Amanda Yearned News Today

Youll be killed. >> as the day grew closer and then came and went, i realized that, yeah, its possible that that was a fear tactic, but more importantly, i just could not continue to let myself live in that dark place in my mind. i had to become stronger. >> amanda and nigel, in separate rooms, each with a window had discovered if they stood in just the right spots, they could hear each other. they began to talk about getting out. >> nigel had done some investigating in the bathroom and discover...

>> nothing outside looked like they thought it would. worse, a neighbor spotted them. they had to get out of there. >> we just ran, and nigel started screaming for help. we did find the mosque. and right before we stepped in, i looked back, and i saw one of our young captors standing about 20 feet away. >> weak and winded from running for the first time in five months, amanda and nigel dashed into the mosque, clinging to the hope that someone there would help. >> you see abdullahs coming? >> abd...

>> we just analyzed her, how shy looks, how shes holding herself. >> you take your negotiator cap off and put your mom hat on. >> it was terrifying, but to be honest, i couldnt keep my mom hat on very often, because i couldnt function. >> the video was broadcast without sound so lorinda couldnt hear her daughter, but the image of the masked, heavily armed captors made the situation very real. >> what are you feeling as you watch it? >> i just want to bring her home. never, never let her go. >> w...

Important that she go there. that there were hundreds of thousands of refugees starving in the refugee camps and no one was telling their story. >> as amanda was launching this new phase of her professional life her personal life intruded. she unexpectedly heard from nigel, now divorced. >> i got an e-mail out of the blue. >> you tell him where youre going. >> i tell him where im going. hes still interested in pursuing journalism. why not invite him to come with me. >> amanda e-mailed her mother...

Line. hed seen a report amanda had been kidnapped. amandas father called her mother in a panic. >> you still remember johns voice on the phone? >> yeah. yeah. he was just in a complete panic and saying i dont know what to do. >> you must have felt so helpless. >> i felt like we were so far apart. and we didnt know where our daughter was. >> la rin da was still in shock when she arrived at her ex-husbands house. she was desperate to figure out what to do next. >> i just knew from the minute i wal...

Pitch-black. >> no light. >> no light. >> no windows? >> no. >> thats enough to drive somebody crazy. >> it was terrifying. >> amanda was sexually assaulted that day by her captors. some acted. some watched. there was no one to help. nigel was still held separately. >> it feels like thats a pivotal point where they do pretty terrible things, but theyre all in it together now. >> the abuse that happened to me after the escape united them in my suffering. it prevented any one from judging the othe...

>> after three days, they let her down, but told her theyd be back. >> when they left the room and i laid there on my mat alone, every single part of my body screaming and throbbing and absolute agony. i made a very calm decision to end my life. >> amanda had a small razor blade allowed for hygiene. she was going to use it. >> at the moment where i was going to slit my wrists, out of the corner of my eye i noticed some movement in the room, and there was a small brown bird hopping around in this...

>> amanda, amanda, stay strong, stay strong, hon. >> that phone call definitely made it harder, not to let my imagination go. >> did you keep it together? >> i did. i did. >> how? >> i just felt like i had to. that i had to be strong for her. but after the call, we just sat there and cried. things had taken a change. they werent going to be nice anymore, if you could call anything they did nice. >> coming up, a daring new plan. >> we might have a chance to escape. >> armed with nail clippers and...

A mother, a daughter. a moment 15 months in the making. were they prepared for what was about to happen? >> it was heartache to see her like that. almost a year and a half into captivity, amandas desperate captors began to talk about other options, the one amanda feared the most, being sold off to a more violent islamic group called al shabaab. my friend susie cracks me up. but one laugh, and hello sensitive bladder. ring a bell? then you have to try always discreet. i didnt think protection t...

The men finishing their prayers were concerned as well. then it was the unlikeliest person who stepped forward to try and help amanda, someone shell never forget. >> she came directly over to me, and she embraced me. and she called me her sister in english. it was the first woman that i had seen in about five months. and when she hugged me and held onto me, it was the first time in those five months that i felt something akin to being safe. i just clung onto her, and i started pouring out my hea...