Think, how did this happen . Footprints in the snow hello, im elizabeth vargas. Thanks for joining us on this saturday night. Im david muir. Every year, some 261,000 children are reported missing. Some for a short time, some longer and some never to return. We have reported here on the agony of having no idea of where your children are, thinking the worst might have happened. This is how we began this story, not knowing where it would lead us. But after nearly six months of going across the country, we have pieced a jigsaw puzzle of children declared miss. But were they . Where did the footprints in the snow really lead . Reporter it is 7 00 p. M. On a 30degree april evening in the suburbs of minneapolis. A spring snowstorm has blanketed the roads. And while most families are settling in for dinner, one family is about to fracture forever, when two children living at this home vanish. No shoes. No coats. No backpacks. Nothing . Poof. They were gone. Reporter 13yearold gianna and 14yearold Samantha Rucki disappear. The only trace, footprints in the snow. But oddly, there is no manhunt to find the girls, no police press conference. How can two children in the state of minnesota be gone, and no one knows where they are . Reporter their parents are embroiled in an ugly divorce and custody dispute but they insist they are united in their desperation for the girls. Im concerned. Im worried. I dont know what to think. You dont want sleep. You drive around at night. Youre always looking. Reporter where did they go . Who are they with . And why does our journey begin by asking questions to their mother inside the Ramsey County jail . Did you have anything to do with your two daughters running away . No. Reporter do you sit here and think, how did this happen . Clean record, never had a problem. Reporter clean record and here you are in jail on a Million Dollars bail . Whats going on . I have no idea. This shouldnt be what happens in a divorce. Reporter this divorce is more like guerrilla warfare than a legal proceeding. Exhibit a, these 24 boxes crammed with reams of motions, appeals, and rulings. Divorce on steroids, that would be a good word for this. Reporter but for every documented grievance in this harrowing tale, there is documentation too of the good times. Look at this. Reporter 20 years worth of home movies featuring both the ruckis in starring roles as an affectionate, feisty couple. Youre figuring it out now . Reporter and dotting, loving parents to their five children, nico, samantha, gianna, nia and gino. That sounds like a busy home. They were wonderful. It was my dream. I loved being a mom. Reporter they make their home in lakeville, minnesota, a suburb of minneapolis. David ran a multimillion Dollar Trucking business. Sandra worked as a Flight Attendant and eventually competed in local beauty pageants using her nickname, sam. Good evening and welcome. Proudly representing lakeville, im sam rucki. In her spare time she likes cooking italian, flying airplanes and staying fit. Reporter but david agrees that family came first for sandra. Theres mom. Hi, dad. Reporter a loving, energetic mom. There it is. She was a great mom. Very attentive to her kids. Reporter their oldest son nico loves hockey and theater. He was my first, you know, so of course he was spoiled. Hi, mama. Hi, nico. Reporter the two oldest daughters, samantha and gianna, are close and take care of their younger brother and sister. Samantha. Shes beautiful. Shes smart, shes outgoing. Giannas very artistic. Loves, like, animals. Reporter but this story is about what sandra claims is not captured on home video. She says despite those smiling faces, there was a shocking, ugly secret in the family. Years of emotional and physical abuse by david. What would he do . Throw things, hammers at me if he got mad, um, there was black eyes, there was broken ribs. We had to lock ourselves in the bedroom because we were scared. We just didnt know how his behavior was going to be from one day to the next. Reporter during all those years during the marriage, did you ever take any photos . Ever seek medical help . Yes. We had photos, and we have Police Reports that prove it. Reporter and she claims david didnt just target her, but went after the children too. How often did that happen . Once is more than enough. It happened a lot. Reporter after 20 years of marriage, sandra says she reaches her breaking point and finally files for divorce. She says, frightened for her life, she also gets an order of protection against david. And then she calls police on him at least 20 times, claiming he continuously violates it. He broke into the house, came running up the stairs, jumped onto the bed that i was at, started choking me and then took a pillow and started suffocating me. Reporter the children, now ages 8 to 14, remain in sandras custody and refuse to even see david, rebuffing all of his attempts to connect. Its your dad. Call me. I would like you to call me back. Call me. Reporter with his children reporter the Family Court Judge is an advocate for the children and therapist, trying to facilitate a relationship with the father. The children say they dont want one. Nico goes to facebook saying, my dad is a bad person, he is abusive physically. The girls make a record of what he says. Things were really bad. He was abusive, he had anger issues. He would always be screaming and yelling. Reporter her sister samantha goes even further. He just choked, slapped and hit her and verbally abused my mother throughout their marriage. And hes lost it on us kids a number of times. Reporter sandra says the children even beg the judge directly to remain with their mother. But the judge determines thus far there has been no evidence of abuse and based on the findings from a psychologist he appointed, that it is sandra who is the real problem here. That the children are showing signs of parental alienation syndrome, meaning the reason the children are adamantly opposed to seeing david is not because hes abused them or their mother but because sandra has brainwashed them. Ive never done anything but be there for my children. My kids are my life. Reporter this is when the judge takes a drastic, and for sandra, devastating step. He orders sandra out of the house and all five of her children removed from her custody. Thats when everything happened. I lost everything. My whole life ended then. I had no money, no car, no no children. I had nothing. Reporter how is this possible, sandra . I dont know. All im told is its a judges order. There was no findings that i ever hurt the children, that i ever abused them, that i ever neglected them, that i ever did anything to them. Reporter davids sister tammy becomes the childrens temporary guardian. She moves into the rucki home to take care of them. But the two oldest girls, samantha and gianna, are having none of it. They came in, they were looking at the house, and then they went upstairs. And when they went upstairs, i heard a ringtone, a music ringtone. And i thought, okay, maybe they have a phone. Reporter tammy goes downstairs to the basement thinking nothing of that call or who might be on the other end. Just 20 minutes later the girls are gone. Then i called 911. Reporter next where did they go . Who was on the phone . Did you think where might my two daughters have gone . Could they have entered a hidden world, a Network Operating outside the court system for vigilante parents taking the law into their own hands . 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Sandra, separated from her children by court order, says she finds out her daughters were missing from her attorney. What was your reaction . What any mothers reaction would be. Im concerned, i am worried. Everything was going through my mind. Reporter when sandras exhusband david finds out his daughters have disappeared, he is terrified. What was your biggest fear . I mean, these are young girls. You dont want them hitchhiking. We live by a truck stop. We dont you think of all these terrible scenarios. Reporter david says he becomes consumed with bringing his daughters home. That he would never abuse them and that all of sandras allegations against him are completely false. Have you ever raised a hand against sandra or your children . No. Reporter have you ever struck them . No. Reporter have you ever physically abused them in any way . No. Im a big guy. I kind of come across aggressive, but i never push myself upon her. I never did a thing to my children. Reporter but if there wasnt any physical abuse, how is it possible that the rucki children would tell such frightening stories . Lisa elliot is davids attorney. They are parroting what their mom is saying. Reporter but theyre not young children, why would they do this . I think she had them so afraid of what would happen if they went with their dad, that she said, you have to say this, or youre going to end up with your dad. Reporter as the weeks pass with no sign of samantha or gianna, david says he spends his nights driving the streets searching. He begins tailing sandra to see if she might lead him to the girls and even hires a private investigator. You cant get rid of that pain. It never goes away. My mother mostly would say, you know, prepare yourself. Reporter prepare yourself for what . If you never find the girls. How . I couldnt stop looking. Reporter the same cannot be said for sandra, who appears to go back to life as usual, hopscotching around the world as a Flight Attendant. Popping up on facebook at an nhl finals game and lounging on a boat with friends. Did you call the police . I had an order not to contact the police. Reporter you have a right to contact the police if youre a victim of a crime or if youre in danger. I have a court order from the judge that says im not to contact the police. Reporter but this court order directly contradicts that specifically stating that sandra should report any information she has about the girls whereabouts to authorities. I guess if you are in that situation where youve been stripped of everything related to your children, you dont know what to do. Reporter if one of my children went missing, id be out there with a sandwich board saying find my child. The courts had completely tied my hands. Reporter one month after the girls disappearance, there is a bizarre twist in the story. They show up, but in a place no one expects. The rucki girls say they want to be heard. On local television. They met with us at a hotel. We dont know who brought them here. The local fox 9 station airs this story and right there sitting in front of the reporter are the two missing rucki sisters. Im just really scared its going to end really badly. Reporter and once again they back up what sandra has been saying. He was abusive. Really. In what way . Emotionally, verbally. I mean, our mom was always our protector, but now theres no one there to protect us. I was glad to see my girls. But, you know, what i was hearing coming out of their mouths was hard. Reporter and as quickly as you can change the channel, the girls are gone again, vanishing back into the night. Months pass, their faces appear on the missing and exploited childrens website and on thousands of plastic bags distributed in northern minnesota. And while the search continues for the rucki girls, their parents epic divorce drags on until the judge finally makes his ruling in a painstaking 60page order. He drops a bombshell awarding full custody of all five children to david, writing of sandras allegations of abuse that, the court has not received any evidence to support her very serious allegations. For david, it is total vindication. 17yearold nico, 13yearold nia, and 10yearold gino return to their fathers care. And while david works to mend his fractured relationship with them, his two missing daughters are no closer to being found. How were the three children reacting to the absence of their sisters . Were they worried . This was a bigtime White Elephant in the room. It was always something that was just there. Reporter the secret of what really happened to the rucki girls holds for two alarming long years. Until someone who knew that secret, someone who kept it, finally speaks up. You knew sandra was lying. I thought she was, yeah. Reporter well, you knew she was. And a secret underground network willing to defy court orders and hide children. We sort of pass messages. We use a lot of burner phones. Reporter could this group hold the key to finding the rucki girls . Stay with us. Tomorrows the day well play something besides video games. Every day is a gift. Especially for people with Heart Failure. But today theres entresto. A breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. Tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. In the largest Heart Failure study ever, entresto was proven to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading Heart Failure medicine. Women who are pregnant must not take entresto. It can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. If youve had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, dont take entresto. 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Crest whitestrips you should try them whitening toothpaste only works on the surface. But crest whitestrips safely work below the enamel surface. To whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste you used the whitestrips i passed the tissue test. Oh yeah. Would you pass the tissue test . See for yourself with crest whitestrips. They are the way to whiten. Reporter from the moment the two teenage rucki girls vanished, Police Suspected their mother, sandra, was lying. At any point did you tell your children to run away from home . No. Reporter you never encouraged any of your children. How can i encourage my children to run away . Ive had no contact. Reporter Police Suspected that not only did sandra have contact with her girls, she also had help hiding them from a secret underground network of people willing to defy court orders and conceal children. Damon dumas knows all about defying court orders. He went into hiding when he was 14 yearsold. Using a loosely organized group of safe houses to escape life with a father, he says, was abusive. My mom actually made sure that she wouldnt know where i was going. She handed me off so someone she trusted, who handed me off to someone else that she trusted. Reporter who was taking care of you . Whoever i was with was taking care of me. Reporter were they strangers . They were all strangers, yeah. I was moving between houses with people who id never known. Itll be someone who, maybe hears about me and says, hey, well if damon ever needs someone to stay with, he can stay with me. And we sort of pass messages. We use a lot of burner phones. Reporter burner phones . Yeah. Reporter you sound like youre in a spy movie. Well, in a lot of ways thats what it felt like. Reporter so how often do you come out to the beach now . While on the run damon says he lived in around ten different homes, never staying anywhere long. During that time, he made videos and posted them on the internet. Im turning 16 tomorrow but instead of a Birthday Party with my friends im in hiding. Reporter but this life in shadows came at a steep price. Were you home sick . Absolutely. Absolutely. Every day. Reporter those days turned into months, and instead of getting easier for damon, life got more difficult. I called my mom, and i said, i dont know how much longer im going to make it. Because i was considering suicide at that point. It had been very long in hiding. Reporter in those videos damon discussed the abuse he says he suffered. I told police about this, i told psychologists. I even told the judge and yet somehow it was all covered up in lies. Reporter today, damon says he blames the courts for forcing him into his life on the run, even though damons father strenuously denies ever abusing his son and a judge agreed there was no credible evidence to prove it happened. He said that whether or not i was being abused, my mom had to stop talking about abuse and that i was going to be reunified with my father. Reporter why would a judge do that if he really thought you were being abused . Because what people dont understand is that this is not something that is a onetime case. This is not something that happened to me. This is systemic. Reporter and the internet is teeming with videos of mothers who say they too have been victimized by family courts after they reported their allegations of abuse. As a mother you try to protect your son and that was the biggest mistake of my life. They said i cried wolf when i called 911. I am seeking justice. It is okay to protect our children. If youre a mother and you alleged child abuse your odds of losing custody are extremely high. Reporter joan meier is a law professor at George Washington university who studies family courts. Her research has turned up some surprising, and in her mind troubling results. If you raise abuse, especially child abuse, youve got to make a very strong case. If you cant nail it, not only will you lose custody, you may lose all access because the assumption will be that you have poisoned your childs brain with these ideas. Reporter sandra says this is exactly what happened to her. So did her daughters run away to protest a family court ruling, like damon dumas . Thats what brandon stahl, a reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune wanted to find out. On the twoyear anniversary of the girls disappearance, he decides to write a story. I wanted to know if the girls are okay and if i could find them. Reporter he didnt find the girls but he did find this man. Dale nathan, a diminutive 81yearold who has spent years working as an attorney in custody cases. Dale had his legal license suspended after he refused to reveal where one of his clients was in hiding with her child. He is a fervent supporter of sandra. Dale is somebody who believes to the bone that the family courts in minnesota are corrupt. Reporter the story dale tells is a doozy. He says he was with sandra on the night her daughters ran away. He says sandra and he were driving around in sandras car when she took him to this field just blocks away from the rucki family home. We drove with dale to that spot. This is about the area, right back here, where sandra stopped. Reporter he showed us where they pulled over. Thats the road we want to take. Reporter so you stopped. You parked. You waited. And after about 20 minutes, the two girls came running across that little field. They got into the car. And then sandra started driving. Reporter the four of them drove around back roads for more than two hours. She kept saying, oh, the Lakeville Police, theyre going to find us. So and she kept telling the kids, get down. Get down in the backseat. Reporter during the ride dale says sandra was frantically making phone calls. Apparently, there was no plan. And she was making plans on the run. Reporter dale says he knew that the children had already been taken out of sandras custody. And that by driving off with them she was breaking the law. Sandra was busy telling the police she had no idea where the girls had gone. And you knew sandra was lying. I thought she was, yeah. Reporter well, you knew she was. Because you were in the car with her. Thats true. Reporter right. Youre right. Reporter so if you knew she was lying about that, why didnt you go to police and say, i know what really happened . I think sandra was trying to protect her children. I wasnt going to betray that. Reporter dale insists he couldnt help even if he wanted to. He doesnt know where sandra ended up taking the girls. After hours of driving around with him, she dropped dale off at a truck stop and drove away with the girls still in the car. In april, 2015, the star tribune published brandon stahls story. And one reader in particular was riveted. What did you think when you read the account of dale nathan . Dumbfounded. And we were like, this completely validates reporter everything you suspected. Everything. Well, at that point we knew sandy was involved. Reporter and now police know too. They arrest sandra and charge her with three felony counts of deprivation of parental rights. Shes thrown in jail on 1 million bond. But the mystery remains. Where are the girls . One month after sandras arrest, there is stunning news. Lieutenant polinski called me and said, are you sitting down . And then i knew that something was coming. Reporter next, the rucki girls, found at last. But where have they been . Who took them in . Were on our way to find out. And you may be surprised by what we find behind this door. Stay with us. Protein. Protein proteiny protein. Proteiny protein . Protein proteiny protein. At least 14 grams of protein. 100 calories. New greek 100 protein. From yoplait. Are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec® its starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. Announcer 20 20 saturday continues. Reporter where can two teenage girls hide in plain sight . Deep in the snowswept fields of minnesotas north country, amid miles and miles of desolate, untouched land, this speck of property, a farm called the white horse ranch, holds the secret of the missing rucki daughters. What led police here . The trail begins with one of sandras staunchest supporters. Dede evavold, an activist friend, vocal about her belief there is corruption in the family courts. Detectives search her home and find a cell phone photo of one of the girls on a farm. They trace that photo back to the white horse ranch. And with that, bingo. Police discover this is where the girls have been the entire 2 1 2 years of their disappearance. We took a trip to find out how they ended up here and how they went under the radar for so long. Behind this door are the people Law Enforcement believes broke the law by housing the girls. Welcome reporter they are an unlikely pair of alleged criminals. Gina and doug dahlen own the ranch which offers 90minute therapy sessions with their animals. 22 horses, 3 donkeys, and 2 alpacas. They help children whove been abused. Our mission is to reach children and families, and to bring healing and wholeness through the animals. Reporter hundreds of children have made day trips to the ranch, but samantha and gianna rucki were not their typical guests. We received a phone call. Reporter from . Dede evavold. Reporter dede evavold not only knew sandra, she knew the dahlens and respected their work on the ranch. I knew that these are good, honest, salt of the earth people that really are just about doing the right thing. She just said that they needed a temporary place and that they were working through a court case. Reporter so you thought they were coming for three days . That is correct. Three days isnt a big deal. Reporter the dahlens say it was sandra, along with dede, who dropped the girls off at the ranch one night, with no more than the clothes on their back. Then sandra left and never returned. Days turned into months, and then, astonishingly, years. I dont understand how three days turns into 2 1 2 years. I dont know if i can even answer that question. Reporter this is where the dahlens attorney, travis keil, steps in, because the dahlens, along with dede evavold and sandra, are now facing felony criminal charges for their role in the girls disappearance. At this point theres certain information we just cant disclose. Reporter but they can say that in that long period of time, the dahlens never saw sandra again. They spoke to her by phone only a handful of times. And it was always from a track phone so there was never a way of connecting with her. Reporter and then would speak to the girls . No. Reporter no . She, she didnt, she didnt want to. I mean, she was very concerned about them and tell them that i love them. I almost feel like she knew that they were safe here. Reporter dont you think thats a little weird . Mmhmm. We run into a lot of weird stuff here. Reporter while the rucki girls are away from everyone and everything they know, communing with the alpacas, three hours south, their father scoured the earth for any sign of them. Why did you keep them here despite the fact that you knew a parent was looking . I wouldnt say that we kept them here. We allowed them to stay. They could have left at any time. They didnt want to leave. Reporter did you try and reason with them . They are girls. They are minors. Yes we did. Reporter theyre not allowed by law to decide where i get to live and whats best for me. Yes, we did. A number of times. And it was a lot of fear. Ive never seen anybody that scared before. Reporter did they ever sound coached to you . No. I believed them 100 . Reporter at the ranch the girls made a new life for themselves with the dahlens. They were homeschooled. Their daily activities included helping with the animals. Everybody has to do chores. Anything from cleaning pens to feeding the animals to brushing them. Reporter the nearest town is herman, population 437. Was it a secret that the girls were here . No. No, it was not. Reporter you made no effort to conceal them. No. No, they, they had been in public, they had been out shopping, they were in, the hair salon. They went to church with us. Reporter and they went by their first names, samantha and gianna . Yes. Reporter the dahlens say they were only helping the girls. They have admitted some wrong doing, pleading one count to deprivation of parental rights. But what about that socalled underground network that helped children like damon dumas flee court orders . Are you part of this underground network . No. No. We were asked the question and i asked, my question back was, what is that . Reporter in november, 2015, doug looks out the window and sees Lakeville Police and county deputies sitting out front. Police are simply following the trail from dede evavolds cell phone photo, not realizing the girls are actually there. I walked out and they told me that they were looking for the girls and wanted to know if i knew anything about them or their whereabouts and i told them yes, theyre in the house. They were quite frankly shocked. Reporter the dahlens say the girls were devastated. Is that the last time you saw them . Yes. It was hard. Reporter so what would you say to them if they were watching this . We pray for them every day, we love them, and we want whats best for them, truly. Reporter so what happens when police take the girls from the farm . How does a broken family get pieced back together . When david finally sees the girls for the first time, it is not the reunion he imagined. Were you nervous . I ran out of the room. I start crying. I didnt recognize them because you know, you know your children. You remember what they sound like and you remember how they looked. I didnt recognize my daughters. Reporter the hard work begins of Building Trust with two girls who still fear their father. Samantha and gianna said a lot of devastatingly terrible things about you, publicly. Yeah. But again, they are in a fragile state. Reporter do they still believe those things . I dont know. We dont get deep into things, along that lines. Were moving forward. Reporter while the girls may note yet be recanting their accusations against their father, their big brother is. Coming up im done playing a pawn. Reporter sandras own son is turning on her, and now that her supporters are revealing her role in the girls disappearance, what will she say when we confront her . You sat right here and spent half an hour telling me you hadnt seen or spoken to your daughters. If you were lying to me about that, what else might you be lying to me about . Stay with us. Dont look now but chuck norris is right behind you. I heard superheroes read chuck norris comics. I heard at night, the boogeyman checks under the bed for chuck. I heard cats say they have chucklike reflexes. Do you think hes still got it . I bet you a buck he catches this salt shaker. Youre on hey chuck you owe me a buck. You cant always see whats coming but when you choose unitedhealthcare, finding an innetwork doctor thats close to home is easy. So what happened . I had lunch with chuck norris. Unitedhealthcare. My swthis scarf all thatsara. Left to remem. 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Reporter when we first spoke to sandra, she told us she wasnt involved in the disappearance of her daughters. Did you have anything to do with your two daughters running away . No. Reporter you didnt know where they were these last two years . No. Reporter in our 20 20 investigation, we have explored that loosely organized underground network of activists hiding the children in nasty divorce cases. And tracked down every key player in the rucki case, the dahlens, dede evavold, dale nathan, all supporters of sandras who say they werent part of any network, but who Authorities Say helped her hide her daughters for 2 1 2 years. Dale nathan said that he was with you when your two daughters jumped in the back seat without shoes or coats and then you drove off. Is that true . This is related to the trial, preliminary. Yeah, this, thatll all be talked about at the trial, upcoming trial. I cant comment on anything related to the trial, you know that. Reporter well, all im telling you is you sat right here and spent half an hour telling me you hadnt seen or spoken to your daughters. And ive now spoken to three people who tell us, in fact, thats a lie. So if you were lying to me about that, what else might you be lying to me about . I cant discuss anything regarding the trial. I just cant. Reporter while sandra is now suddenly not talking about her case, her attorney, michelle mcdonald, hints at a possible defense, saying if sandra truly believed her children were in danger, she was free to break the law to protect them. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she didnt have a reasonable belief that her children needed protection. Reporter which makes those allegations of physical abuse during the marriage, so important. If those claims are true, then a jury perhaps could forgive sandra for what she did, and from the very beginning, she has assured us there is indisputable evidence that her husband david was violent. Did you ever take any photos . Ever seek medical help . Yes, we had photos, and we have Police Reports that prove it. Reporter so confident, so certain, and yet im asking for any of the documentation that you assured us existed to corroborate what youre telling us. And it does exist. Reporter and we can find none of it. But it does exist. It really does exist. Reporter where is it . It was with my attorney. You dont have any of those records. Theyre in boxes. Reporter but do you have them . Do you know whats in those boxes . I, i the other attorney. And i will turn them over to you. Reporter so we head to michelle mcdonalds law office for an appointment with those boxes. Okay, so here they are. This is sandra grazziniruckis basically divorce case. Reporter we spend hours there, scouring thousands of documents and in more than 20 boxes, we didnt find a single piece of paper or photo to prove that any physical abuse ever happened. So we reached out to the Lakeville Police department and they have no record of ever being contacted by sandra about abuse during her marriage. Sandra certainly has never been afraid to call the police, ever. If there were instances of david being violent or threatening, there would be Police Reports of it. There are none. Reporter sandras strongest proof was always the testimony of her children, but today, even that seems to be crumbling. Oldest son nico, that little boy from the home videos and the same son who later posted that damning facebook message accusing his father of physical abuse. He now says all of that was a lie, and that it was his mother who pressed him into believing it was true. She started to say like, your dads this bad guy. Your dad like hurt you when you were younger. I was like, what . What are you talking about . I dont remember any of this. Reporter nico now says he never saw his father abuse his mother, nor his brother or his sisters. As for that facebook post, nico says sandra stood over him while he typed, coaching him on exactly what to say. When i look at my writing then and what i wrote then. That doesnt sound like me. And i feel really bad. Reporter in june after returning home, one of the girls reluctantly spoke with investigators. Its going to go on my moms trial. I know it is. Reporter the full video has not been released. But 20 20 obtained a transcript. It is clear, samantha, who is now 18 supports her mother. She describes argue between her mother and father, that became physical. But when asked, did he ever hit her . He responds, i think he probably did. I saw him, like, grab her really hard. The detective asks, so he probably hit her, okay. Did you see that . To which samantha replies, no. The detective goes on to ask samantha, did he ever hit you . She relies, no. Reporter did you somehow convince your own kids no. Reporter that their dad was abusing them . No, no. Reporter to this day, she says she stands by every decision she has made, every battle line shes drawn, every consequence she and her children have suffered. The two daughters, they spent two years working on a horse farm. They didnt go to school. You dont think i think about all these things . I know what these kids have been put through, but it wasnt me who put these through. This was the system that put them kids through this. Reporter do you think you will ever be reunited with your children . Yes. Reporter you do . Yes. I believe this will be turned around. Needles. Essential for him, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. 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Happy new year whoo happy new year. Reporter these days, sandra spends more time with her lawyers and than children, and in july, she was back in court to face the felony charges that she deprived her exhusband, david of his rights by hiding their daughters and a jury found her guilty on all charges. Why dont you step forward please . After the verdict, david read a statement to the judge. Regardless of the sentence today, sandy is facing a lifetime sentence of the loss of the most precious thing of life. The life of her children. She gave that up long ago. Reporter at the trial, Samantha Rucki testified against her mother. When it was kathys turn to argue for a punishment, she surprised the court. I personally made a promise to a young woman who was a witness in this case that i would not request any additional jail time, and im going to keep that promise. I want you to hear that the court did not engage in this promise, and the court is learning of it for the first time today. Reporter judge karen ashbaa was not moved sentencing her to another month in jail on top of the 33 days she has served. She will be on probation for the next six years, and the judge ordered her to serve 15 days in jail for each year of her prodapr probation. That will begin on april 18th. The day her daughters were finally found. There is a saying. My way for the highway. You literally took to the highway with your two daughters because you did not get your way. The pain and the loss that each Family Member has endured is beyond comprehension. Reporter as sandra was led from the courtroom back to jail, the gravity of these words seemed not to have sunk in, but her attorney, michelle mcdonald, read a more somber statement from outside the courthouse. Im paying the price for doing what any loving paing par would do for their children. Protect them from harm. That was her statement. Reporter but david says his children never needed protection, and he wants them to finally be able to move forward. Were going to try, and start putting this behind us now and go back to living and healing. And, you know, just trying to stay a family. Reporter david says the girls have readjusted to life at home, and got to celebrate christmas with the rest of their family. Sandra wasnt there this year, but it might surprise you to hear how david sees his familys future. Will you fight her ability to see the children . This is my childrens mother. Its important that they have a mother. Sandra isnt the only person to face punishment in this case about two girl that is went missing for a total of 944 days. The woman who helped her hide her daughters was also convicted and sentenced to six months in jail. We have another note here. Dale nathan, the man who helped police find the girls, passed away at the age of 81. Thats our program here tonight. Let us know what you think on facebook and twitter. Im david muir. And im elizabeth vargas. For all of us here at 20 20 and abc news, have a good weekend and good night. Coming up, three Police Officers from upper darby lift a car off a woman to save her. An emaciated and neglected dog is rescued in philadelphia. Thats next on action news. Yom weve ever climbed. Yom and now, theyve come together to create something youve never felt before. Introducing the glc coupe. Part suv. Part sports car. All mercedesbenz. Action news, delaware valleys leading news program with meteorologist melissa magee, jeff scaversky and walter perez. It was a day of rallies across the nation and here in