Latest Kidnapping News

Kidnapping charge tossed out against ex-mayor in case of missing Mexican students

May. 31, 2023 14:52 PM EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The former mayor of a southern Mexico town where 43 students were abducted and disappeared in 2014 has been cleared of a kidnapping charge in the case, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed Wednesday. José Luis Abarca, who will remain in prison for...

Lebanon’s army says Saudi citizen kidnapped in Beirut released following 'special operation'

May. 30, 2023 11:11 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese troops rescued a Saudi citizen kidnapped over the weekend in Beirut and reportedly held for ransom, the army said Tuesday. Mushari al-Mutairi was released in a “special operation” along the Lebanon-Syria border, where the kidnappers held him hostage, a...

At least 17 civilians killed by extremist rebels in eastern Congo

May. 30, 2023 07:25 AM EDT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — At least 17 people were killed by extremist rebels in eastern Congo's North Kivu province, local authorities said. Civilians were killed by fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces — believed to be linked with the Islamic State group — in the...

Lebanese officials say Saudi Arabian citizen kidnapped in Beirut, motive unclear

May. 29, 2023 14:25 PM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Assailants kidnapped a Saudi Arabian citizen in Beirut but the motive behind the abduction was not immediately clear, Lebanon's interior minister and security officials said Monday. State-run Saudi TV station Al-Ekhbariya reported that the kidnapped man works for...

More than 30 abducted women released in Cameroon; some tortured in captivity

May. 26, 2023 13:06 PM EDT

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — More than 30 women abducted by separatist rebels for protesting illegal taxes imposed on them were released, the government said Friday. The women were taken earlier this month from Babanki, a farming village in the Northwest Region, along the border with...

Prosecutors widen child sex abuse case in polygamous sect

May. 25, 2023 16:03 PM EDT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors have widened their case against members of a small polygamous group that resides near the Utah-Arizona border, detailing its leader's sexual encounters with children he took as wives in new charges filed earlier this month. A grand jury accuses Sam...

UN envoy reportedly meeting Russian official accused of war crimes for deporting Ukrainian children

May. 19, 2023 15:32 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy charged with trying to protect children caught in conflicts is in Moscow, where she is reported to be meeting Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, who is charged with war crimes for deporting children from Ukraine. Human Rights Watch...

88-year-old Australian doctor freed 7 years after kidnapping by Islamic extremists in West Africa

May. 18, 2023 23:30 PM EDT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An 88-year-old Australian doctor held captive by Islamic extremists in West Africa for more than seven years has been freed and has returned to Australia. Ken Elliott was safe and well and was reunited with his wife and their children on Thursday night,...

Michigan boy who used slingshot to save sister says he 'was just lucky'

May. 18, 2023 18:21 PM EDT

ALPENA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 13-year-old Michigan boy who used a slingshot to save his 8-year-old sister from an attempted kidnapping said he was “freaking out” and simply reached for something that could stop the attack. "So I grab my slingshot and open the window and I...

Police search for escaped Kentucky inmate who briefly kidnapped 2 people

May. 18, 2023 17:29 PM EDT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Officers were searching Thursday for a Kentucky jail inmate who escaped custody while being transported and briefly kidnapped two people, forcing them to drive him to another location, police said. Norman Kenneth Wolfe, 31, was being transported by a deputy...