By Ryan Yousefi
The family of a Tamarac couple kidnapped during a recent trip to Haiti is pleading for help as their whereabouts remain unclear, even as an initial ransom was paid to their kidnappers.
According to the family, Jean Dickens Tousaint and his wife, Abigail Tousaint, of Tamarac, were visiting relatives and attending a festival in Haiti when a bus the couple was riding in was stopped by unknown assailants who requested all Americans be removed. Witnesses say the couple was soon after taken away.
The kidnapping reportedly occurred just outside the city of Port-au-Prince, but the couple’s current whereabouts are unknown.
In an interview with WPLG Local 10, a family member said the Tousaints have a 1-year-old son at home, and the family just wants to contact the couple to remove the worst-case scenario from their minds.
The family has since been frantically trying to negotiate with the kidnappers, who have demanded an exorbitant ransom of $200,000 per person. The family initially paid $6,000, but the kidnappers refused to release the couple, demanding even more money.
