kidnapping

For Families Of U.S. Hostages, New Policy May Bring New Hope

2:57pm June 29, 2015

by NPR Staff

This week, President Obama announced changes to the government policy on Americans abducted abroad. A former FBI hostage negotiator explains what this means for the hostages — and for their families.

Queue Listen Now

Etan Patz, and the "lost child" poster issued after his 1979 disappearance.

National

Mistrial Declared In 1979 Disappearance Case Of Etan Patz

6:07pm May 08, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The kidnapping and murder of the 6-year-old, who vanished on his way to school, focused national attention on child abduction cases.

Campaigners marched Monday in Nigeria's capital of Abuja during a silent protest to raise awareness about girls and boys abducted by Boko Haram.

World News

Hundreds Of Nigerian Girls Still Missing A Year After Kidnapping

4:12pm April 14, 2015

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Last April, Islamist extremists abducted about 300 schoolgirls. #BringBackOurGirls campaigners refuse to let them be forgotten, and Nigeria's new president has called on the military to look for them.

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World News

Video Purports To Show Beheaded Japanese Hostage

5:02pm January 24, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The unconfirmed video was released after a deadline to pay a $200 million ransom for the lives of Kenji Goto and Haruna Yakawa passed. It appears to change the Islamic State kidnappers' demands.

Maureen B. Kabrik, a "#Bring Back Our Girls" campaigner, speaks during a sit-out meeting in Borno in support of the release of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in August. Boko Haram militants, who seized the girls last April, have reportedly captured a

World News

Boko Haram Reportedly Seizes Nigerian Army Base

3:00pm January 04, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The capture of the base and adjoining town is the latest attack by the extremist groups, which is also responsible for the mass kidnapping of school-aged girls in April.

Members of the Abuja "Bring Back Our Girls" protest group sit during a march in continuation of the Global October movement. Once again, Boko Haram militants are implicated in killings and mass kidnapping in northeastern Nigeria.

World News

Boko Haram Suspected In New Round Of Killing And Kidnapping

4:37pm December 18, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The latest killing and kidnapping occurred just 20 miles from where the Islamist extremist group kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in April.

People call for the Nigerian government to rescue girls taken from a secondary school in Chibok region, during a protest earlier this month. Boko Haram, the group that took the girls, says they have been

World News

Boko Haram Says Kidnapped Girls Are Now 'Married'

12:54pm November 01, 2014

by Bill Chappell

The Nigerian extremist group says more than 200 girls it kidnapped from a school in April have been married to fighters. The group also denies stories that it has reached a cease fire deal.