other still professing love fo diane, but one of them still defiantly lying about having killed her >> that is all for this editio of dateline. i'm craig melville, thank yo for watching >> hello, i'm craig melvin, an this is dateline >> he said it's like a blood movie, and it is, it's just so intense and so deep. you go through all these range of emotions that you don't know, you know? that was the first time i started to hear about m life. i could have been an entirely different person. >> it was a mind-bogglin mystery for almost 20 years, and she was at the center. >> i'm john walsh. 1-year-ol savanna lee barnett is missing from isle of palms, sout carolina >> a child who suddenl vanished >> the most important thing in my life was taken from me. jus

instant horror of where is she >> what had happened to baby savanna? the answer would come decades later and astonish the world. >> it happened so fast, couldn't fathom what was going on >> imagine, your mother fugitive. your father stranger. your home, your name your past -- was any of it real? >> the first thing i felt, jus a pit in my stomach. i jus felt like it was my fault. >> a mother's crime. a father' pain >> what kinds of emotions di it stir up when you would se that crib? >> it would just make me cry >> a daughter forced to face the shattering truth >> i was shocked and i was jus terrified. >> hello and welcome t dateline a father left childless and daughter left questioning he very identity.

it was a case that started as custody battle, but turned int an international mystery tha spanned two decades and took investigators nearly 10,00 miles around the world all driven by a determined dad searching for answers and hi daughter here's andrea canning with "finding savanna." >> in 20-some years, will recall how you tucked an curled against my neck and chest? >> reporter: a father's love harris todd once tried to pu it into words. >> in 20-some years will i recall how i often held yo long after you had falle asleep, listening to you breathe? >> reporter: tried to expres what it meant to cradle hi baby daughter savanna. >> and you what will you remember of thes wondrous days as a baby girl alone with your old father

whose entire life you now are? >> reporter: back in 1994, harris could not imagine tha these wondrous days woul abruptly end. that the next 20 years would turn a father' love into a father's nightmare >> losing you took most of the life out of me. and sometimes feel like i'm already dead and just haven't fallen over yet >> reporter: it all began in charleston, south carolina when harris, a financial advisor, met a beautiful fligh attendant named dorothy le barnett. everyone knew her a lee. >> when she's at her best, she's a very vivacious and attractive and alluring person very lively and interested in lot of things. >> she was very outgoing, very friendly. she lived life to it fullest. >> reporter: patty roth was

fellow flight attendant and on of lee's best friends. they ha traveled the world, but patt said lee ultimately wanted a conventional life. >> lee and i both wanted marriage. we wanted children we wanted animals. we wanted the picket fence >> reporter: harris though that he could build that lif with lee, but early in their relationship he noticed some problems. he said she wa overly emotional and sometimes quick to anger. still, h thought love would conquer all >> i suffer from the misconception that i can fix things. that i can make things better >> reporter: they married in december 1991. but withi months, harris said, it became apparent that his fixing skill were no match for lee' behavior >> i mean, i never knew what was going to face me when came through the door afte work. and it could be nothing, and it could be nothing bu screaming and yelling an throwing pots. >> reporter: things got so bad

harris told lee he wanted divorce. he said, lee told him she was pregnant >> everything fell apart whe she told him that she wa pregnant >> reporter: patty said what actually made the marriage g sour was harris'refusal to hav children >> he wanted her to terminat the pregnancy, and that wa just not an option for lee. it broke her heart. >> reporter: lee says that you didn't want her to have th child? >> not at all true. i neve said that. not once. >> reporter: either way, the marriage was over. harris left lee when she was still in he first trimester and le initiated divorce proceedings. when baby savanna was born i may 1993, she asked for full custody. >> i felt at the end of the day, lee would have her child harris would have visitations. >> reporter: but to everyone's surprise, harris counter-sued. you decided you wanted ful custody? >> from my point of view, decided that before the baby

was born. it was like responsibility that i suddenly realized had, if you will, bee thrust upon me >> reporter: the fight for savanna turned into an epi battle. a family court showdow that became one of the longest and most contentious tha charleston had ever seen. ther will be mothers everywhere saying shame on him. how can he, you know, try to rip that baby from her arms when she's still nursing. she's built this bond >> i wasn't trying to take her away from her mother. i just felt that i was the more stabl parent >> reporter: at the hearing, harris and others testifie that lee's behavior was erratic, sometimes violent. one psychiatrist testified that le had a mood disorder. according to harris'lawyer, graham sturgis, lee's emotional outbursts were on full display in the courtroom. so much so that the judge had to take action >> as the case wore on, it was clear that her level of anxiet and frustration rose until the

judge required that a bailif stand behind her chair with hi hands on her shoulder to kee her seated >> reporter: some people might say that she felt maybe that her baby was slipping away fro her. and that any mother might start to lose their mind a little bit in court. >> i think there's truth i that, but it's also indicative of her inability to control he behavior >> reporter: but on lee' behalf, two other psychiatrist testified she had no mental or emotional disorders, and was a perfectly fit parent. and as for her allegedly mani behavior? patty and othe friends testified they had never seen it. >> i saw lee almost every da for a couple years, and i di not see any episodes like that she was full of life. she had lot of energy. absolutely sa no depression. >> reporter: after 2 1/2 weeks of acrimonious testimony, it was up to the judge. harris wa with the toddler when the phon rang

>> savanna and i were in the yard, and it was a warm day, and she was barefoot walking o the grass. >> reporter: what do you hea on this phone call >> the judge awarding me full, sole custody >> reporter: harris was to emotionally depleted from th vicious custody battle to jump for joy, but he was surprise by what he suddenly felt >> that overwhelming sense t protect and care for a child. didn't anticipate the depth. >> reporter: were you feelin an intense bond with savanna a this point >> oh, tremendous. i'd never been happier in my entire life >> reporter: but lee was reeling from the verdict tha allowed her to see savanna onl every other weekend. the judge wrote in his ruling that the psychological and emotiona problems experienced by th mother, if left untreated, wil create conflict and havoc in the child's life >> she was angry. she though it was corrupt >> reporter: babs mccambridg

was lee's friend and savanna's baby-sitter. she went with lee to pick up savanna for a visitation weekend two weeks after the verdict and said she was horrified when harri handed over baby savanna >> she had black and blue mark on her forehead. she had blood on her nose. lee sat in th backseat with the baby and she was crying, and we went to the emergency room >> reporter: did you ever harm savanna? did you ever abuse her >> heavens, no. she fell whe she was with my mother at th house. that's all it was >> reporter: the emergency roo report supported what harris had told lee. savanna' injuries were consistent with minor fall. the e. r. doctor wrote he found no signs of abuse. >> i mean, i would never hav let a hair on that baby's head be harmed. >> reporter: but lee was convinced harris was an unfi parent and refused to return savanna until harris forced he

to do so by emergency cour order. the situation seemed to stabilize for a time. but then came april 24th, 1994. a dat harris would remember forever. savanna had been with lee for weekend visitation, and once again, lee failed to bring the baby back. but when harris wen to lee's home -- >> nobody was there. and the all calls were fruitless nothing turned up. >> reporter: was there a momen where you thought, i'm getting really scared here. i thin that maybe my daughter's not coming back? >> no, i didn't even imagine anything that horrible >> coming up -- where had they gone? >> did you worry tha savanna could be in danger >> yes. >> reporter: whe "dateline" continues gonna fly. kyle? and while romeo over here is trying to look cool, things are about to heat up. uh-oh. darn it, kyle!

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had failed to return their bab daughter savanna after a weekend visitation, so he went to her house to get the baby back. but the house was no only empty, it was completel cleaned out. >> you have that just instan horror of where is she >> reporter: harris immediatel notified all missing children' agencies. and since parental abduction of a child is federal crime, fbi agent chris quick was assigned to the case >> i wasn't thinking this wa

well thought out initially, an that, you know, we'd have this case resolved in a week, two weeks. >> reporter: did you worry tha savanna could be in danger >> yes. is she this woman who' really caring for her child an going to take care of her child? or is this the woman who doe harm to the child? >> reporter: if lee had family or friends who had any information about he whereabouts, they didn't volunteer it. so agent quick put a trace on their phones. any calls from lee >> no. the thing that trips up most people that are running from the law is not having tha discipline to talk to ol friends or going back to place that they're familiar with. an as this case went on, we realized that dorothy lee ha that discipline. >> reporter: quick discovere that lee had inquired about job in australia or sout africa, and that her mom owned a home in the central american country of belize. so, he pu tabs on flights to those countries. >> they turned up nothing. >> reporter: did you assum that maybe she had changed her identity >> yes. like a new license

maybe a new passport >> reporter: lee seemed to hav vanished without a trace. bu out of the blue, a message appeared >> savanna and i belon together. and nobody besides god has the right to destroy that >> we had found out five day or so after the kidnapping relatives and associates received a letter and videotape from dorothy lee. an it states, "to whom it may concern, i recently lost custody to my beautiful 1/2-month-old nursing baby this happened because of a truly evil person, b. harris todd, and a totally corrup family court system. " >> reporter: now agent quick knew this child abduction wa not a spur of the moment decision. lee had a well thought-out plan >> i promise and swear on my life that i will continue to take care of my daughter.

will keep her safe. i will never allow anybody to harm he again. >> i mean, that was an attempt to embarrass and destroy me, but it's not surprising. you know, she's building a case fo whatever else, to justify what she did. i just hope you know that love you >> reporter: though he had nowhere to send it, harris mad his own home video, a messag to savanna >> i just hope you're safe and clean, and healthy out there wherever you are >> reporter: it took a lot out of harris to shoot that vide in savanna's room. >> every morning i would com in and wake her up, feed her dress her and we'd head off. and you know, i couldn't bea to see the crib empty. >> but harris started taking action

-- >> she is missing from south carolina >> and he appeared on unsolved mystery which dedicated an entire segment to his case >> i wake up not every morning with a broken heart. >> reporter: harris'tv appearances generated hundreds of leads >> those leads came from everywhere. anywhere fro california, georgia, alabama we would follow those up and try to determine if that was dorothy lee or the child nothing. nothing panned out. >> april 24th, 1996. you'r gone two years now, which is unimaginable. i don't know how old you'll be when you see thi -- if you ever see this... i'l be here for you whenever you d come back. >> reporter: then finally, fou years into his search, harri thought that moment ha

arrived. someone had seen little blond-haired girl about 5 years old, walk into a grocery store in mexico. >> the woman who called in was there when the little girl's mother came to the door an said, "savanna, come on. you need to come home. " >> mexico? private detectives are on th case and a father's hopes soars >> the lady said that, yes, th little girl comes in here by herself, because her mother ha bad headaches and doesn't come out sometimes for days >> reporter: did that soun like lee to you? >> it did, yes >> had mother and daughter bee found? when dateline continues. good point. we bundled the boat with our home and auto first. -hey, team, get on in here. -team? oh. fun. now everyone say "24/7 financial protection with progressive"! 24/7 financial protection with progressive! okay. let's get some singles

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the files and notebooks that i've amassed over the years. i have got everything in her from maps and letters an copies of everything >> reporter: are there a lot o dead ends here, too? >> oh, there are plenty of dea ends >> reporter: after four year of searching, harris tod thought he'd found his daughte in a small town in mexico. especially after a source gave a description of the girl' mother >> the lady said, yes, the little girl comes in here by herself all the time to play games or whatever, because her mother has bad headaches and doesn't come out sometimes for days >> reporter: did that soun like lee to you?

>> it did, yes. mm-hmm >> reporter: harris hire private detectives to check ou the lead. what was the repor you got from the detectives? >> they found absolutely nothing. you know, they checke everything out. they wen everywhere and they never foun the little girl, for tha matter >> reporter: perhaps lee and savanna had been there and left. or maybe it wasn't the at all. either way, it was another dead end >> you run through the cycle o excitement and disappointmen enough times and you just say, well, look, do you really want to put yourself through that again? because there's a wealt of pain associated with this and i can only dip into it s often and survive. >> reporter: how much do you think you've spent on your search >> i spent everything i had an everything i could borrow. graham sturgis, my attorney, told me that i better quit

spending enough money or there wouldn't be anything for her t come back to >> reporter: fbi agent chris quick knew the chance savann would come back was gettin smaller and smaller. you wer kind of grasping for straws. >> to some extent, you'r right. >> reporter: must've felt cold >> oh yeah, definitely definitely. after the three or four years, it's considered cold case. >> reporter: harris tried to move on. tried to fill tha gaping hole in his life. one thing that helped, he said, wa his niece, who was just thre years younger than savanna >> i spent an awful lot of tim with her. i mean, from a ver early age. i did homework with her every day. would walk he to school, pick her up fro school >> reporter: did you think t yourself, i should have been doing this with my daughter? >> yeah, i thought about it. you know, when you go see your child in a thanksgiving play you see them sing in the christmas pageant. well, i was watching my niece instead of m daughter. but i was thinking about my daughter at that time

>> reporter: time marched on harris continued working as financial adviser at merrill lynch. he had a fe relationships, but he neve remarried. after ten years, th fbi assigned a new agent, ed klimas, to the case, but nothing new turned up. >> i believe that the chance of success for this case wer probably very slim at that point. that they had disappeared to a foreign country that we would never be able to locate them. >> reporter: about the onl thing that changed were th images on the missing person posters. from the baby harri had loved, to a computer simulated image of a teen he barely recognized. >> if i die before i wake from this nightmare - >> reporter: he'd stoppe filming his messages to savann long ago, but he wrote one las poem >> and please do keep an eye out across the fields. watch the end of the long driveway someday my daughter will b there asking for me.

>> reporter: had you given up? >> no, but one has to face reality. i mean you just say well, look, here it is. she' 16. she's 17. she's 18. and yo don't know where she is. so -- >> reporter: perhaps the onl sign that harris had not abandoned all hope was savanna's room. it stood jus as she had left it almost 18 years before. and then you get an e-mail totally out of the blue >> i did >> reporter: what did it say >> it said essentially, i have information about your daughter. but again, i'd learned to temper my expectations over the years. because the well had long sinc gone dry. so all of a sudden the bucket goes down again and this time it comes up an there's water in it. >> coming up - >> reporter: were you just floored? >> completely floored. >> reporter: that mysterious e-mail. turns out someone else

had been doing some detectiv work, too. >> reporter: they tracked yo down >> they told me, we feel lik you have a right to know you daughter. >> when dateline continues. - this is our premium platinum coverage map and this is consumer cellular's map. see the difference? - no... i don't see the difference, do you? - well, that one's purple. - exactly! that's our premium. - what does that mean? - i think it means it costs more. - for the same coverage? - that's what makes it premium! - that doesn't make sense, does it? - no... but it is premium! - i'd just go with consumer cellular.

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look at what is looking righ now, a common abortion pill is still legal in the u.s according to the supreme court the ruling stays a lower court decision to -- this is the courts lates ruling on abortions as the overturning of roe v. wade about a year ago and soon after that court' decision president biden issue a statement saying quote, let' be clear, the american peopl must continue to use their vot as their voice, an elected congress that will pass a la of restoring the protections o roe v. wade. now, back to dateline. >>

>> welcome back to "dateline. i'm craig melville a father, looking for answer about his daughter, received a surprise email from stranger halfway across the globe could this be the news he' been waiting for all these years? or was it just another false lead here once again is andre canning with "finding savanna. >> reporter: almost 18 years had gone by since harris had seen his daughter savanna. so, it was hard to comprehend th e-mail that arrived in the early morning hours of novembe 27th, 2011. a single line that said, "i'd like to speak wit you with regards to your daughter. " was there that little bit of hope >> oh sure. there always is.

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

>> i was at a loss for a while i had to refrain from lookin at it very much, because it wa just too much after all thes years. >> reporter: the couple told harris they had met his ex-wif and daughter in 1999. they kne them as alex and samantha. lee was married to a south african named juan geldenhuys, wit whom she had a son. although lee never spoke about her past the couple had long suspecte that savanna was not juan' biological daughter. what di the couple tell you about ho they had discovered this secret? >> you know, i think it was gradual process on their part. >> reporter: the couple told harris, lee and her husban divorced in 2008. and that recently, they themselves ha had a falling out with her they had always wanted to know more about their friend' mysterious past, so they decided to do some investigating of their own. le had once mentioned that she ha a home in belize. armed with that, savanna's birth date and other tidbits of information they'd picked up over the years,

they searched the internet and discovered lee's secret. they're real detectives. >> i think so. >> reporter: they figured it out. they tracked you down >> and then, essentially knowing the wrath that the would face if my ex-wife eve found out that they did it they went ahead anyway. they told me, we feel like you have a right to know your daughter. >> reporter: harris gave the couple's information to fb agent ed klimas. and now tha they knew lee's alias, the fbi was finally able to figure out how she had left the u. s. without being detected. she ha set her abduction plan i motion by getting a fake birth certificate about two months before taking savanna. >> dorothy lee barnett goes to become a fictitious person named alexandria maria canton. she went to texas to obtain texas driver's license, then used the information from that to obtain a united state passport. what we learned wa

she had left the united states went to malaysia, and then fro malaysia went to south afric where she met geldenhuys. from there, in 1999, she moved to botswana. in 2003, she moved out to new zealand. and then after a couple of years, she moved to australia >> reporter: an 18-year-ol mystery solved. in the movies, on tv, they find the person an they rush out to make th arrest. story's over. did that happen in this case? >> no. we had to get the state department involved. departmen of justice involved. and we ha to get a provisional arres warrant that the australians would accept because we have t abide by their laws. >> reporter: harris wanted t fly to australia right away, but the fbi asked him to let bureaucracy take its course. harris had waited 18 years. he

figured he could wait a bi more. i think some people, though, may say that a rea father would have gotten o that plane the moment he found out about where his daughter was. >> if i'd showed up in australia without any backup and run into my ex-wife or m daughter, i would have had n legal backing at that point. >> they could have caused, you know, an altercation. he could have been in trouble with th local authorities. alexandri and samantha geldenhuys coul have fled. and then we'd b back to square one >> reporter: a year passed then almost two. that was to much, even for a patient man like harris. he bought his plane tickets and told the fbi he was going no matter what. you weren't going to wait an more? you were done? >> i wasn't going to wait. and it just so happened that suddenly, the paperwork went from the bottom of the stack t the top. >> reporter: harris'determination may hav forced law enforcement's hand. on november 4th, 2013, two day before he landed in australia,

lee was finally arrested >> she didn't appear surprised she was very cordial and she seemed to be very calm. so she expressed a willingness to tal to us. >> reporter: lee also asked if she could make a phone call to savanna. >> coming up -- >> i couldn't fathom what wa going on >> an astonishing moment o truth for savanna. >> the first thing that popped into my head, i said, "doe that mean that my dad isn't my dad" >> and her father. >> i kept thinking i'll get to see her. >> when "dateline" continues.

>> reporter: when australian police and the fbi showed up a lee's doorstep, she didn't see surprised. but her 20-year-old daughter was about to receiv the shock of her life. >> i couldn't fathom what wa going on. it happened so fast. but, you know, it keep replaying in my mind >> reporter: savanna, or samantha, as she knew herself, was away at college when her boyfriend brad handed her th phone and said her mom was o the line. she talked about tha moment of truth with australia's 7 network. >> and brad said, "she's crying." and it's not like mom to cry. she's a very stron woman. so, she said, "look, i' being arrested." and of course i went, oh my goodness, yo know? i'd never expect out o anyone in the world my mom would have done anything. it was a brief conversation about how she was married previously in america and she conceived m with him. and then something became unsafe and she just too

me and ran. so, the first thin that popped into my head, said, "does that mean dad isn' my dad? >> reporter: as far back a savanna could remember, juan geldenhuys had always been b her side. she believed he wa her biological dad, somethin lee kept reinforcing >> mom would relay things, you know? like, you sleep like you dad. or you know, you look lik your dad. so, i've always grow up with that >> reporter: but tragedy struc in 2011, when juan, by the divorced from lee, fell sick with cancer. the man savanna thought was her dad died just week before lee was arrested >> he fought very long and ver hard, but it was inevitable. but i'm happy because the last words i said to him was, " love you", and the same with him. >> reporter: savanna said sh had barely begun to mourn he father's death when the news came that she was someon else's daughter. >> i've never heard harris todd. i've never heard savanna i found out that i was

biologically related to him, and that he'd been helping the authorities to find my mom and i. >> reporter: imagine finding out that your mom was an international fugitive wante by the fbi. imagine realizin that you were living a life yo were not meant to live. an savanna said it was a good life >> i grew up in mainly cap town, south africa, and that was just great. we used to g down to a beach in cape town and just spend family. mom was very into going to the beach and having fun there >> reporter: she remembere going to game reserves i botswana and competing in swim races in new zealand >> i had a lot of friends. i had animals. i was educated. i had dancing. did piano. i had mom. i had a dad. i had brother. i had a house. and was given everything the possibly could afford. it wa just -- it was normal. it wa so normal. >> reporter: so normal. and as savanna now discovered, so

different from the chaos of he first year as a baby back in charleston. she scoured th internet for articles writte in the u. s. about the life sh never knew. read about the custody battle. about ho harris and others described he mom as mentally ill an violent. >> i've never, ever seen anything like that in my entir life. she's not got a mental illness. she's not violent. yo know, unless she did this whol 180 and changed her entire attitude, then that's not wh she is >> reporter: so who was th mother that savanna knew >> the most important thing think is her compassion and th ability to encourage anyone an everyone. everything i am is because of the support, love and nurturing that i have had. >> reporter: she was afraid, she said, that with th revelation her mother was fugitive, lee's australian friends would abandon her, but they did not >> everyone stepped up and the said, what can we do, you know i had about 20 people living a the house trying to help m

with everything. and you know? so, it really, really show that everything that she's given to them, they're givin back to her. >> reporter: word of lee's capture had reached charleston savanna was flooded with supportive e-mails and phone calls from lee's former friend and from family. she had often wondered about her relatives i the united states, like he grandmother and her uncle. now suddenly, she was meeting them for what seemed like the ver first time >> beautiful house and m beautiful granddaughter. >> hi. >> oh my goodness. looks lik her mommy did. >> reporter: now, the bigges reunion of all seemed like i was about to happen, too. le was in an australian jai fighting extradition back to the u. s., and the man she wanted to keep away from savanna all those years wa just a few miles away asking t meet his long-lost daughter. >> the fbi interviewed m daughter and they informed her of me. i was told that she was

looking forward to meeting me. >> reporter: but savanna's priority was to get her mom ou of jail, not meet the man wh helped put her behind bars >> so, i slept on it for a couple of nights and i created an e-mail. and i just said, appreciate everything, but right now, i can't even si down to eat. you know? so, i appreciate him coming over, bu i'm sorry, you know. that' pretty much what it was. >> reporter: there would be no emotional meeting betwee father and daughter. at leas not in australia. if harris wa disappointed, he didn't show it. he'd learned long ago to keep his emotions at bay. wa it heartbreaking for you tha you went all the way over ther and she wasn't ready to see you? >> no. >> reporter: but we're talking about your daughter and seeing your daughter. and hugging her and telling her, i'm your dad. >> yeah. well, i didn't give u on that. i was there for about

a month. and it wasn't until the third week that i finall realized that that just wasn't going to happen. >> reporter: so harris fle home, wondering if he'd ever see his daughter. after nine months in an australian jail lee was extradited and flown back to charleston to face three federal counts o international parental kidnapping and passport fraud. and hot on her heels, savanna, returning to the city of her birth. going home to defend th mother who raised her, and perhaps to meet the father she never knew >> emotionally, i think that it's a decision i will mak when i'm ready. >> coming up - at last. >> i need to see for my ow eyes what kind of person he is >> a moment 20 years in th making >> when dateline continues

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along for support, returned to charleston for the first tim in 20 years. she came for he mother, who was behind bar facing kidnapping charges and prison sentence. >> for 20 years, all o america's been like, she's crazy. or she's stolen a kid and no one knew whether i wa safe or not. so, first off, me

coming back happy, healthy and grounded would have to raise some questions, you know >> reporter: samantha has gone on record as saying she neve saw anything wrong with he mom. she had a lovin childhood. great relationship. it really flies in the face of everything that we heard early on >> well, there's a saying. w don't know who discovered water, but we're certain it wasn't fish. and a lot of times you can be raised in an environmen and not necessarily know wha it was until you happen to get outside of that environment an look back in >> reporter: savanna returne home to a big welcome, as lee' old friends gathered around to see her baby daughter all grow up now. to patty roth, lee's close friend who had hel savanna the minute she was born >> hannah and ivy and laney. >> reporter: and patty's daughters, who would have been her friends. and to charleston

the beautiful city that coul have been savanna's home, if life hadn't taken such a tur that ultimately led here. th charleston jail where her mo was awaiting trial >> we don't know what's goin to happen. i'm looking forward to going to trial, to be honest >> i think we're going to give it all we got and that's all w can really say, right? >> it is. that's it. >> so, we can only hope. >> and she said to me, "i've done this all for you and i've succeeded." she doesn't care what happens to her. >> reporter: lee's defense for what she did had not changed from the allegations she had made 20 years before. namely that harris had abused savanna that time when she picked he up with the bloody nose. lea prosecutor, nathan williams, said he re-investigated th incident, but like the origina inquiry, found no evidence t support lee's charge

>> the first doctor said there was no problem with it, they didn't think a second opinio was needed. the defendant in this case got a second opinion from their pediatrician, who said the same thing. and so, there was this indication that she was looking for an answe that wasn't there. >> reporter: not only that williams'investigation reveale that lee had started to plan her escape even before she accused harris of harming baby savanna. >> we know contemporaneously with this allegation of abus that was unfounded, she wa also getting false documents false driver's licenses, false passports and setting the tabl to flee the country with her child. to try to rationalize i and claim that it was based on something that isn't true, t me, is a clear indication of guilt. >> reporter: "dateline" aske lee for an interview, but sh declined. in the end, sh pleaded guilty to all th charges against her. savanna spoke at the sentencing. she began by giving her name

>> i didn't know which one t give, so i gave all of them. and i said, samantha mulga geldenhuys. i said, savanna le todd, or savanna lee barnett or savanna catherine todd. i spoke the truth. i spoke fro the heart. and i remembe saying that she gave me ever opportunity and she's given me the most incredible life >> reporter: the judge sentenced lee to 21 months i prison. what did you think should be the punishment for lee? >> over a third of my life was essentially taken from me. the most important thing in my life. even if my daughte disagrees with it, i think her mother deserved to spend mor time in jail for what she did. if for nothing else than a warning to any other abductive parent >> reporter: there's been a lo of claims of revenge. that you put on this facade of trying t find your daughter when it was really about finding lee and making sure she paid

>> no. i'm not seeking revenge not seeking revenge. all i wanted was my daughter, that's all. i love my daughter. and unfortunately, my ex-wife took her. and it's not revenge to want my daughter back. >> reporter: the daughte harris lost years ago had been in charleston for severa weeks. seemingly meeting everyone who had played a role in her past except him. bu then, a little after christmas 2014, he got the e-mail he'd been longing for. savann wanted to meet. just one rule, she said. no talk about he mother or the case. and no photos >> i'm not going to be ditchin my mom by any means. but i wouldn't expect them to ever see each other again. but need to have a mature, adult relationship and see for my ow -- in my own eyes, and gauge myself what kind of person h is >> reporter: harris happil agreed. and a few days later here they were, father and

daughter face-to-face on the doorstep of the house that onc was savanna's home >> when she came to the door, didn't know whether she wanted to shake my hand or not. but - so i held my hand out and sh said, "no, i want a hug. >> reporter: that must hav felt so good when she said that >> oh, shoot. felt great >> reporter: harris led savann to what was once her bedroom with its little wooden crib an baby toys. a place where tim had stood still until now. >> to be honest, i was tryin to make sure that i didn't fal apart. i didn't want to just stand there and cry or anythin like that. here's a daughter who remembers nothing about he father. here's a father wh remembers everything about his daughter and has longed for he for years and years. well, it' very hard to put those two things together. it's -- >> reporter: it's like two

different worlds comin together >> right. you know, life is no like a hallmark movie. >> it was natural. no, there was no uncomfortable. there wa no awkwardness. there wa nothing. i think that i'm natural-born speaker, and it seemed to be that he is, too. learned very much a lot abou him and my family on his side. and yeah, it was very pleasant >> reporter: lee was release from prison in may of 2015 and was ordered to spend two years of probation in the charleston area. she'll have to build a new life in the u. s. as a convicted felon, she may never be allowed back into australia but savanna returned there, to the place she calls home, to continue her college studies since her visit, she has not been in touch with her father. but if there's anything that harris has learned in the last 20 years, it is that there i always hope. >> you know, my daughter's her own person now. she can make her own decisions. and whether

my daughter wants to contact m or not, she knows where i am and she knows i want to hear from her, whatever happens. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline. " i'm craig melvin thanks for joining us. >> well i'm andrea kaine, an this is dateline >> he didn't look like a 1 year old boy, he didn't ac like a 15 year old boy >> they said that they wer friends but then that nothin had happened >> the text messages are the truth. >> she was a 33-year-old hig school tutor, he was her 15-year-old student. >> he was in love. >> but after his mom found thi on his phone, police knew this was no innocent teenage crush. >> he said that they had sex o several differen