[ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, finally free. an american mother and her family kidnapped by the taliban in afghanistan. her story of being beaten and raped in front of her son. how they kept their children alive through five years in captivity. and the hard question for this husband and father. >> what were you thinking when you took your wife there in first place? why would you take her into taliban territory? >> plus charles manson, one of america's most notorious killers, dead at age 83. a look back at the infamous cult leader who became a national symbol of evil. and rolling in

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an abc news exclusive. the american mother and her family held captive by the taliban. she has a harrowing story to tell. the beatings, the sexual assault, the three children born in captivity. and how her husband reacts when we ask why bring your pregnant wife on a trip to afghanistan in the first place? here's brian ross. >> jonah is the older and daquan noah and mia degrace. >> they're free now learning the joys of a playground. and pizza night with no armed guards watching their every move. >> we have waited since 2012 for somebody to understand our problems. >> reporter: until just a few weeks ago, these children were america's littlest hostages. held with their parent business a brutal group of taliban terrorists in afghanistan and pakistan. >>

somebody will recognize the atrocities these men carry out against us. >> reporter: their american mother, caitlin boyle and canadian father joshua, had been kidnapped five years ago by the taliban when she was already six months pregnant with her eldest son. a pregnancy the guards wanted to end. >> they didn't want us to have even him. even the oldest. they tried. but he was too far along. and then these two came after. and we had to keep them secret. >> reporter: now in her first television interview, the mother of three no longer comfortable in western clothes is coming forward to describe how she bravely defied her captors to raise and educate her children. >> it was difficult. >> reporter: what did you do? >> we would just teach them to use things like bottle caps or bits of cardboard, garbage, essentially, but what we could find to play with and tell them these are toys. >> reporter: do you think that he understood the kind of danger that he was in, that you w

hostage? >> i think he did, yes. >> reporter: as they learned of hostages being beheaded elsewhere, the parents say they even made up a game about beheadings using british history so their eldest son would not be scared if it actually happened. >> he certainly knew that this type of thing could happen to his family. so he had great fun pretending to be oliver cromwell chasing charles i around and trying to behead him. >> reporter: so you made it a game. >> we made it a game so he wasn't afraid. >> reporter: it was far from the childhood caitlin had growing up in rural stuartstown, pennsylvania, where her parents say he was always the center of attention at christmas. >> merry christmas, everyone. >> reporter: a sense of safety and security her children have yet to know. >> what made me the saddest that we were prisoners was that i didn't have an opportunity to show my children

things that i grew up with, playgrounds or zoos, things like that was probably what was the hardest. >> reporter: what kept you going? >> faith and just, you know, you have to take every day one day at a time. >> reporter: they taught their eldest son by the constellations and the stars even though he was never able to look up at the sky at night while a hostage. >> they can look at the night sky and go, oh, there's a star. is that one beetlejuice or is that one serious? >> reporter: he seems very verbal and very bright. >> nadoushi jonah is doing very well. he wants to put the flashlight in the tube. in my eye. >> reporter: you must be proud of him. >> i'm proud of my entire family. >> reporter: but everyone carries scars from the ordeal that will take more than toys and wholesome food

they say nadoushi was subject of beatings by the guards. >> some of them actively hated children and would target nadoushi and come up with reasons to hit him with a stick and claiming he was causing problems, being too loud. >> reporter: ko you get in between the guards. >> sometimes that's how i would get beaten or hit, thrown on the ground. >> she had a broken cheekbone. she broke her own hand punching one of them. >> reporter: she fought back. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: but caitlin would pay dearly for her defiance. she believes the guards put something in her food to force a miscarriage with an unborn daughter, what she and her husband call a forced abortion. and she revealed in this hostage tape what happened next when she wouldn't keep quiet about it. a sexual assault in front of her

>> my children had seen their mother defiled. that did happen. one day they came in to the cell and they took my husband out forcefully dragging him out. and that's when the assault happened. it was with two men and then there was a third at the door. and afterwards, the animals wouldn't even give me back my -- they wouldn't even give back clothes. >> reporter: the very next day, she says, helicopter gunships attacked some nearby compounds and caitlin saw it as an answer to her prayers. >> it was a big, big battle. our guards were hiding out of sight. they were absolutely terrified. but my husband and i were each laughing to ourselves thinking i hope that these sons of bitches die today. >> reporter: before being captured, boyle was known for his work in canada on behalf of

of al qaeda and being held at guantanamo. >> reporter: after your capture, how soon did you realize this was pretty bad? >> i was shackled for five years every day. >> reporter: he would not join up with them. how did they take that? >> not rel. they were flabbergasted by the fact that date lip and i were open about our contempt for them. >> reporter: you told that to them? >> i called them religious hypocrites to their face and that i would rather be killed than join their group. that did not make me friends. >> reporter: the hostage videos they were forced to make show how conditions steadily got worse over their captivity. >> if we all come out of this safely and alive, then it will be a miracle. >> reporter: it must have been an

you, all that was going on, guns in your face all the time. >> that would be an understatement. i think we both kept going for the sake of the children, each other and ultimately keeping an eye on we wanted to hold people accountable at the end of the day. >> reporter: why are you alive and not this group? >> god likes me better than them. >> reporter: their freedom came almost five years to the day after they were captured. the family flew home on a commercial aircraft after boyle refused to let them board a u.s. military plane that was waiting for them. >> yesterday the united states government, working with the government of pakistan, secured the release of caitlin coleman, joshua boyle and their three children from captivity from the hakani network, a terrorist organization with ties to the taliban. >> reporter: he took some credit for negotiating your release. what do you say about that? >> i

>> reporter: you don't want to say anything about that? whether he is owed a thank you? >> i don't play politics. our focus is on trying to hold accountable those who have committed grave human rights violations against us and against others. >> reporter: the boyles' plan is to settle in canada, not the u.s. a disappointment to her father, jim, who remains angry at his daughter's husband for taking her to afghanistan in the first place. >> all i can say is taking your pregnant wife to a very dangerous place to me and the kind of person that i am, it's unconscionable. >> reporter: it is not something joshua boyle wants to talk about now. let me ask you this question. what were you thinking when you took your wife there in the first place? why would you take her into taliban territory? silence. difficult issues remain with both her and his family. what's your hope for them, your wish for them now?

they never have to face fear in their lives again, to have enough fun to make up for the years of trauma they've had to endure. but i hope that they find enough happiness and joy to make up for it. >> for nightline, brian ross, abc news, ottawa, canada. next here, charles manson in his own words upon the death of one of america's most infamous mass murderers. we look back at our interview with one of his former followers.

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"nightline" continues with dan harris.

because some of america's most chilling murders. charles manson died sunday night at age 83. he created the manson family cult attracting a group of devoted young followers, some of whom would ultimately kill for him. >> you know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. nowadays everybody's crazy. >> in august of 1969 manson directed his followers to brutally murder seven people over two nights in los angeles. voight ak frykowski, actress sharon tate, steven parent, jay sebring, abigail follower and the la be anabiancas. >> i didn't tell anybody to do anything other than what they wanted to do. >> if they wanted to do murder, that had nothing to do with you. >> that's not my business, woman. i'm a convict, a rebel,

>> manson is a case study in the ability of one person to get others who you wouldn't think would do something like this to do the most horrible things imaginable. i think that people find that to be both scary and sort of horribly interesting. >> former manson follower diane lake did not participate in the murders but told my colleague amy robach that she knew a different side of manson. >> did you love him? >> yes. i did. >> did he love you? >> i always thought he did. now i'm not so sure. >> she says she was 14 when she met manson, a man nearly 20 years her senior. she says within hours of meeting he had sex with her. >> it seemed very natural and loving. >> were you attracted to him? >> he was cute, impish. you know, fun. i needed that love and attention and

and he gave it to me. >> but in late 1968 she says her relationship with manson began to change. >> he had anal sex with me which i had never experienced before. it was rape. i didn't think of it that way until, you know, many years later, but the result of that was that i wanted to commit suicide. >> by the summer of 1969, manson, she says, was becoming increasingly violent. ♪ helter-skelter >> convinced the beatle's song "helter-skelter" was warning of a looming race war. >> how concerned were you when you saw that evolution? >> it didn't feel right, but yet the evidence seemed to be overwhelming that this is the way the world was going, that these were true prophecpropheci >> lake says she was out in the desert at the time of the murders but later some of the manson family members behind

grisly crimes confessed to her. >> what i remember is they gave me the gory details with a certain amount of glee or almost like bragging. >> if charlie had asked you to, wo you have killed for him? >> no. i couldn't have. >> manson and several of his followers were initially sentenced to death in 1971. but a year later the california supreme court abolished the death penalty. the sentences were then commuted to life in prison. my colleague david wright spoke with sharon tate's sister debra in 2016. she was just 16 when her sister was murdered. >> would it have been easier for your family if they had been put to death? >> absolutely. we can breathe a sigh of relief and go about your life. >> five manson family members remain behind bars serving life sentences. all five are eligible for parole.

attended those hearings. >> it's always struck me that this has really been a life sentence for you as much as for them. >> absolutely correct. >> in a statement to abc news today debra tate said in part these are individuals that are still brutal monsters capable of committing heinous crimes. although i've forgiven, i've not forgotten and i feel it's very important that they stay exactly where they are until they die. >> if manson and his followers had been convicted today, there would be no possibility for parole. because of when the crime was committed and the changes that occurred in the law in the 1970s, manson's followers will constantly be eligible for parole. almost all of them will consistently be rejected without a question. >> manson himself served 46 years of a life sentence for first degree murder, denied parole 12 times. and coming up next here on

"nightline," we'll switch gears entirely. bread may have become a dietary no-no in recent years but we'll show you the company hoping to change hearts, minds and appetites with a $20 loaf. >> abc news "nightline" brought to you by mucinex. that cough doesn't sound so good. well i think you sound great. move over. easy booger man. take mucinex dm. it'll take care of your cough. fine! i'll text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. one pill lasts 12 hours, so... looks like i'm good all night. ah! david, please, listen. still not coughing. not fair you guys! waffles are my favorite! ah! why take 4-hour cough medicine? just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. i want ycome on mom!t easy. go slow. ♪

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finally, there was a great new yorker cartoon that ran a few months ago that showed two women having lunch. one says to the other, i've been gluten free for a week and i'm already annoying. tonight the bakery trying to capitalize on that sentiment. maybe it all started with oprah who famously and controversially declared -- >> i love bread. >> now the war on carbs and gruten may have finally met its match. these wheat warriorses are riled up and swear that this bread is the real deal. >> and for that -- >> the baguettes are really good. >> you can't describe the taste. >> the bakers at she wolf bakery have these luxe loaves flying off the shelves with

and sourdough as low as $4 and the holy grail, the niche $20. what majs these bo, gie bread the dough? >> given the time involved is much greater. we're also using organic flours, a lot more hands involved. >> paul says it's a multiday process which starts with prefermentation. after a whole lot of tlc and artistic touch, it is ready to rise. back at the market stand, operations manager max bernstein is helping hungry customers find the perfect loaf. >> this is as light as we get. >> while he says he knows this is more than people are used to paying he hopes to make she wolf bread available to everyone. >> once we convince people to try it, they realize there's a

that goes into each loaf. >> so is bread back? these fans say it never left. >> there's just something about cutting and hearing the crackling of the bread and topped with a slice of butter. simplicity's perfect. >> thank you for watching abc news tonight. as always we're online 24/7 on abcnews.com and on our "nightline" facebook page. thank you for watching and good night. >> hey, everybody, welcome to "millionaire." today we're playing with "entertainment tonight's" cameron mathison, who will be fighting to win that million dollars on behalf of his favorite charity. and i can't wait to hand him a big fat check. so let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music]

[cheers and applause] hey, everybody, welcome to "millionaire." >> yeah! >> want to welcome our celebrity contestant. from "entertainment tonight," good friend cameron mathison. >> so cool to be here. >> awesome. >> this is--this is-- i mean, you go through your career. you do a lot of different things. but this is, like-- this is amazing. i'm on "millionaire." >> and i love... >> come on. >> i always like to have people a little less fortunate-looking than myself, so... >> yeah, well, i'm here for you. >> who we playing for today? i know this is very near and dear to your heart. >> it is. it is. it's the multiple myeloma research foundation, a wonderful organization raising money, obviously, for multiple myeloma. it's near and dear to my wife's heart, to my heart. my father-in-law passed away of this disease, and it's a very rare blood cancer. so hopefully we'll bring some awareness... >> good. >> raise some money. here we go. >> and have a great time doing it. >> yeah, that's right. >> well, i appreciate you being here. are you ready for this ride?