An American couple being held for ransom in Haiti has been released, their family said on Friday.
Jean-Dickens Toussaint and his wife, Abigail Toussaint, of Tamarac, Florida, were released on Thursday, according to NBC Miami. The Toussaints were kidnapped from a bus after arriving in Port-au-Prince to visit ailing family members on March 18.
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The Toussaints, both 33, have a son who turned 2 years old while they were in captivity. Their son wasn’t with them when they forced off a bus at gunpoint.
They hope to return home to Florida by Saturday, according to the news station.
A family friend who met the couple at the airport and escorted them on the bus was also kidnapped, their niece, Christie Desormes, told ABC Miami affiliate WPLG.
“They stopped the bus at a stop and they asked for the Americans on the bus and their escorts to come off the bus and then they took them,” Christie said.
Jean-Dickens sister, Nikese Toussaint, told the news station that the kidnappers demanded $200,000 each for their release. She didn’t say if the ransom was paid.
“We were very worried when they said they were going, we told them not to go but they wanted to go,” Nikese Toussaint said.
The State Department said last month that it is aware of the kidnappings in Haiti but declined to share details.
“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,” a spokesperson said.
Last year, a Haitian gang kidnapped 17 missionaries working with an Ohio Christian nonprofit. The gang demanded $1 million ransom to release the missionaries, who were later freed unharmed.
The State Department issued a travel advisory warning Americans not to travel to Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, and civil unrest.”
