A Florida couple visiting Haiti was kidnapped nearly an hour after landing as their captors demand $200,000 for their safe return.
Abigail and Jean-Dickens Toussaint, both 33, were taken on March 18 by a local gang who stopped their Port-au-Prince bus and demanded all Americans get off, according to their family.
The couple’s grieving family warned them to stay away from the country that is overrun with political unrest and gangs.
‘We were very worried when they said they were going, we told them not to go but they wanted to go,’ relative Nikese Toussaint, told ABC7.
A family-friend traveling with them from the airport to the nearby city of Leogan was also taken.
Abigail and Jean-Dickens Toussaint, both 33, were taken by a Haitian gang while on a bus in Port-au-Prince on March 18. Pictured: the couple with their one-year-old son
The couple’s grieving family warned them to stay away from the country that is overrun with political unrest and gangs
The day the couple went missing, they sent a message to their family telling them they landed safely around 8.55am local time, according to ABC7. They never sent another update.
The couple’s kidnappers initially asked the family for $6,000 for their return before increasing the amount to $200,000.
‘We don’t have that type of money,’ Christie Desormes, their niece, told WPLG.
It’s unclear how the kidnappers communicated with the family.
The couple shares a one-year-old son, who stayed behind in the US with family. He is currently staying with his family.
The Toussaints might miss their son’s second birthday on March 28 if they are not released.
‘It’s a lot of emotions, it’s devastating, you feel angry it happened and then you feel numb at the same time because it doesn’t feel real,’ Desormes told NBC.
Desormes started a Change.org petition to get the attention of politicians who can help bring her aunt and uncle home.
‘They are U.S. citizens. They are parents. They are siblings. They are my family. They are loved and most of all they are people who desperately need your help,’ Desormes wrote.
As of Sunday, nearly 4,500 signatures were garnered.
The day the couple went missing, they sent a message to their family telling them they landed safely around 8.55am local time. They never sent another update
The couple’s kidnappers initially asked the family for $6,000 for their return before increasing the amount to $200,000
It is unclear how the family has been able to have contact with the gang that took the couple. Pictured: Civilians in Haiti
The couple shares a one-year-old son, who stayed behind in the US with family. He is currently staying with his family
It is likely the couple will miss their son’s second birthday on March 28 if they don’t return home in time. Pictured: Abigail Toussaint
The family is working with US authorities to bring the couple home.
‘When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts, and we share information with families however we can,’ the US State Department wrote in a statement.
No additional information was provided.
In 2021, the kidnapping of 17 missionaries in Haiti made national headlines. The group with 12 adults and five minors traveled to the country with the Ohio-based agency Christian Aid Ministries (CAM).
They were kidnapped in October 2021 and were held hostage until their brave escape two months later in December.
Their family started a Change.org petition to get the attention of politicians to help bring them home