instant horror of where is she what had happened to baby savanna? the answer would come decades later and astonish the world. it happened so fast, couldn t fathom what was going on imagine, your mother fugitive. your father stranger. your home, your name your past was any of it real? the first thing i felt, jus a pit in my stomach. i jus felt like it was my fault. a mother s crime. a father pain what kinds of emotions di it stir up when you would se that crib? it would just make me cry a daughter forced to face the shattering truth i was shocked and i was jus terrified. hello and welcome t dateline a father left childless and daughter left questioning he very identity. it was a case that started as custody battle, but turned int an international mystery tha spanned two decades and took investigators nearly 10,00 miles around the world all driven by a determined dad searching for answers and hi daughter here s andrea canning with finding savanna. in
instant horror of where is she what had happened to baby savanna? the answer would come decades later and astonish the world. it happened so fast, couldn t fathom what was going on imagine, your mother fugitive. your father stranger. your home, your name your past was any of it real? the first thing i felt, jus a pit in my stomach. i jus felt like it was my fault. a mother s crime. a father pain what kinds of emotions di it stir up when you would se that crib? it would just make me cry a daughter forced to face the shattering truth i was shocked and i was jus terrified. hello and welcome t dateline a father left childless and daughter left questioning he very identity.
the first doctor said there was no problem with it, they didn t think a second opinio was needed. the defendant in this case got a second opinion from their pediatrician, who said the same thing. and so, there was this indication that she was looking for an answe that wasn t there. reporter: not only that williams investigation reveale that lee had started to plan her escape even before she accused harris of harming baby savanna. we know contemporaneously with this allegation of abus that was unfounded, she wa also getting false documents false driver s licenses, false passports and setting the tabl to flee the country with her child. to try to rationalize i and claim that it was based on something that isn t true, t me, is a clear indication of guilt. reporter: dateline aske lee for an interview, but sh declined. in the end, sh pleaded guilty to all th charges against her. savanna spoke at the sentencing. she began by giving her name
was lee s friend and savanna s baby-sitter. she went with lee to pick up savanna for a visitation weekend two weeks after the verdict and said she was horrified when harri handed over baby savanna she had black and blue mark on her forehead. she had blood on her nose. lee sat in th backseat with the baby and she was crying, and we went to the emergency room reporter: did you ever harm savanna? did you ever abuse her heavens, no. she fell whe she was with my mother at th house. that s all it was reporter: the emergency roo report supported what harris had told lee. savanna injuries were consistent with minor fall. the e. r. doctor wrote he found no signs of abuse. i mean, i would never hav let a hair on that baby s head be harmed. reporter: but lee was convinced harris was an unfi parent and refused to return savanna until harris forced he
savanna lee barnett is missing from isle of palms, south carolina. a child who suddenly vanished. the most important thing in my life was taken from me. just instant horror of where is she? what had happened to baby savanna? the answer would come decades later and astonish the world. it happened so fast, i couldn t fathom what was going on. imagine, your mother a fugitive. your father a stranger. your home, your name, your past was any of it real? the first thing i felt, just a pit in my stomach. i just felt like it was my fault. a mother s crime. a father s pain. what kinds of emotions did it stir up when you would see that crib? it would just make me cry. a daughter forced to face the shattering truth. i was shocked and i was just terrified.