Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand, a young California couple, was on a trip across South America when they mysteriously vanished last month.Surprising place they were found
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at AOL
US Couple Missing in Peru Found Alive
Tag Archives: Garrett Hand
California couple missing in Peru reportedly spotted in remote village
A California couple that vanished while on a biking trip in Peru and were feared kidnapped have reportedly been spotted in a remote village.
Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal were last heard from Jan. 25 while traveling from the highlands city of Cuzco to Lima, but U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Leslie Goodman said Tuesday that Peruvian police say the two had been spotted in the Amazon.
Reuters reports Peru‘s tourism ministry issued a separate statement Tuesday, saying, “the American tourists are continuing to enjoy their trip in the Peruvian Amazon” and were safely on their way by river boat north to the border with Ecuador.
National police spokeswoman Betty Lazo tells the Associated Press she was told by the hostel manager in the jungle city of Iquitos that the two departed on a boat trip on the Napo river.
However, Hand’s mother says that until the family has “proof of life” they will not stop their search.
“Proof of life is my son’s voice on the phone and a picture of him holding the missing poster,” Francine Fitzgerald said in a statement.
Fitzgerlad said she was told a plane was being sent to meet the couple but that she was given few other details of their whereabouts or well-being.
Hand and Neal left for Peru in December and were said to have vanished while en route to Lima
from Cusco, an area where U.S. citizens have been warned by the embassy of kidnapping risks.
“The information told to me is that they are on a boat on the river and that they are sending a plane to find them. I am told to expect information by tomorrow sometime,” Fitzgerald’s statement reads. “While I appreciate the extraordinary efforts of the media, the U.S. and Peruvian governments, until I hear from and see my son directly, we will not stop.”
Friends and family have said they were worried the pair had been abducted and that their bank accounts had remained idle since they went missing.
Reuters reports Peru‘s ministry of tourism said in its statement that the couple were in good health and surprised to learn that they had been reported as missing.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fate of 2 Americans missing in Peru unclear
Relatives of a young California couple missing in Peru for more than a month have received unconfirmed reports the two young travelers may be in the Amazon jungle.
The U.S. Embassy said Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal were last heard from Jan. 25 while traveling from the highlands city of Cuzco to Lima.
But embassy spokeswoman Leslie Goodman said Tuesday that Peruvian police say the two had been spotted in the Amazon.
National police spokeswoman Betty Lazo said she had information from a hostel manager in the jungle city of Iquitos that the two departed on a boat trip on the Napo river.
Hand’s mother Francine Fitzgerald said in a Facebook posting that she was not celebrating until she has proof of life — her son’s voice on a phone.
American Couple Goes Missing in Peru
Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand, a young California couple, was on a cycling trip across South America when they mysteriously vanished.Scary situation they may now be in
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at AOL
Sister of American woman missing in Peru fears kidnapping
The sister of an American woman missing in Peru said it’s “highly unusual” for her to drop off the grid and fears Jamie Neal and her boyfriend may have been kidnapped.
Neal and Garrett Hand, both from the San Francisco area, left for Peru in December and were last heard from on Jan. 25, according to the woman’s sister, Jennifer Neal.
“There’s a part of me that thinks someone has taken them,” Neal, of West Sacramento, Calif., told FoxNews.com on Monday.
The U.S. State Department is assisting in the search for the couple, who reportedly disappeared in January during a biking trip in the country.
Jennifer Neal said her sister has stopped posting photos of that trip on Facebook and said Hand’s cellphone is turned off.
“It goes straight to voicemail,” she said. “It’s not like them to be out of touch for this long.”
The couple was last seen on Jan. 26 taking a bus from Cusco to Lima and then getting in a cab, KTVU reported.
The U.S. State Department has made a poster of Neal and Hand, while the U.S. Embassy in Peru‘s website posted a travel warning for Americans.
The warning, which was posted on Feb. 13, is about a potential kidnapping threat.
“The Embassy has received information that members of a criminal organization may be planning to kidnap U.S. citizen tourists in the Cusco and Machu Picchu area,” the statement said. “Possible targets and methods are not known and the threat is credible at least through the end of February 2013.”
Neal said that the couple likely had no idea about such a threat.
“They would have no known anything about it because they’re not watching the news,” Neal said. “They’re riding their bicycles around everywhere.”
Anyone with information on the couple’s whereabouts is urged to call the U.S. Embassy in Lima or the U.S. State Department.
Fox News’ Cristina Corbin and Molly Line contributed to this report.