FBI offers $1m reward for captors of Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle
The FBI has offered a $1m reward for the arrest and prosecution for those responsible for the kidnapping of US citizen Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle, eight years ago in Afghanistan.
The offer of a reward for their captors is the latest twist in the protracted saga of Coleman and Boyle, who were the subject of intense media scrutiny following their dramatic rescue in 2017 – and a subsequent trial over allegations of abuse by Boyle.
Shortly after their wedding in 2012, Boyle and Coleman travelled to Afghanistan, where they were kidnapped by a Taliban-linked group shortly after arriving in the restive country.
The couple spent five years as captives of the Haqqani network, during which time Coleman gave birth to three children.
“At times the [guards] could be very violent, even sometimes with the children,” Coleman told ABC News in 2017, shortly after their release. “Some of the guards actually actively hated children and would somewhat target [one of our children], try to come up with reasons to hit him, either with a stick or otherwise, claiming that he was making problems, he was being too loud.”
The family say they were shuffled between different sites and captors – often kept underground – until they were eventually freed by Pakistani soldiers in October 2017 and returned to Canada.
But in late December of that year, Boyle was arrested in Ottawa and charged with 19 offenses – including sexual assault, forcible confinement and uttering a death threat – all of which were alleged to have taken place after the family had arrived in the city. The closely watched trial lasted more than a year, culminating in a judge clearing Boyle of all charges in December 2019.
Timothy Slater, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, told the Canadian Press that agents were still actively working to track down the family’s captors but need the public’s help. In one proof of life video recorded by the family, Coleman identified her captors – but more information was needed for a breakthrough in the case.
