Surveillance footage shows the moment Abigail Hernandez returns home

Never before seen surveillance footage shows the moment teen girl, who was held captive and sexually assaulted in a storage container for nine months, returned home

• Abigail Hernandez, now 19, was abducted in October 2013 by Nathaniel Kibby 
• Kibby held her in a shipping container behind his house in New Hampshire 
• He assaulted her repeatedly and made her wear a shock collar to control her
• Abigail eventually got away when he decided to free her in July 2014 
• In an interview which will air on Friday, Abigail recalled the horror she endured
• She said Kibby never told her his name and forced her to refer to him as ‘master’ 
• Kibby, 39, was sentenced to between 45 and 90 years in prison in May 2016 

Surveillance footage of the moment a teenage girl who returned home after being suddenly freed by a man who held her captive for nine months has been revealed for the first time.

Abigail Hernandez was taken captive by Nathaniel Kibby in October 2013 as she walked home from school in Conway, New Hampshire.

She was held against her will in a trailer on his property 30 miles away for nine months, during which time Kibby, now 39, sexually assaulted her and forced her to wear a dog collar.

In July 2014, he suddenly decided to let her go because he had ‘terrorized’ her enough. He drove her out in to a rural road then let her go free.

Speaking for the first time about the horror she endured in five years, Abigail told ABC’s 20/20 of the moment Kibby suddenly let her go. 

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Abigail Hernandez is pictured walking back into her family home in Conway, New Hampshire, after nine months in captivity. She was suddenly freed by her abductor in July 2014 after enduring months of sexual assault and abuse

‘There were no cars coming either way and he said ‘get out’. So I got out and then he yelled “wait, give me my hat back! Give me my hat back!”

‘So I took it off, threw it in the car, slammed the door and he drove off. Just like that. That was it,’ she said.

At the time, she was 15. Now 19, she recalls looking up and ‘laughing’ afterwards.

‘Just being so happy like, “Oh my God. This actually happened. I’m a free person. I never thought it would happen to me but I’m free.” And I just walked home,’ she said.

The family had surveillance cameras on their front doorstep. They caught the moment Abigail walked through the door after while her mother was inside.

‘I remember when I came up to my doorstep, I could hear my mum talking on the phone. I could hear her voice. I opened the door and said, “Mom?” and she said, “Abby?” And then she ran out,’ she recalled.

Abigail Hernandez (left) said it was a ‘beautiful moment’ reuniting with her mother Zenyah (right) when she walked through the front door

The girl’s mother, Zenyah, said she ‘shuddered’ when she was first saw her.

‘t was almost like, it was a shock. Like, I had a shudder. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,’ she said.

Abigail said she remembered registering the change in her mother’s appearance and realizing that her vanishing had taken such a severe toll on her.

‘That was such a beautiful moment. I remember just the look on her face.

Nathaniel Kibby, 39, is serving between 45 and 90 years imprisonment for kidnapping the teen 

‘She looked different she really did. I could see months of stress in her face and it kinda killed me a little bit but I was so relieved to see her,’ she said.

Kibby is serving between 45 and 90 years in prison on sexual assault and kidnapping charges.

Earlier in the interview, which will air in full on Friday, she revealed that Kibby would not tell her his name and instead instructed her to all him ‘master’.

The young woman also explained how he started using the dog collar on her. 

‘He said, “You know, I’m thinking of finding something a little more humane for you to keep you quiet.”

‘He said, “I’m thinking of a shock collar. You know, that like dogs wear.”

‘I remember he put it on me. And he told me, “Okay, try and scream.” 

‘I just slowly started to raise my voice. And then, it shocked me. So, he’s like, “Okay, now you know what it feels like,”‘ she said.  

It took her Abigail a week after returning home before she revealed to her family and law enforcement agencies who he was because she was so afraid of him.

In July 2014, Hernandez bravely faced her kidnapper in court and thanked him for letting her go (they are pictured during the court hearing above) 

Kibby held the girl hostage in a storage container on his property in rural New Hampshire (picture) for nine months without suspicion 

She knew his name because she had seen it written on a cook book inside the home. 

Kibby was arrested at his home which was 30 miles north of where he took Abigail.

Abigail went missing in October 2013 days before her 15th birthday. It sparked a large manhunt which lasted nine months 

In the nine months she spent in his captivity, she was only ever allowed to write one letter to her family under his instruction. 

After his arrest, she bravely confronted him in court and thanked him for letting her go. 

‘I want you to know that I appreciate my freedom because of you and I enjoy my life because of you. 

‘I just want to thank you for giving me my freedom back,’ she said. 

Kibby was sentenced to a minimum of 45 years behind bars and was charged with a litany of crimes including kidnapping and sexual assault.  

Neighbors testified at his sentencing hearings that he was a gun-obsessed loner who was convinced there would be a zombie apocalypse. 

They said they half expected him to unravel and do something violent but that kidnapping a child was one of the last things they predicted he would do. 

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