Philippines police say Elliot Eastman, American YouTuber shot during kidnapping, likely died of gunshot wounds

[ad_1] Manila, Philippines — Philippine police officers stated Thursday they had been checking stories {that a} kidnapped American died after being shot twice whereas resisting his Oct. 17 abduction by gunmen within the nation's south. Elliot Eastman , 26, from Vermont, was shot twice with an M16 rifle whereas making an attempt to struggle off his 4 kidnappers, who posed as law enforcement officials, within the coastal city of Sibuco in Zamboanga del Norte province, police stated.

The abductors dragged him to a motorboat and sped off, based on earlier police stories.

A large seek for Eastman and his abductors led to the arrest of quite a lot of suspects, however he has not been discovered. Three suspects had been killed in a gunbattle with police within the south final month.

A person factors to a suspected bloodstain within the sand in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte province, Philippines, Oct. 18, 2024, the place kidnapped American YouTuber Elliot Eastman was shot by gunmen. STR/AFP/Getty

Regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan stated investigators obtained data from a relative of one of many suspects that Eastman died as a consequence of gunshot wounds within the thigh and stomach whereas being taken away by his abductors. The abductors determined to throw his physique into the ocean after he died, the relative stated.

The details about Eastman's dying was later corroborated by a key suspect within the kidnapping who was arrested lately, and his sworn assertion has been submitted to authorities prosecutors, Sawan stated. Prison complaints of kidnapping have been filed towards a number of suspects, he stated.

"We're constrained to consider that he has died. All the data that we have now factors to that," Sawan stated. However he added that with out the sufferer's physique, "we're nonetheless leaving just a little little bit of hope that it is probably not the case" and police would proceed their investigation.

Philippine police have knowledgeable Eastman's Filipino spouse and the U.S. Embassy in Manila about his reported dying, Sawan stated.

The embassy stated it is conscious of the police report and is coordinating with Philippine authorities, however didn't remark additional as a consequence of privateness concerns.

Eastman traveled out of the Philippines and returned to Sibuco to attend his spouse's commencement when he was kidnapped. He had been posting YouTube and Fb movies of his life in Sibuco, a poor, distant coastal city, the place the suspects noticed him, police stated earlier.

They stated the suspects gave the impression to be widespread criminals who didn't belong to any Muslim insurgent teams which have been accused of ransom kidnappings up to now.

Safety issues have lengthy hounded the southern Philippines, the homeland of a Muslim minority within the largely Roman Catholic nation.

The southern third of the Philippines has bountiful assets however has lengthy been hamstrung by poverty, insurgencies and outlaws.

On his YouTube web page, Eastman stated he got here to the Philippines and met "the love of my life deep within the mountains" of Zamboanga del Norte, which he stated he could be exploring to supply followers a glimpse of "everyday life as the primary and solely foreigner" to take up everlasting residence within the distant area.

A 2014 peace settlement between the federal government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Entrance, the biggest of a number of Muslim separatist teams, has significantly eased widespread preventing within the south. Relentless navy offensives have weakened smaller armed teams such because the Abu Sayyaf, decreasing kidnappings, bombings and different violence.

The Abu Sayyaf has focused People and different Western vacationers and missionaries, most of whom had been freed after ransoms had been paid. A couple of had been killed, together with American Guillermo Sobero, who was beheaded on the southern island of Basilan, and a U.S. missionary, Martin Burnham, who was killed whereas Philippine military forces had been making an attempt to rescue him and his spouse, Gracia Burnham, in 2002 in a rainforest close to Sibuco.