Kidnapped American YouTuber likely dead in Philippines

Philippine police presume that an American man who was abducted in the country’s southern region has died from gunshot wounds, per CNN.

Elliot Eastman — who made vlogs of his life married to a Filipino woman and living in Sibuco of the Zamboanga del Norte province — was taken by four gunmen posing as police officers on Oct. 17. The 26-year-old vlogger, originally from Vermont, was shot in the thigh and abdomen during the struggle, CBS News reports.

The kidnappers put Eastman in a motorboat and fled, according to earlier police reports.

Citing “crime, terrorism, civil unrest and kidnapping,” the U.S. State Department has advised against traveling to Mindanao, the island where the gunmen abducted him.

Despite a widespread search and arrests of suspects, Eastman has not been found. His family has been informed of the situation through the U.S. Embassy in the Manila, according to Daily Mail.

Regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan said one suspect’s relative informed investigators that Eastman died due to the gunshot wounds sustained during the kidnapping. The relative claimed that seeing Eastman was dead, the kidnappers dumped his body in the ocean.

The relative’s claims were confirmed by an arrested suspect.

“We are constrained to believe that he has died. All of the information that we have points to that,” Sawan said, according to CBS.

But because Eastman’s body has still not been found, Sawan added the police has hope that he is alive as they continue their investigation.