US woman kidnapped in Guatemala with $19K bounty placed on her rescued

A US woman kidnapped in Guatemala who had a five-figure ransom placed on her has been rescued by police, local officials said.

The 35-year-old victim was found alive in the remote village of Jobompiche, near the town of in San Jose in the northern Peten Department, the Guatemala Interior Ministry reported Tuesday.

The government agency shared on X a photo of the newly freed woman standing barefoot, flanked by two heavily armed members of National Civil Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Command, with all their faces blurred.

The ministry did not name the woman, only describing her as a “foreign citizen who was deprived of her freedom.”

Guatemala’s police service confirmed in a separate post on X that the woman “of US nationality was released safe and sound” after a “successful rescue.”

Police said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of about $19,000 for the American national’s release, reported the local news outlet Guatevision.

It was not immediately known how the victim was tracked down and freed from the clutches of her abductors, nor how long she had been in captivity.

Edwin Monroy, a spokesperson for the national police, said officers were searching routes near the village where the US woman was located with the aim of finding her kidnappers.

A request from The Post to the US State Department was not immediately returned Wednesday.