Couple described as adventure-seekers are free from captors
STEWARTSTOWN, Pa. — Just over five years ago, soon after they wed, Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle set off on a journey to areas of the world infrequently travelled by Westerners, an admittedly quixotic trek their parents say was in keeping with the couple’s adventure-seeking spirit.
During a trip that took them to Afghanistan and neighbouring central Asian countries — Coleman, a homeschooled devout Catholic and Boyle, her Canadian husband — the couple slept in tents and hostels, interacted with villagers and bought local goods from vendors.
The couple was supposed to return to the U.S. so that Coleman, then pregnant, could deliver her baby. Instead, they were abducted in Afghanistan and held captive by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, surfacing periodically over the next five years in video recordings sent to their loved ones and scrubbed by the FBI for clues.
On Thursday, U.S. and Pakistani officials announced the release of the couple and the three children they had in captivity, a welcome development in a strange tale that vexed federal investigators for years and became part of the political debate over the U.S. government’s obligation to Americans held as hostages overseas.