Haitian kidnapping: One week since US mother, daughter abduction
Xavier Walton and Devan Markham
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (NewsNation) — Efforts are underway to free Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter after they were kidnapped one week ago in Haiti and are now being held for ransom.
Haiti has become overrun by crime and unrest, with cities and surrounding areas suffocated by a yearslong “kidnapping-for-profit” epidemic.
The American nurse was providing medical care in El Roi, Haiti’s, small brick clinic late last week in a gang stronghold of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, when armed men burst in and seized her. Their ransom is reportedly $1 million.
“It’s the unknown. That’s what the scary part is,” Abigail Michael Toussaint said.
The Toussaints, who are well aware of the latest American kidnapping in Haiti, said they feel for the nurse and her family. And they have a good idea of what they’re going through, too.
The Florida couple was kidnapped back in March by a gang while traveling to the town of Leogane on a public bus. Abigail and her husband Jean-Dickens (JD) Toussaint were in Haiti to visit family members.
They were held hostage for weeks, shackled up in a room with only one meal a day and barely any water. The Toussaints even missed their son’s second birthday.
“My heart immediately sank because it brought me back to that situation of being captured with my husband,” Abigail said.
Gang warfare has increasingly plagued Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The killing worsened criminal control of Haiti, and today, the innocent are regularly killed, raped and held for ransom.
So far this year, there have been more than a thousand kidnappings in Haiti, according to a United Nations report. The State Department has even ordered nonemergency government personnel to leave the country as the security situation worsens.
“This is just a vicious cycle,” Raleigh Jenkins said.
Jenkins, the president of A Child’s Hope — a nonprofit helping Haitian children, said he’s concerned about the chilling impact kidnappings will have on humanitarian aid coming to the country.
“My wife has put the kibosh on me going to Haiti right now because things are in the conditions they are. But I’m just one, how many other missionaries are spending the time and money helping people who aren’t going there because the danger is just so bad,” Jenkins said.
“The fact that they are kidnapping a woman and a child just shows how desperate they are for money,” Abigail said.
Having experienced being kidnapped and held for ransom, J.D. said Dorsainvil and her daughter need to be strong.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In this undated photo provided by El Roi Haiti, Alix Dorsainvil, right, poses with her husband, Sandro Dorsainvil. Alix Dorsainvil, a nurse for El Roi Haiti, and her daughter were kidnapped on Thursday, July 27, the organization said. (Courtesy of El Roi Haiti via AP)
A car passes a sign outside the Middleton, N.H. municipal offices and Middleton Gospel Chapel, near a Dorsainvil family home, Monday, July 31, 2023, in Middleton. Alix Dorsainvil, a nurse for El Roi Haiti, and her daughter were kidnapped on Thursday, the organization said in a statement Saturday. El Roi, which runs a school and ministry in Port au Prince, said the two were taken from campus. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Students from the El Roi academy carry signs during a demonstration to demand the freedom of New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter, who have been reported kidnapped, in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 31, 2023. Dorsainvil works for the El Roi Haiti nonprofit organization and the U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel advisory” ordering nonemergency personnel to leave the Caribbean nation amid growing security concerns. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People march to demand the freedom of New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter, who have been reported kidnapped, in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 31, 2023. Dorsainvil works for the El Roi Haiti nonprofit organization and the U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel advisory” ordering nonemergency personnel to leave the Caribbean nation amid growing security concerns. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People march to demand the freedom of New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter, who have been reported kidnapped, in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 31, 2023. Dorsainvil works for the El Roi Haiti nonprofit organization, and the U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel advisory” ordering nonemergency personnel to leave the Caribbean nation amid growing security concerns. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Students from the El Roi academy join a demonstration to demand the freedom of New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter, who have been reported kidnapped, in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 31, 2023. Dorsainvil works for the El Roi Haiti nonprofit organization and the U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel advisory” ordering nonemergency personnel to leave the Caribbean nation amid growing security concerns. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A girl carries a sign that reads in Creole “Free school is broken. Release the nurse,” during a march to demand the freedom of New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter, who have been reported kidnapped, in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 31, 2023. Dorsainvil works for the El Roi Haiti nonprofit organization and the U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel advisory” ordering nonemergency personnel to leave the Caribbean nation amid growing security concerns. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A girl rests in the courtyard of the school funded by El Roi Haiti in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 31, 2023. The non profit organization said in a statement that Alix Dorsainvil, a nurse who works for El Roi Haiti, and her daughter were kidnapped July 27. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Staff sit in front of a school funded by El Roi Haiti in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 31, 2023. The non profit organization said in a statement that Alix Dorsainvil, a nurse who works for El Roi Haiti, and her daughter were kidnapped on July 27. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
