Haitian kidnappers release Broward couple eager to be reunited with son, relatives say

Kidnappers released Jean-Dickens Toussaint, right, and Abigail Toussaint, left, both 33, of Tamarac, on Thursday morning in Haiti. (Courtesy photo)

A group of kidnappers released a Haitian-American couple who lives in Broward County with their two-year-old son on Thursday morning in Haiti, a relative said on Thursday night.

The kidnappers abducted Jean-Dickens and Abigail Toussaint, both 33, of Tamarac, on March 18 after they boarded a bus in Port-au-Prince to visit relatives.

“They stopped the bus at a stop and they asked for the Americans on the bus and their escorts to come off the bus and then they took them,” Christie Desormes, the couple’s niece, said in March.

Desormes said they were staying with relatives Thursday night in Haiti because they needed to get “cleaned up,” and were eager to get back home safely to be reunited with their son as soon as possible.

Weeks before their release, Desormes said the kidnappers first demanded a $6,000 ransom but later raised it to $400,000. It’s unclear if the family paid a ransom.

The FBI urged U.S. citizens who are considering traveling to Haiti to beware of the risks, and The U.S. State Department issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel Advisory.”

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The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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