Lee severed every tie from her old life, travelling around the world and meeting her second husband, Juan Geldenhuys, with whom she had Reece, now 22.
‘Juan adored Sam and brought her up as his own,’ Lee smiles. ‘Over the years we told plenty of friends my story. We had to in case anything ever happened to us and the kids needed caring for. But we never told Sam or Reece.’
It was only in late 2013 that the mum’s extraordinary double life was exposed and Lee, who was then living as Alex Geldenhuys on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, was extradited to the US to stand trial.
That’s when Sam first discovered the story of her birth and her real name, Savanna.
‘Mum had to tell me on the phone with the FBI sitting in her lounge room,’ Samantha recalls. ‘I went into autopilot. My first thought was I needed to be with Mum.’
As Lee was taken straight into custody that wasn’t possible and it meant Samantha had to learn her incredible story from FBI reports.
‘All the bad stuff about Mum was ludicrous,’ Samantha says.
‘They said she had anger issues, tried to kill her dog, had bipolar. It was a completely different woman to my mum. If that’s what she faced it made me understand why she did what she did. ‘We’ve always had an amazing bond and this has intensified it.
‘Learning Mum gave up everything and everyone in her life for me – there’s not many people who could do that.’
But during Lee’s time in an American jail, visits were difficult. It meant the pair lived for their phone calls.
‘I tried to keep it light for Sam,’ Lee recalls. ‘But I was in with the worst paedophiles, murderers. It was horrible.’
It wasn’t until Lee’s release that the pair could at last talk freely but visa red tape prevents her from returning to Australia to live with or visit her daughter.
‘I got through the long days and nights in prison by focusing on the moment I would be reunited with Samantha,’ Lee – who is writing a memoir for Penguin – explains. ‘Since I’ve been released I’ve seen her three times. She’s had to come to America each time and it’s virtually impossible for her now because she is studying and working full time, doing a lot of extra shifts.
‘My biggest fear is that I’ll miss her wedding, the birth of her children. The idea kills me.
‘My one wish for Mother’s Day is to be reunited with Samantha in Australia.
‘I’m not a danger to anybody, I’m not a threat to anybody. I’ve always worked and paid my bills and my taxes. I want the freedom to visit my daughter.’
For the full story see this weeks issue of New Idea - out now!