2 American Hostage Bodies Found

Above: American Hostage

2 contractors that had been held hostage for more than a year had been killed and their bodies were found. Relatives of one of the contractors commented that it was a mixture of relief and sadness, as they were sad to find out that they are dead but at the same time relieved that this turmoil had come to an end.

Kathy Reuben, Johnson-Reuben’s first wife said “Today, we do get to feel better, It’s over. Paul’s in heaven, he’s a happy man today.”

There was an announcement by officials last Thursday that had led to identifying the remains of Johnson-Reuben of Minneapolis and Joshua Munns of Redding California. The two bodies that were found were a part of the 6 persons that had been kidnapped in two separate incidents in Iraq. The identification of the bodies were identified this week. Richard Kolko said that authorities are still waiting for forensic testing with the relics of the fifth body.

The men’s remains had been returned to the US said by a source from FBI.

Kathy Reuben said, “We’re really sad that this has happened, we’ve been waiting 16 months to hear something positive. … It’s hard to imagine that he’s gone.”

Jackie Stewart of Ridgefield, Washington, mother of Munn said that she already felt and knew that her son is dead since the confirmation that bodies had been found.

Stewart said, “When I first knew about it, it was relief, No. 1, that I finally know the answer and, No. 2, that he’s not suffering, he’s not scared. He’s not in pain. He’s not being mutilated. He’s not being tortured.”

However Stewart said that she is still going to continue to press for answers about her son’s captivation/abduction and all of the effort done to track him down.

She said, “I think because he was ex-military that they could have done a lot better job protecting him or looking for him than they did,”

The other contractors that are still missing would be Jonathon Cote, of Getzville, N.Y., and Bert Nussbaumer, of Vienna, Austria.

A blog of Clote’s family announced in its space on a Wednesday night that the body that is still waiting to be identified is not Clote’s body and they said in the post, “Please remember to pray for Jon’s safety and the loss of the other hostages and their families,”

Munns, Young, Cote, Reuben and Nussbaumer were working in Iraq for Crescent Security Group, a private security firm based in Kuwait. They were kidnapped in a month of November 2006 by men that pretended to be Iraq police who had ambushed them while on a convoy they were escorting.

Withrow worked as a contractor working for JPI worldwide. He had been held hostage on January 5, 2007.

The case was linked way back when these contractors had been reported missing and earlier this month, there were severed fingers that were connected to the hostages that included Johnson-Reuben. The fingers were sent to US military in Iraq. Some relatives thought that it was good news that their loved ones were still alive while others did not.

Bree Reuben, 17 year old daughter of Johnson Reuben said, “I had hope up until the last two weeks, when his finger (was) cut off. Then we knew it was going all downhill,”

Ruben’s family had said that Rueben had been working in Iraq for 2 years. The last time that there was proof of life was when a video of him was sent to the The Associated Press in January 2007 as he said that he was being treated well.

Casey and her twin sister Bree Reuben were two of the family members who talked with media on Thursday. Bree brought her 5 month old daughter that Johnson was not able to see.

The sister commented that they weren’t surprised that their father worked in Iraq saying that he loved to help out people. That asides from providing security, he actually taught EMT classes. They said that they spoke to him a week before he was kidnapped.

Casey said, “He said it was getting really dangerous out there and he was really scared for his life,”

Bree mentioned that their father liked that work that he was doing, “up to the point where he started seeing people die in front of him. And he just got scared. He was shaking over the phone. I never heard my dad shake like that.”

Johnson Reuben worked as a Park officer in St. Louis from 1994 to 2003 and he was only 39 years old when he was kidnapped.

His twin brother, Patrick Rueben has shared over a telephone interview that him and Johnson have this inexplicable connection and that sometimes one could sense how the other was doing.

He said, “It’s just been really weird over the last month. I felt like something happened,”

Patrick Reuben shared that within the past 16 months had been really hard, and there were even times when he felt unfair and guilty for about enjoying his own life. For now he said that he is trying to project on happy moment that he and Johnson shared, whom he had idolized and followed first into the Marine Corp and later on in the law enforcement.

He said, “I’m just staying busy, I’m staying very busy because if I don’t, I’m going to cry.”

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