WASHINGTON (AP) — The Islamic extremists drove up to the American missionary’s home in Niger under the cover of evening, gunning down two guards who stood watch. Jeff Woodke recalls seeing the muzzle blasts and hearing the screams before being thrown into a pickup truck that then sped away. So […]

The Islamic extremists drove up to the American missionary’s home in Niger under the cover of evening, gunning down two guards who stood watch. Jeff Woodke recalls seeing the muzzle blasts and hearing the screams before being thrown into a pickup truck that then sped away. So began more than […]

It was toward the end of a small press conference in the Fireplace Room of Arcata First Baptist Church, where McKinleyville’s Jeffery Woodke was offering his first public remarks since being freed March 20 after being held hostage by kidnappers in Western Africa, when a local reporter rose to ask […]

In his own words, McKinleyville’s Jeffrey Woodke was held captive “a long time.” “Six years, five months, five days and 12 hours, give or take a few minutes, I was hostage,” he told a handful of reporters this afternoon in the Fireplace Room of Arcata First Baptist Church during a […]

A US aid worker and French journalist who had been kidnapped by militants in West Africa have been released. Jeffery Woodke and Olivier Dubois arrived at an airport in Niger’s capital, Niamey, on Monday. Mr Woodke went missing in Niger in 2016, while Mr Dubois was held hostage in neighbouring […]

An American held hostage in West Africa for more than six years has been released, in a stunning turn of events that left the former captive “thrilled to be free,” officials and his family said Monday. Aid worker Jeff Woodke, who is from McKinleyville, California, was kidnapped on Oct. 14, […]