Over time, their relationship changed. Sophia says Adam became controlling and abusive. "He didn't want me to hang out with my friends. He wanted me all to himself. He'd go through my phone… he told me that nobody would ever love me." Sophia says she kept the situation from her family and friends. "I honestly thought… 'What did I do to make him this upset?'"

Adam's mother, Susan Thomas, says that Sophia and Adam's relationship was clearly unhealthy.

"My husband and I spoke with Adam and he said, 'You know, this girl is going to get you in trouble. She's either gonna get you killed or put in jail if you stay with her. This drama has to stop ' And it was the following evening that he went over to her house."

In February 2013, Adam held Sophia at knife point after she tried to end their relationship. He was charged with home invasion and felonious assault. 

Sophia's mother, Kristin Putney, a social worker who specializes in childhood trauma, says she had no idea how serious the situation was. "I didn't get what was really going on. I would do anything to have protected her, but I wasn't able to."

Assistant District Attorney Jeff Williams was assigned to the case. "Sophia's family and Adam's family agreed the best resolution was to allow him to plead guilty to a lesser charge with the agreement that he would have no contact with Sophia, that he would do a long term of probation and that he would get counseling."

But Adam and Sophia secretly started seeing each other again. Sophia said she felt guilt and shame, and didn't want her family to find out. According to prosecutor Jeff Williams "Adam used that as one of the many ways to control Sophia."

In September 2014, Sophia again tried to end her relationship with Adam. He sent her hundreds of text messages including this photo on Sept. 15, 2014.  It's Adam outside of Sophia's home waiting for her return. 

Sophia arrived home to discover Adam hiding under a comforter in her bedroom.  "He just had this crazy look in his eyes, like something had snapped," Sophia told "48 Hours." 

"I said, 'Adam, are you going to kill me?' And he said, 'yes.'"

Adam then cut Sophia across her chest with this knife,

Adam also had this lighter and a bottle of gasoline. When Sophia's mother, Kristin, tried to enter the room, he poured out the gasoline and set the room on fire.

"I just took all my might and I pushed through and as soon as I did, it was just like an explosion of flames," Kristin Putney told "48 Hours."

"Then [Adam] came over to me and started dragging both of us towards the flames," said Sophia.

[Pictured is a crime scene photo of some of the fire damage to Sophia's room.]

Kristin Putney says she was calling to Sophia from the outside her room. A wall of flames was between her and her daughter.

Sophia's brother, Kiely, came to her recuse wielding a baseball bat. He jumped through the flames and began hitting Adam. 

Kiely continued to hit Adam, who still had Sophia in his grasp.

"Adam was kind of using her as a shield," Sophia's mother recalled.

Eventually Adam broke through this window and escaped; Sophia was free, but badly injured. 

Adam rolled down the Putney-Wilcox's roof, pictured, and fell to the ground below. He was able to escape and get to his car, parked away from the house. 

In the chaos of the moment, Kiely accidentally hit Sophia in the head with the bat. She had internal bleeding and needed emergency surgery.

Still, Sophia is adamant that Kiely saved her life that night, telling "48 Hours," "He's my hero and he always will be."

Adam was arrested a day after the assault by Kalamazoo Public Safety. He was seen walking down a main road and was apprehended by police without incident.

Adam Shigwadja was questioned by authorities, and insisted that he never meant to harm Sophia and was there to commit suicide in front of her.

"I was planning on just lighting myself on fire." 

Adam Shigwadja was charged and his trial lasted four days. The judge convicted Adam of home invasion, arson charge, and assault with the intent to do great bodily harm less than murder.

One day short of the one-year anniversary of the crime, Adam was sentenced to a minimum of 29 years in prison. 

Sophia Putney-Wilcox still deals with post-traumatic stress. 

Sophia is engaged and is expecting her first child.

Teen dating violence resources

Sophia on helping others

WATCH: "48 Hours:" Live to Tell: Sophia's Secret