PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - An American missionary kidnapped outside the Haitian capital was released Friday, U.N. police and friends said, but there were conflicting reports about whether he was harmed during the ordeal.
Gunmen abducted Nathan Jean-Dieudonne, 58, on Sunday while he was driving home from his church in suburban Croix-des-Bouquets. It was not immediately clear if a ransom was paid for his release.
U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said Jean-Dieudonne was let go before dawn, unharmed. However, two acquaintances of Jean-Dieudonne said from the United States that they had heard he may have been wounded while in captivity.
Edward Beck, a friend of Jean-Dieudonne's from Palatka, Florida, said in a telephone interview that he received an e-mail early Friday saying the pastor had been beaten by his captors.
The e-mail was sent by the church of Jean-Dieudonne's wife, the Dunn Loring Community Church of God, outside Falls Church, Virginia.
Glenn Dryden, the church's pastor, said Jean-Dieudonne may have been beaten but declined to give details.
"I just know that it's been a very traumatic time for his family, and I know by a second-hand account it was a very traumatic for him as well," Dryden said.
The FBI sent hostage negotiators to Haiti to help secure the release of Jean-Dieudonne, a U.S. citizen of Haitian descent. A U.N. anti-kidnapping squad and Haitian police also worked to free him.
Kidnappings for ransom surged in Haiti in the chaotic aftermath of a 2004 revolt that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Most of the crimes are blamed on streets gangs based in the capital's sprawling slums, but corrupt police have also been implicated.
Kidnappers have increasingly targeted foreign missionaries, many of whom travel with little security and work in poorer areas where police presence is thin.
U.N. troops and Haitian police have stepped up patrols in the capital, prompting kidnappers to look for victims in outlying suburbs.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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