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foreign [Music] a few months before my mom gave birth to me she started writing a diary
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and it starts off on the first page saying to my dear Savannah someday I'll give this journal to you so that you can
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hopefully understand your mother foreign [Music] I was born in Savannah but I didn't know
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that Savannah Lee Barnett I grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Australia it is the most magnificent
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place [Music] I knew my mom as Alex my entire life but in reality she wasn't Alex at all
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she was Lee come on leave on it in April of 1994 I got a phone call that my dearest friend Lee had disappeared
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I thought oh no don't let this be true imagined that my good friendly would be the subject of an international Manhunt
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our investigations spanned the United States and the globe we searched Belize Central America
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and South Africa Dorothy Lee was very equipped running from the law she thought about this she
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was planned she was determined I feel the FBI and every other law enforcement agency
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underestimated me the FBI more than met their match when they Tangled with Dorothy Lee Barnett
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welcome to Malaysia this is our home did you at all think I'm gonna get caught they're gonna get me every day
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every day I thought this was going to be one of those Unsolved Mysteries that would
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never be solved Samantha until 2011 when we had the tip that she was living in Australia
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I remember getting a call when I was up at school and my mom needed me to jump on a plane and come down because she was
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getting arrested two decades later authorities have arrested her in Australia when I heard
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that Alex wasn't Alex let's see Alex where's Alex I was absolutely gobsmacked and amazed I thought wow what a girl
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happy New Year I realized it was all up Merry Christmas that they'd found me I love you more than life itself your
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special mummy and I knew that I'd have to face the consequences what I did 20 years before
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[Music] [Music] 48 Hours dear Savannah reported by Maureen Maher continues in 90 seconds
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[Music] she's written I've always loved the name Savannah it reminds me of great Beauty it also
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reminds me of my home and someday it'll hopefully be yours too [Music] the endless reads the shrimp the blue
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herons that pretty picture is how Lee Barnett remembered Charleston in the secret diary she kept for her daughter
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during their years on the Run a very different Charleston South Carolina than what she returned home to
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Barnett was arrested in Australia Lee was charged with kidnapping her daughter after losing a bitter custody battle
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years Lee Barnett had been hunted by the FBI vilified in the Press cold angry and
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violent and labeled mentally ill now she tells her side of the story to 48 hours
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and it is a very different story than you've heard before I need to tell the truth about what's happened something
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needs to be changed from the start there was always something different about Lee Barnett
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the little Barefoot girl with the blue blue eyes and a big smile says her oldest friend Susie Pogue when I first
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met Lee when she was five and I was seven she had a big black snake around her neck and so I took one look at her
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and I said oh that looks like an interesting family I want to be friends with her
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Leonard two brothers were raised by a free-spirited single mother named Dottie after their father died they didn't have
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much money Dottie lived on her husband's Social Security but they had plenty of Adventures says Lee's brother Cliff we
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had to learn how to do things with no money and no resources and get by and do things on the fly a kind of Swiss Family
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Robinson traveling between South Carolina Florida and the jungles of Belize they were really living in
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Indiana Jones lifestyle before there was an Indiana Jones in beliefs they were in the jungle
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living with local families inherited her mother's love of Adventure [Music] at one point traveling deep into Africa
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with Susie I just knew that all of the traveling that we had done and that she had done with her family prepared her
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for really what was the Ultimate Adventure of her life that Adventure began in Charleston when
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Lee by then a flight attendant met Harris Todd a stockbroker with a love of poetry
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and to many the picture of a perfect Southern gentleman and was it Love at First Sight no not at
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all I wasn't love at first sight it was friendship all that changed five years later they just professed to
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me that I'd made him feel different than anybody else has ever made him feel and
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um the one thing led to another but Lee's dear friend Patty Roth did not think it was a good match they wanted
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very different things out of life she was very outgoing and he kind of kept her to himself
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to Lee that was part of the Attraction part of the challenge I thought I was a person that was going
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to help him have a more normal fun loving life because he was so serious when Lee came to me and told me that
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they decided to get married I did not agree with that choice we wanted children Harris was very clear to
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everyone that he never wanted children why would you marry a man who didn't want to have kids I don't know I just
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thought that I was going to do something and he would change and we'd have this wonderful family and I just had this
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crazy dream that I'd make everything right she could not have been more wrong when she told him that she was pregnant
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is when all the problems started between the two of them he kept saying over and
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over throughout my whole pregnancy there is no baby even when I was eight months
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pregnant there is no baby there is no baby I'll try and start from the beginning
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before Lee Barnett fled the country she made a tape and sent it to friends and enemies alike I can't tell you how
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painful this is in it she condemns her husband Harris Todd a very very evil evil man for casting her as the villain
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in a Sinister drama she claims he fabricated out of Vengeance a characterization she stands by to this
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day he wouldn't hurt me so badly he didn't care who took down and that includes a little baby
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Lee says it All Began seven months into the marriage I I said to him I said I have a feeling I might be pregnant and
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he said it's okay just have an abortion I was heartbroken heartbroken but I still
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thought ah he'll come right anyway two days later I found out I was pregnant he was very cold and indifferent
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and he remained that way Harris claimed the problem wasn't the pregnancy it was Lee's uncontrollable temper one argument
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two and a half months later got so heated she flipped over the coffee table Lee woke up the next morning and Harris
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was gone I just felt so abandoned and I couldn't figure out how somebody I'd loved and known for so long could be
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this cruel Harris Todd who consistently has said he never asked Lee to get an abortion says he left because he
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couldn't take her anger anymore that he even feared for his safety he repeatedly
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asked Lee to move out of his house but she refused I thought if I left his house I would never ever come back she
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really wanted the marriage to work she did everything within her power to get Harris
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to come back including going to marriage counseling Lee's mother suggested a psychiatrist named Dr Oliver bjorksten
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Lee says to her surprise Harris agreed to go I made the appointment for both of us
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Lee says what happened in those appointments would change her life she walked in hoping to savor marriage
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instead she walked out with a diagnosis on the bipolar Spectrum Dr bjorkston said Lee had something called
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hyperthymic temperament a condition characterized by dwelling blaming and temper outbursts a condition he wanted
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to treat with medication did you ever have any history of mental illness we've never had any mental illness Lee admits
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she was emotional I cried quite a lot she was alone having a difficult pregnancy and just had a scare that her
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baby might have Down syndrome I said I think I've got a good reason to be upset and he said give you something to make
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you feel better Dr bjorkstone prescribed navane Lee talked to a doctor friend who
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said it's an anti-psychotic drug and advised her not to take it and I took three tablets by then
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then Lee discovered something else something that terrified her Harris Todd and her own mother had contacted Dr
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bjorksten before she had ever even heard his name so you're saying that Harris went to
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bjorkson First telling Bjergsen what he said was going on yeah and you were under the
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impression that Harris had never met him never met him we both walked in and they
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both introduced themselves and said it's nice to meet you Harris has said he was only trying to
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get help for his wife but Lee believes Harris was setting her up spinning an elaborate tale of an unstable wife with
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a violent temper even convincing her mother of it for what purpose to save his face for walking out on his
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pregnant wife I mean the physical violence is one thing the mental instability is another 48 Hours has been
00:12:31
covering this story since 1999. Harris Todd denied our recent requests for an interview but back then he told us Lee
00:12:40
was a ticking Time Bomb they never know whether you're going to come through the
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door and have a flower pot launched a danger not only to him but to herself came down the hallway and there she is
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sitting there banging her head against the wall did you bash your head against the wall one night to the point that the
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lights were flickering on and off I've never ever bashed my head against the wall Hera said he was so afraid of you
00:13:03
that he feared for his life yeah did you threaten him never once slap him I slapped him once hit him never
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Lee admits she did get angry angry enough to throw Planters off the porch and push over that coffee table but she
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says Harris was the threatening one making menacing phone calls throughout the entire pregnancy he would say to me
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all the time you're sick look in the mirror see your face it's contorted you're insane you're insane and he just
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kept saying you're sick you're crazy over and over again Patty says she was listening in when Lee got one of those
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calls he totally changed and his Southern Charm turned into just sheer hatred towards Lee
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when she was seven months pregnant Lee filed for divorce Harris countersued claiming that Lee was so abusive he was
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suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder I've never seen her violent she's not a moody person we never had an
00:14:07
argument and we were together constantly he was by her side when she gave birth to Savannah
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was born a beautiful beautiful baby girl just healthy as can be Lee was thrilled
00:14:24
beyond words she was amazing [Music] was two and a half months old her parents divorce would take another turn
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Harris sued for custody now the bitter battle would get even uglier with plenty of mudslinging from both sides
00:14:52
Lisa's Harris wanted to take her baby to punish her Harris said he loved Savannah
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with all his heart he said she was promiscuous she said he was gay she stalked him he lied the list went on and
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on but in the end it came down to one not so simple question was it in Savannah's best interest to be with her
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mother or her father Dr Oliver bjorksten was called as a witness for Harris Todd how
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damaging was his testimony to your case damaging is probably not the right word he was life destroying Dr bjorksten who
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also declined to be interviewed testified that the condition he diagnosedly with is associated with
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violence they had seen people with Lee's degree of dwelling do things which are quite serious
00:15:48
I absolutely never saw any signs of mental illness these friends took the stand painting a
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very different picture I saw distress from having somebody try and fight you and take your baby away
00:16:03
and so how hard is it to prove that you are not crazy it's impossible the more youth claim
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you're not mentally ill the crazier you sound because people look at you as a mental ill person then
00:16:16
and Lee says there was plenty of evidence that she was not crazy two respected psychiatrists testified
00:16:23
that there was nothing wrong with her and that she certainly did not need antipsychotic drugs
00:16:30
but then another expert was brought in as a so-called tiebreaker to see if Lee really did have hyperthymic temperament
00:16:40
after evaluating Lee he said she did have the condition the experts said Harris was the more
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predictable parent recommending that he should have custody the child advocate for Savannah also
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agreed still Lee and her friends were hopeful we thought there is no way that a judge
00:17:06
is going to look at this and take this loving healthy happy vibrant baby away from her mother
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now the decision was up to judge Robert Mallard and it was clear who he believed
00:17:21
he cited Harris as willing to share custody when Lee was not he said that while Lee was a flight attendant Harris
00:17:30
was a successful stockbroker so he believed Harris would be better able to provide a stable environment the judge
00:17:38
also noted what he called Lee's inability to control her impulses in court I think I got hyper I think I got
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stressed I think I got scared I was very scared because I knew something was really really going wrong this is the
00:17:53
court order that Lisa's what was most damaging and untrue was the judge's finding that she had been violent toward
00:18:01
Harris and his conclusion that her condition might lead to homicide or suicide it left me so scared and so cold because
00:18:11
when you label somebody as that that means I'm such a danger to my child on February 18 1994 we didn't think it
00:18:20
could happen judge Mallard awarded full custody of nine and a half month old Savannah
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to her father Harris Todd I promise and swear on my life that I will continue to take care of my daughter
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[Music] the little girl was her life and everything I witnessed she was a fabulous mother she really really was it
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was hard to believe that it could even happen his friends were still reeling from the
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judge's decision the decision in my view was totally unjust Gordon King it was beyond my comprehension to know that
00:19:21
they they were going to remove the child from her Harris came to get Savannah the
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very same day he was awarded custody when they came and took her is when I lost it and I just went to the
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bathroom and and sat in the bathtub and cried Lisa's would worried her the most was
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something Harris had said in court that he would take his daughter to a psychiatrist as young as three years old
00:19:47
if he saw any signs of her mother's illness it sounds like what you're saying Liz
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you were afraid Harris Todd was going to do to this baby girl what he had done to
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you yeah I knew as a grown woman if I couldn't prove that I wasn't mentally ill how can
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a two or three year old Lisa is her only option was an appeal but the judge didn't file the necessary
00:20:12
paperwork in the usual 30 Days by day 45 she was desperate at this point had you
00:20:19
lost all faith in the judicial system in the court system and the family court system all Faith all faith
00:20:26
I knew nobody was there to help me I had started to make my plan to leave Social Security she saw a 60 Minutes
00:20:34
piece on a street in Los Angeles where you can easily get fake documents on Social Security okay and off she went
00:20:44
the guy goes what do you want and I said I need two birth certificates here are two names
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and he said be back here at one o'clock tomorrow by the next afternoon Lee Barnett had been reborn as Alexandria
00:20:56
Maria Canton and Savannah was now her son Nick a boy boy she had no hair yet so I thought it says a boy
00:21:05
next stop Houston Texas she put on a black wig walked into the DMV and got a Texas driver's license after that the
00:21:16
passports were easy it was something that was just propelling me for it knowing that I had to get her safe
00:21:23
I can't tell you how painful this is banana and I Belong Together and nobody besides God has a right
00:21:34
to destroy that [Music] 64 days after losing custody and during one of her regularly scheduled
00:21:44
visitations Lee says she takes her last ten thousand dollars and the baby the two then get into a rental car here in
00:21:52
Charleston with her oldest brother stop at a gas station she cuts her hair dyes it brown and drives to the Atlanta
00:22:00
airport and then she disappears what time on Sunday were you supposed to return Savannah it was six o'clock at
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night and where were you at six o'clock that night oh I would probably be in France by then in Paris and did that
00:22:13
make you nervous or did you get a little smile oh I don't think I ever smiled I never wanted to take it for granted
00:22:19
every second I had a freedom was never taken for granted but did you feel free I mean you were on the Run were you free
00:22:26
I was free from them she was free from them soon after Lee's younger brother Cliff
00:22:33
Barnett got a call from Harris he goes where's your sister I have no idea and he goes your sister's
00:22:40
not a fit mother she can't take care of a child by herself she doesn't have the sense for it and I finally just
00:22:47
eventually said well apparently she has the sense to disappear from you I'm John
00:22:52
Walls one-year-old Savannah Lee Barnett is missing from ILO Palm South Carolina the FBI launched a massive Manhunt I
00:23:00
believe Lee Barnett could possibly harm her child initially agent Chris quick thought
00:23:07
they'd find her in some Motel within a week most fugitives mess up make mistakes because they can't leave a life
00:23:15
that they came from this didn't occur in this case she's totally cut all ties from everyone I had
00:23:22
no idea where she went who she was with what she was doing Lee and Savannah ceased to exist
00:23:29
from then on it was Alex and the baby she renamed Samantha how do you leave your family your
00:23:37
friends your country never pick up the phone never be in touch just walk away from it
00:23:45
it broke my heart it killed me we thought about her all the time she was never never far from our thoughts we
00:23:53
always tried to keep pictures of Savannah around the house and this was one of our favorites in my mind I knew
00:23:59
she was fine so I'm talking about somebody that can adapt and survive Alex's first stop Malaysia she wrote to
00:24:07
Sam in her diary that the hardest part was the loneliness I wrote I hope one day that
00:24:13
I meet a man that loves you like I love you and that's all I ever asked seven months later she did in South Africa her
00:24:22
next stop on the run there she met an engineering geologist named Juwan geldenhuis she told him everything
00:24:32
they married a few months later I got married to him because he was madly in love with my daughter soon
00:24:39
Samantha had a baby brother named Reese and the family moved to Botswana we had giraffes walking outside our
00:24:47
house and on the streets and buffalo and all that sort of stuff around the river
00:24:51
it's just really um it was fun all the time while Alex gildenheis growing her fam
00:25:01
family in Charleston Harris Todd was grieving the daughter taken from him by Lee Barnett it was done to hurt me it
00:25:09
was not done to save Savannah it was done to hurt me he says he had wanted a family and he wanted his daughter I
00:25:17
can't believe it how could something like this possibly happen how could it possibly happen
00:25:22
how could she be here and then be gone hear more from Lee Barnett's Charleston friends on Facebook at 48 hours
00:25:40
[Music] what bothers me the most is the not knowing and the fact that this is like
00:25:49
constantly grieving for someone who's died five years after Lee Barnett vanished
00:25:56
with his daughter Harris Todd decided to take matters into his own hands nothing
00:26:02
else has worked I'm gonna go look for him myself 48 Hours followed him to Costa Rica
00:26:10
I don't have any specific knowledge of her whereabouts but there's a high probability that she could be here
00:26:18
I've been to the stores blondes stand out in Costa Rica then to the farmers markets
00:26:24
you want to go up and look at a school I think it's worthwhile going up there to
00:26:28
have a look if I spend the rest of my life doing this so be it that would put the child in a great deal
00:26:35
of danger Harris also went on national TV shows determined to keep his daughter in the news as well as her mother who
00:26:44
according to him was a very ill a bipolar affective disorder also known as manic depressive illness very violent
00:26:51
she would hit me in the side of the head with her fist and in this Recreation a very dangerous woman
00:27:00
I've got the pleatings ready for filing in your Torrid action Harris and his lawyer Graham Sturgis also went after
00:27:06
Lee's family and friends we'll be ready to get the paper served starting tomorrow on the various Defenders
00:27:13
filing suit against those Harris believed had helped her how are you doing today including Lee's mother
00:27:21
her brother cliff and Susie Pogue bye-bye thank you he accused me of conspiracy to kidnap
00:27:30
Samantha of course none of that was ever proven but it was financially devastating for
00:27:37
me but she says the worst part was the private investigators who tracked her every move
00:27:44
they threatened me by saying that they were going to destroy my life my family they were going to take me down
00:27:54
all the while Lee and Samantha stayed under the radar traveling from the U.S to Germany France
00:28:03
Malaysia South Africa Botswana and New Zealand after 13 years on the run and four
00:28:13
continents Lee finally landed here along the shores of Australia's Sunshine Coast
00:28:19
a safe harbor about is far away from Charleston as she could get the Sunshine Coast is known for its beaches be ready
00:28:30
and it's a very wonderful and family-like environment to grow up in but Sam's own family was having a tough
00:28:39
time the man she adored and believed was her father had fallen in love with another woman ending her parents
00:28:48
marriage how did it impact your mother she's strong she stayed Brazilian and she was a great single mother
00:28:55
the doors were always open everyone was always welcome there was one door that remained closed
00:29:02
the door to her mother's past when she talked about America she loved it but at the end of the day you can see
00:29:09
in her eyes and if you know and you love someone well enough you can see when they're hurting and it's not for me to
00:29:15
sit there and go well get sadder and tell me more and tell me why and I deserve to know because I didn't you
00:29:20
know I trusted that when she wanted to tell me she'd let me know that day finally came Samantha how old
00:29:29
are you I'm here four four eight nineteen years after they boarded that plane into the unknown
00:29:40
I was on the telephone at 7 30 in the morning there was a big pounding on my door and I was still in my pajamas and I
00:29:46
opened the door and this man was staying there with guns and he said I'm here with a warrant for your rest
00:29:52
Alex gildenheis had finally made a mistake she confided in the wrong friend that
00:30:00
friend contacted Harris Todd with the one missing piece of the puzzle says assistant U.S attorney Nathan Williams
00:30:08
her name all we really needed was a way to identify Miss Barnett under her Alias
00:30:15
and once we had that information it was very easy for us to then find the paper trail
00:30:20
but it took two years to work a deal between the two countries a deal that eventually LED federal
00:30:27
agents to this little house in malulaba one of the agents said to me you must be
00:30:32
really relieved but I wasn't relieved I knew that my life would change my children's lives would change
00:30:38
it could not have been a worse time one week earlier their dad had died from bone cancer
00:30:48
I'm very lucky to be able to say the last thing I said was I love you because people don't get that
00:30:56
now she and Rhys faced losing their mother to prison my mom was sitting on the couch
00:31:03
with two FBI agents next to her I said Mom what's going on and she took me to another room and just told me everything
00:31:10
that happened told me I could have trust her and of course I did next she called Sam
00:31:17
away at University studying to be a nurse I said Sammy you know how we never had
00:31:22
communication with the family and friends in the U.S he said yeah I said well I was married before and I'm going
00:31:29
to jail now because I I'm an accused of kidnapping I said I had to keep you safe
00:31:33
all those years ago back and say wait does that mean that my dad and she started crying and I
00:31:40
started crying Alex geldenheiss AKA Lee Barnett was taken to a jail in Brisbane the next day
00:31:48
FBI agents sat Samantha down and began to tell her the story of the beginning of her life and that's when I learned
00:31:57
where I was born I learned Savannah I didn't you know I didn't know anything before that
00:32:03
she learned about Harris Todd and her mother's bitter backstory every characteristic they said that my mother
00:32:10
had was wrong and incorrect every single thing I mean they don't like what what kind of things like she she had bipolar
00:32:16
I mean that was the most incredibly confronting thing and I felt very rude because I just laughed in their faces
00:32:23
that was the first time you ever heard that accusation yeah I just I had to laugh and I said whoa you're wrong
00:32:31
perhaps most disturbing agents told her they had feared her mother would hurt her did your mother ever hurt you
00:32:39
oh did she ever hit you was she abusive to you no a friend in malulaba Bruce Michelle was
00:32:49
equally perplexed by the version of his friend he read about in the court order and I thought wow this is not this is
00:32:56
not the person we knew relating to the case it's like a novel that is so sickening that you can't put
00:33:11
down it's been a terrible terrible Injustice and somebody should go to jail and he says it shouldn't be Lee
00:33:22
[Music] hear more from Lee's children about their globetrotting life at 48hours.com
00:33:46
the time at Kong for a lead to tell Samantha about the diary she'd kept hidden all these years
00:33:54
Sam opened the book of secrets and began to read I'm having difficulty writing because
00:34:00
I'm very scared I can only wait though and pray it's not our time to be found with each
00:34:08
page a new understanding of her mother if you think about every single little thing that she has gone through I've
00:34:15
lived this wonderful life and she did everything she could and more to just keep me safe now it was
00:34:25
Sam's turn to protect her mother she is the most important thing and she was and she has been and she still is
00:34:33
run through Sam and Bruce collected affidavits from supporters across four continents
00:34:40
friend Carrie gazzard everybody's heart went out to her everybody was behind her
00:34:46
100 there was not a doubt at all anyway for 10 months Alex and her supporters desperately fought extradition but in
00:34:58
Fall of 2014 she was forced to leave her Australian Paradise behind and returned
00:35:05
to the place where it all began here in Charleston but this time she would be at
00:35:10
the federal courthouse charged with International parental kidnapping and two counts of passport fraud crimes that
00:35:17
could put Lee behind bars for 23 years Lee was denied bail while awaiting trial prosecutor Nathan Williams
00:35:27
it's not complicated you can't take the law into your own hands and and flee the
00:35:32
country with a child because you don't like the result from a divorce hearing Lee acknowledges she broke the law by
00:35:38
getting those fake passports but says she is not guilty of kidnapping you do not think that you broke the law by
00:35:45
taking her out of the country the law was broken when a corrupt court system took that baby from me and took her
00:35:52
mother away from her in your mind you did not kidnap her she's my daughter you did not have the legal right to take
00:35:59
her out of the country a legal right be damned but after five months in jail Lee
00:36:06
realized she didn't have the money or the Firepower to fight the U.S government she pled guilty to all three
00:36:13
charges including kidnapping Lee was sentenced to 21 months in prison with credit for time served for the man
00:36:23
who had searched for her it was a disappointing sentence what about Harris aside The Father's Side
00:36:29
she took the law in her own hands and denied the father of 20 years I've ever seen his daughter have you ever for one
00:36:38
moment thought maybe I should have let her know Harris Todd No No Remorse about cheating him out of
00:36:46
20 years with his daughter none Lee says time has proven she was not who Harris said she was
00:36:54
there's nothing wrong with me I've never done anything violent I've raised two amazingly healthy intelligent children
00:37:01
who are happy so who's telling the truth and who's lying Sam had some questions of her own she
00:37:10
wrote an eight-page letter to Harris just telling him that I can have the most amazing relationship with him as
00:37:17
long as I am 100 sure there's no Revenge there's no spite there's no nothing Sam says all she wanted was the truth
00:37:25
why Harris said her mother was violent there was no response to that instead Harris wrote that he was pleased to hear
00:37:33
she had done well on her exams has there ever been any response a year would pass Sam was finally ready
00:37:42
to meet Harris her relationship was meeting Harris had imagined when we spoke with him back in
00:37:49
1999. I tell her who I am and hug her it didn't quite turn out like that they met
00:37:56
at Harris's home he held at his hand to shake my hand and I thought well I'm not
00:38:02
quite comfortable with that I'd rather give a hug and it was just a surreal experience almost Sam says
00:38:10
Harris took her on a two and a half hour tour of his house showing off his prized
00:38:16
possessions Lee's friend retired judge Myron Johnson accompanied Sam I really was
00:38:24
very shocked that the conversation was not about he and Samantha and the years that they
00:38:31
have missed and how they could go from here I think we're both a little awkward they have not seen each other since but
00:38:39
Sam says she remains open to a relationship as long as Harris understands one thing there is no way
00:38:47
I'm letting go of my mom I've been very lenient with him and all the stuff that he said I want to know if he'll be the
00:38:53
same with me when this comes out in May 2015 Lee Barnett was released from jail on two years probation
00:39:03
back into the lives of family and friends she had left all those years ago and then this is where we did that's an
00:39:11
amazing experience to have your best friend disappear for 20 years and come back she is just overwhelmed with
00:39:17
friendship all of our childhood memories are all coming back I'm gonna take them over
00:39:23
that table we'll start line she's not going to go anywhere as far as I'm concerned at this point Lee wasn't
00:39:29
allowed to leave the United States so with the help of 48 Hours a lot of heat here her kids came to her
00:39:37
Reese was a total surprise [Laughter] the first time I got to Helga after she got out of prison she never let go of me
00:39:50
she was I think she cried and Sam hadn't seen her mother in nine months my mother and I have this incredible
00:40:01
thing to know that we love each other and and the continent you know or an ocean isn't going to separate us
00:40:09
over two decades ago Lee Barnett married Harris Todd hoping to have a happy life
00:40:15
together instead it became a marriage measured in loss a father lost 20 years with his
00:40:23
daughter a mother lost her home her friends and her family a story of hurt anger and despair
00:40:33
but also a story of love dear Savannah I just want to let you know how loved you
00:40:39
are you and I will be fine more than fine really will be great and we'll get through this please always
00:40:46
know that having you is the most important thing in my entire life you'll always be my little girl we've made it
00:40:53
sweet dreams love mommy Samantha works as a nurse now she plans to get married this Summer
00:41:05
Reese will graduate from Auburn University in Alabama in May Lee has written a memoir which will be
00:41:12
published this spring in Australia what happened my next bleeding I tried to commit suicide she just about cut off
00:41:33
her head it was unbelievable there was no way that she could have done that to herself
00:41:38
you are watching news channel 3 Daybreak she reported the news the time is six o'clock 64 degrees
00:41:46
when she vanished she was the news it appeared that Jody had been attacked from behind and then dragged away from
00:41:52
her car police questioned friends Jody spent more time with John Van sice and he said I was the last person to see her
00:41:59
looked for obsessed viewers did she ever express concern that she was being stalked yes yeah it could be somebody we
00:42:07
least expect 23 years and counting somebody knows something is it you a Cold Case heats up
00:42:15
Saturday