Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20240704

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 tom clancy thriller. Absolutely. The setting. A perfect island paradise. The plot, a daring undercover sting. You are supposed to get wet today give you . They didnt think it would work. Face to face with her kidnapper at last. I just broke down. Its so hard for you. This is real, lifelike pain. Which you get justice . I fought the courage in that moment. And i said im ready. Hello and welcome to dateline. 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 she endured at the hands of her captors nearly destroyed her. What happened after she was freed was almost just as terrifying. Heres kate snow with the capture. Amanda. Amanda. I love you. Imagine being the mom on the other end of the call. If you guys dont pay 1 million for me by one week, they will kill me. Okay . Your daughter, a world away, in the hands of kidnappers. Amanda mommy, mommy, mmmy, mommy both mother and daughter traumatize in their own ways by a callous capture. I understand. Their stories are intertwined. Amanda my head was pulled back and there was a serrated knife. And her mother. Lorinda stewart. Did you keep it together . I 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 it 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 didnt 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, lorinda, 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 im meeting. 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 . Im also starting to look a little bit further out onto the horizon. 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. ,. And what we came . I was thinking i would prefer she didnt go. I was headstrong. I didnt spend enough time thinking about what would happen if somebody did go wrong . Cygna, 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. Be careful. As amanda left the airport, the capital city was chaotic. Back home, amandas mother, lorinda, 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 ak47s. 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, lorinda, stopped hearing from her daughter. She began to fear the worse. She didnt 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 didnt know where our daughter was. I think i wouldve been a Collapse Puddle on the floor. Well, i knew i couldnt. I couldnt. Miranda reached out to canadian officials who told her this was in fact a kidnapping, by islamic rebels. 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 couldnt 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 dont 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 live. 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 couldnt know how long shed 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. Youre an undercover agent . Correct. Can amanda help turn the tables on her captors . My heart started pounding and i fell to my knees and i started crying. When dateline continues. When dateline continues. luke so. I hear some of you are concerned about the fact that im taking over the company. Well, rest assured, companys in great hands. Marci, hit the vid. both lukes homesdotcom. Weve done your home work. luke now, that is worth celebrating brad i love it. luke thank you. brad home. Work. Very clever. vo ding dong luke vo homesdotcom. My dry eyes made me a burning, stinging, 5timesaday,. Makeup smearing drops user. I want another option thats not another drop. Tyrvaya. Its not another drop. Its the first and only nasal spray for dry eye. Tyrvaya treats the signs and symptoms of Dry Eye Disease fast by helping your body produce its own real tears. Common side effects include sneezing, cough, and throat and nose irritation. Relying only on drops . Not me. My own real tears are my relief. Ask your eye doctor about tyrvaya. Everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. They want that Hollywood White smile. New sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24 7 sensitivity protection. I think its a great product. Its going to help a lot of patients. Why wont scout play with us anymore . He has something called osteoarthritis pain. Its joint pain that hurts him all the time. Come on, scout. Now, theres librela. The first and only oncemonthly injection to control your dogs oa pain. Veterinary professionals administering librela who are pregnant, trying to conceive, or breast feeding, should take extreme care to avoid selfinjection, which could cause allergic reactions like anaphylaxis. This is the best day of my life emergenc crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. And who doesnt love a good throwback . emergenc crystals. Hi, im jason. Ive lost 228 pounds on golo. Changing your habits is the only way that gets you to lose the weight. And golo is the plan thats going to help you do that. Just take the first step, go to golo. Com. Kate snow voiceover nearly a month after being kidnapped, and nearly a month after 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. 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 shed seen amanda and she didnt look good. How are you feeling as you watched it . I just want to bring her home. 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, im alone with my own thoughts and my mind. Amandas mind ran wild. She feared she would be right. Then one day, it kept or entered her room. It turns out your fears were justified . He did cross that line and my worst fears were realized. And my whole experience in captivity really changed. Somehow, she held on. And then one night, amanda was jostled awake and driven out into the desert alone. What happened next was terrifying. They brought me over to an a cache a tree. They had me neil. My hell had just was pulled back and there was a serrated 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 dont 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 lorinda wanted to buy amandas 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 theyd 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 shell 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 wouldnt 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 couldnt 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 dont know ever happened to that woman . No, i dont. 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. Its 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, its 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. Its one of the hardest calls to listen to. Amanda mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. Listen to me, please. Okay . Amanda mom, you need to pay the Million Dollars now, because theyve 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, amandas 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 hadnt seen each other for months. But now, they were thrown into the back seat of a car and driven into a dark, somali night. Were both crying. Guns surround the car that were in. And i think, this is it. Then, a man appeared at the cars window. He says to me, why are you crying . Here, talk to your mother. And she said to me. Amanda, youre free. Amandas 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 hard, heartache. 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, wasnt finished with them yet. A single word from him would bring it all back. Coming up did your heart stop . It was so scary that he could find me. A facebook message from across the world and a daring undercover plan to catch a kidnapper. It sounds like something out of a movie. We didnt think it would work. When dateline continues. Rk. When dateline continues. I am every opponent youve ever faced. Lets dance lizard. I can take any form i desire. Awesome i mean its disturbing, but its awesome. Kate snow voiceover Amanda Lindhout was back home in canada, struggling Amanda Lindhout was back 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 didnt stop there. Lorinda heard from adam too. 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 too, because it just felt like he was right in my space again. Adam taunting 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 amandas journals. But if lorinda wanted those precious journals, adam said, shed have to pay. For lorinda, it was outrageous. Her daughters kidnapper had tracked her down with more demands for cash. Thats when she reached out once again to the Royal Canadian mounted police. In 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 hes in somalia. We know we suspect hes 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. An Work Undercover Agent . Correct. Is it trying to get in touch with adam . Yes. Thats where this man comes in. Hes a canadian investigator who weve agreed to refer to by his cover name, a k. Right off the top i just want to acknowledge were hiding your identity. Weve changed your look. Yes. Thats because youre an undercover agent . Correct. Ak reached out to adam, first by phone. The undercover agent told him he was a Media Consultant for amandas family. Amanda didnt know about ak or what he was doing. All she knew was that Adams Facebook messages had turned to some kind of investigation. I didnt 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 amandas 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, ive sent you the letters. I dont need any money for them. Our relationship evolved to the point where he trusts me enough now. And then adam shared 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. Youre telling a kidnapper yes. Do you believe it was involved in this really major kidnapping and a lot of crimes, that youre 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 the hail mary plan. We didnt think it would work. And as it was continuing, we were surprised ourselves. You dont think he would actually say, yes, i really want to write about. No. And im going to pursue this with you. No. He convinced himself that he wanted to write this book and that he was able to write this book. Thats here and . Thats 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 thats 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 hes 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 hes seeing all this . It was amazing. When dateline continues. Emergenc crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. And who doesnt love a good throwback . emergenc crystals. Im Richard Louis with a news update. Donald trump swept a trio of caucuses on saturday night, capturing more delegates in missouri, idaho, michigan. Delegate haul brings him closer to grasping the gop nomination for president ahead of Super Tuesday this week. A senior u. S. Official tells nbc news israel has more or less accepted a Framework Deal for a ceasefire in gaza, if hamas agrees to release the sick, elderly, women hostages. Two highlevel delegations are expected to meet in cairo today for further discussions. For now, back to dateline. Sion. For now, back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline. Im craig melvin. Amanda lindhout was working to move past the trauma welcome back to dateline. Im craig melvin. Amanda lindhout was working to move past the trauma from her kidnapping. Meanwhile, investigators had hat hatch declaring plan to snare one of her captors. And then who called himself adam. After years of phone calls, emails and other an Undercover Investigator had earned adams trust. Now, it was time to tighten the net. Continuing with the capture, heres 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 club people, say to me have you read this book . Youve reached a lot of people. Most people never will be kidnapped, but people know pin and loss and adversity that they dont think that they can get through. So, what i feel people find in the pagess 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 amandas kidnappers face to face. But were 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 youre 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 initially then we were Walking Around the resort and he turned to me and he said, what did you think of me . Thats how i buttered him up a bit. I said youre english was great. Youve 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. Thats 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 it. 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 is saying 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 amandas 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, im 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 wasnt enough to arrest adam. Mauritian 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. Wed 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. Im 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. Dat rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. But im protected with arexvy. Arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower Respiratory Disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. Rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. But im protected. Arexvy is proven to be over 82 effective in preventing lower Respiratory Disease from rsv and over 94 effective in those with these health conditions. Arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. Those with weakened Immune Systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. I chose arexvy. Rsv . Make it arexvy. My dry eyes made me a burning, stinging, 5timesaday,. Makeup smearing drops user. I want another option thats not another drop. Tyrvaya. Its not another drop. Its the first and only nasal spray for dry eye. Tyrvaya treats the signs and symptoms of Dry Eye Disease fast by helping your body produce its own real tears. Common side effects include sneezing, cough, and throat and nose irritation. Relying only on drops . Not me. My own real tears are my relief. Ask your eye doctor about tyrvaya. bridget with Thyroid Eye Disease i hid from the camera. And i wanted to hide from the world. For years, i thought my t. E. D. Was beyond help. But then i asked my doctor about tepezza. vo tepezza is the only medicine that treats t. E. D. At the source not just the symptoms. In a Clinical Study more than 8 out of 10 patients taking tepezza had less eye bulging. Tepezza is an infusion and may cause infusion reactions. Tell your doctor right away if you experience high blood pressure, fast heartbeat, shortness of breath or muscle pain. Before treatment, tell your doctor if you have diabetes, ibd, or are pregnant, or planning to become pregnant. Tepezza may raise blood sugar and may worsen ibd. Tepezza may cause severe Hearing Problems which may be permanent. bridget now, im ready to be seen again. vo visit mytepezza. Com to find a ted Eye Specialist and to see bridgets before and after photos. An alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medicine directly at the source. Voltaren, the joy of movement. Amanda knew investigators 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 inperson 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 amandas kidnapper 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 his 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 kidnapper 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 an 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 [laughter] . 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 forhour 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. Im 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. Im 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 off in different 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 . I wondered if i could do it. When dateline continues. Ig with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis or active psoriatic arthritis, symptoms can sometimes take you out of the moment. Now theres skyrizi, so you can show up with clearer skin. And show it off. Nothing is everything with skyrizi, you could take each step with 90 clearer skin. And if you have psoriatic arthritis, skyrizi can help you get moving with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. And skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. Thanks to skyrizi, theres nothing like clearer skin and less joint pain, and that means everything. Nothing is everything ask your doctor about how skyrizi could help with your skin or joint symptoms. Learn how abbvie could help you save. qb this is it. One play. This is when we find out. With your skin or joint symptoms. luke hey, quick question. Student body math proficiency, would we say its good . Fair . Satisfactory . player 1 what . luke like a percentage, if you had to guess. players hey, get out of here man. Get off the field. luke understood. players security grab him marci great studentteacher ratio. luke marci weve got to go marci we have got to go we bring you the real, indepth school info. marci what were you thinking . luke i dont know. I. Dont know. vo ding dong homes. Com as unlikely as it may have seemed, authorities had their man in the kidnapping of Amanda Lindhout, and they got him in canada. Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced his capture to the world. This arrest is a testament to the investigative teams perseverance. I wish to thank them for their excellent work. With the investigation over, it would now be up to amanda herself to keep adam behind bars. It would take everything that she had to do it. I am going to have to testify. I am going to have to face this man in court. You will have to see him . Yes. Before that could happen, amanda would have to assistthe Prosecution Team in building its case against the kidnapper. A group of us would meet every couple of months, for two and a half years. Wow that is exhausting 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 of 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 40yearold 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 kidnapper. 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 want 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 . Adams 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. She 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. Amandas kidnapping, and the years 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 cant 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. Im craig melvin, thank you for watching. For watching. [music playing] hello, im andrea canning, and this is dateline. Ew h. Hello im andrea fcanning, and this is dateline. Its pitch black. We locked eyes there just for a splitsecond. He was stunned, he was frightened, he had no idea what hit him. He knew that we had him. He was untouchable