Missionaries Kidnapped in Haiti Escaped at Night, Walked for Miles With Stars as Guide

A group of kidnapped missionaries in Haiti finally reached freedom last week after two months of imprisonment by members of the 400 Mawozo gang. Their road to safety involved a bold overnight escape and walking for miles in the dark as they used moonlight and the stars to find their way.

News that the group of 16 Americans and one Canadian was fully liberated emerged Thursday, but the details of how they managed to obtain freedom were not released until Monday. Officials from Christian Aid Ministries (CAM), the missionaries' Ohio-based agency, held a news conference where they described the group's escape and trek over difficult terrain with an infant and other children.

"After a number of hours of walking, day began to dawn and they eventually found someone who helped to make a phone call for help," CAM spokesman Weston Showalter said. "They were finally free."

The 17 missionaries were abducted October 16 after visiting an orphanage in the Croix-des-Bouquets area of Haiti. Just 12 took part in the escape last week since five of the captives were previously released.

The 400 Mawozo gang members who kidnapped them had called for millions of dollars in ransom as a condition of their release, but it was not immediately clear if any ransom was paid.

Supporters of the group had raised funds for a potential ransom payment, according to CAM General Director David Troyer, but he declined to say if any payments were made to the group.

The 12 who fled last week carried the infant and a 3-year-old, wrapping the baby to protect her from the briars and brambles, Showalter said.

The 12 were flown to Florida on a U.S. Coast Guard flight and later reunited with the five hostages who were released earlier.

CAM displayed photos at the news conferences showing the freed hostages being reunited, along with a video of the group singing a song that had inspired them during their captivity.

"They had no idea what was ahead of them," Showalter said.

When captured, about five or 10 minutes into their return from an orphanage, they saw a roadblock up ahead of their vehicle. The group's driver—the one Canadian in the group—turned around, but a pickup truck pursued them, and "gang members surrounded the van," Showalter explained. He said early reports that the driver was a Haitian national were not accurate.

He said they were initially crowded into a small room in a house but were moved around several times during their captivity.

They were not physically harmed by the kidnappers, Showalter said. He said the main physical challenges included the heat, mosquitoes and contaminated water for bathing, which led some of them to develop sores. Sometimes the young children got sick.

However, he said everyone appears to have emerged from captivity in good health.

The adults received small food portions, such as rice and beans for dinner, although the captors provided plenty of food suitable for the small children, he said.

The hostages gathered multiple times during the day for prayer and religious devotions, and sometimes sang loudly enough for each other to hear when they were in separate rooms, Showalter said.

They also sought to encourage other hostages who were being held for ransom in separate kidnappings, Showalter said.

Over time, the hostages agreed to try to escape and chose the night of December 15 to flee.

"When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path they had chosen to follow, and quickly left the place they were held, despite the fact that numerous guards were close by," Showalter said.

Based in Berlin, Ohio, CAM is supported and staffed by conservative Anabaptists, a range of Mennonite, Amish and related groups whose hallmarks include nonresistance to evil, plain dress and separation from mainstream society.

None of the freed hostages were at the news conference. They came from Amish, Mennonite and other Anabaptist communities in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ontario, according to CAM.

After the news conference, a group of CAM employees stood and sang "Nearer My God to Thee" in the robust, four-part acapella harmony that is a signature of conservative Anabaptist worship.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.