Elliot Eastman, an American living in the Philippines who was shot and abducted from the island of Mindanao in October, was most likely killed by his kidnappersptwin, the Philippine National Police said on Thursday.
The police have taken four men into custody since the abduction, and testimony from one of the men led the police to believe Mr. Eastman died on the day he was taken, according to Jean Fajardo, a spokeswoman for the police. Four other suspects are still at large, the police said.
Mr. Eastman, who had been living in the Philippines since May, was taken from his home in the coastal town of Sibuco on Oct. 17 by men who falsely introduced themselves as police officers and carried him away on a boat. He sustained two wounds, one in the leg when he was first shot, and one in his stomach, the police said.
Mr. Eastman’s body had not yet been found, the police said, but they believe his abductors threw it overboard after he died on the boat.
Mr. Eastman, 26, of Vermont, had documented his life in the Philippines in videos on social media. On the YouTube page that appeared to belong to him, he said that he had met the “love of my life” in the mountains.
“I will be showing you my day to day life as the first and only foreigner to have ever lived here in Sibuco for a long period of time,” he wrote.
ImageMr. Eastman had been documenting parts of his life in the Philippines on YouTube. Credit...ViralPress, via Reuters ConnectThe channel included videos of his quiet life in the Philippines. In the titles of some of them, he referenced the reputation of coastal Mindanao as being dangerous for foreign travelers.
Mr. Eastman’s kidnapping was first reported by his father-in-law, AbdulMali Hamsiran Jala, who told the police that four men wearing black clothing and face covers had forcibly entered Mr. Eastman’s house in the Zamboanga del Norte Province.
Mr. Eastman resisted and ran before being shot in the leg with a rifle, the police said. The men then put him on a white boat and headed out to sea, according to the police.
The frequency of abductions in the area has lessened in the past decade as militant groups have weakenedptwin, but the United States is among several national governments that advise caution for its citizens while traveling in the region. Philippine military officials have blamed insurgent groups for organizing the kidnappings of foreign citizens in the country’s south.