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
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
give, so i gave all of them. and i said, samantha mulga geldenhuys. i said, savanna lee todd, or savanna lee barnett, or savanna catherine todd. i spoke the truth. i spoke from the heart. and i remember saying that she gave me every opportunity and she s given me the most incredible life. reporter: the judge sentenced lee to 21 months in 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 daughter disagrees with it, i think her mother deserved to spend more time in jail for what she did. if for nothing else than a warning to any other abductive parent. reporter: there s been a lot of claims of revenge. that you put on this facade of trying to find your daughter when it was really about finding lee and making sure she paid. no. i m not seeking revenge,
legal backing at that point. they could have caused, you know, an altercation. he could have been in trouble with the local authorities. alexandria and samantha geldenhuys could have fled. and then we d be back to square one. reporter: a year passed. then almost two. that was too 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 any 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 to the top. reporter: harris determination may have forced law enforcement s hand. on november 4th, 2013, two days 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 talk to us. reporter: lee also asked if she could make a phone call to
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 the 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 the left is indeed your daughter savanna. were you just floored? completely floored. you know, how wonderful is it to have a picture of your grown daughter. to just see, you know, how pretty she is and she had a big smile, and i could recognize my smile in her smile. reporter: i would just be staring at that photo constantly. i was at a loss for a while. i had to refrain from looking at it very much, because it was just too much after all these years. reporter: the couple told harris they had met his ex-wife and daughter in 1999. they knew them as alex and samantha. lee