> and then the doors opened, and i walked into the courtroom. adam was sitting directly in front of me. and i kind of crumbled. >> now came the moment for amanda to testify against her kidnap or. >> can you describe it for me? >> she was crying. she was upset, she was afraid. and then, she swung her head over, she looked at adam in the box. and she stopped crying, she gave him a look of like, i would never worn anybody looking at me like that. >> what kind of a look? >> it was a firm resolve. >> seeing him, sitting across from the in that box as a

prisoner, that was also the truth now. >> it was a reversal. >> exactly. and he looked so small, in a way, sitting in that box. >> 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 am from mogadishu. >> 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. >> again, you had to relive it? >> yes. >> it was empowering, the truth was being told. and there was a small part of me that actually felt sorry for him. >> compassion for him? >> adam's defense was that he,

himself had been taken hostage. and they had threatened him. >> in the end, his defense did not 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. he read a victims 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 in to the lesson, and challenge of finding forgiveness, compassion and peace. those words, bringing to a close not one, but two improbable stories. amanda's kidnapping, and the year spent in pursuit of justice. >> ten years of your life? >> ten years. five years for the undercover operation, ten years until conviction. >> worth it? >> absolutely. >> he is sitting right now in this country, in prison. do you ever think about that?

>> it is justice. i do not 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 is not 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 of the time, and keep pointing my feet towards forgiveness. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. hello over one, i'm menendez, all eyes on pennsylvania, three presidents are wielding their political clout to motivate voters at the 2022 midterm elections.