American digital content creator Elliot Eastman is now believed by police to be dead following his abduction in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.
Police said Eastman was kidnapped in Sibuco on October 17, 2024 by four armed men that posed as policemen.
He was shot in the leg when he tried to resist, according to Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan, acting spokesperson of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 9.
“We want to believe that Elliot Eastman died because of the testimonies we got from a witness and one of the suspects,” Sawan told reporters at the PRO 9 Thursday.
Sawan said that one of the suspects admitted in an extrajudicial confession made last November that Eastman had died and that his body was left in the waters near Zamboanga City.
The police official said that while the body has not yet been found, news of Eastman’s death was corroborated by a witness account provided in October.
“Although we’ve had one witness and another witness corroborating what was said about Elliot Eastman’s death, we still aren’t able to find his body,” Sawan said.
He said the Eastman family has been informed through the Philippine National Police’s coordination with the US Embassy in Manila.
According to Sawan, the police are still working on Eastman’s case, just in case more information surfaces.
Police, however, has not yet determined the cause or motive behind the kidnapping, added Sawan.
Eastman, known for his YouTube content, hails from Vermont, USA. He had lived in the Philippines for five months with his Filipino wife, a Sama Sibuco woman named Karisha Jala.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation joined the probe in mid-October. On Oct. 29, police filed complaints against six suspects for kidnapping and serious illegal detention before the Zamboanga del Norte Prosecutor’s Office. Three suspects remained at large, according to the police. (Frencie L. Carreon / MindaNews)
