Dateline: Secrets Uncovered: What happened to journalist Amanda Lindhout?

The story of the Canadian journalist, Amanda Lindhout, remains one of the most shocking tales that can send shivers down the spine of any true crime fan. It was the subject of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered season 8, episode 17, titled The Capture. The subject of this tale has remained clear in the minds of viewers as the case received attention from global media outlets across the world.

The synopsis of the episode read:

"The story of journalist Amanda Lindhout who was held hostage in southern Somalia for 15 months."

As mentioned in the synopsis, Amanda Lindhout was captured by armed men in Somalia. For more than 460 days, she and her colleague Nigel Brennen were held hostage until their captors received the ransom they demanded. Amanda was subjected to multiple forms of abuse and was assaulted on a regular basis during her captivity. She later released the book, A House in the Sky: A Memoir, recounting the details of this brutal period of her life.

Read on for more details about Lindhout and the crime that left her traumatized forever.

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Who is Amanda Lindhout and what happened to her?

Born on June 12, 1981, Amanda Lindhout was born in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. She spent most of her early life in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, after her parents separated. Lindhout aspired to become a model. At 24, Amanda was working as a cocktail waitress. Soon after, she quit this job to become a journalist.

Lindhout used her earnings from the waitressing job to finance trips to war-torn areas across the world. Her works spanned from Kabul to Baghdad. She worked as a freelancer for most of her life. She was held hostage once in Iraq before the infamous incident in Somalia.

The 27-year-old freelance journalist was with a male colleague, Nigel Brennen, in Somalia. She and her coworker were working in Mogadishu when they were kidnapped. The incident happened as they were driving to visit a camp housing internally displaced persons. Armed gunmen reportedly stopped them and kidnapped the two journalists along with their Somali translator, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, their driver, Mahad Isse, and a driver from the Shamo Hotel, Marwali.

This began a long saga that would span for the next 15 months. During her time in captivity, Amanda Lindhout was allegedly separated from her male colleague. She was also repeatedly s*xually abused by her teenage captors. Only one of her captors spoke English. He was later arrested in a clever scheme by the Canadian authorities.

According to Wikipedia, on November 25, 2009, Amanda Lindhout and Brennan were released following a ransom payment made by their families through a private firm that specializes in kidnappings and ransom dealings. She was hospitalized in Nairobi soon after and received medical attention for over two weeks.

There were rumors that Amanda allegedly got pregnant during her time in captivity and gave birth to a child. Lindhout later dismissed the rumors. The case received global attention, mainly after Lindhout published her best-selling memoir, titled A House in the Sky, recounting her experience as a hostage.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered season 8, episode 17 covers this case in more detail. The episode is currently available on DirectTV. It will also have a rerun on December 20, 2022, on Oxygen.