American missionary held hostage for years in Niger speaks out in 1st televised interview

In his first tv interview, an American missionary is revealing for the primary time the total tale of his seize via al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Niger and the way he controlled to persevere via a harrowing 6 1/2 years as their prisoner.

Jeff Woodke, a employee with Youth with a Mission Relief and Development, was once taken hostage from his place of abode in Abalak on Oct. 14, 2016. He was once in the end launched in March.

Jeff and his spouse, Els Woodke, are talking with ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman in an interview airing in complete on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. ET on ABC News Live Prime.

On the evening of his seize, Woodke says he was once at his house when his civilian guard noticed a automobile power up.

“He said, ‘There’s that vehicle.’ In my peripheral vision came a rifle barrel and muzzle flash — bright orange against a black background. All of a sudden, I hit the dirt and there were shots and I could hear people crying, dying,” Woodke advised ABC News.

Woodke says he attempted to flee because the photographs rang out, however didn’t make it very a ways.

“They got my shirt, but they didn’t get me. And I kept running, you know, bare-chested. And they started hitting me with a rifle buttes trying to knock me down. They finally got me, they ruptured my Achilles, and that just, I was on the ground that was it,” Woodke mentioned.

Woodke says he couldn’t stroll. His captors scooped him up and put him in a truck.

“They kept beating me in that truck, so I was a bloody mess and their truck was a bloody mess,” Woodke mentioned.

“I tried to say stop, but they just kept beating me. And I figured, ‘Yeah, I hope the helicopters come and get us and blow up the truck because I don’t want to be a hostage. They got me up into Mali, and I was lost,” Woodke mentioned.

At that time, Woodke says his ideas grew to become to his circle of relatives.

“I don’t want to put my family through this. Really? No, that’s not good,” Woodke mentioned of his pondering on the time.

Woodke’s spouse says she discovered of the abduction from a pal a couple of hours later.

“I always say it’s like a bomb goes off in your life. And every part of your life is shattered and gone. I just fell apart. I think I must have screamed, ‘No, no, no,’ for hours,” Els Woodke advised ABC News.

Els says more than a few govt companies and personal hostage negotiators were given in contact, greedy for extra clues about her husband’s whereabouts — however to no avail. Still, Els did not surrender hope.

“At Jeff’s birthday, I would plan tulips on his — the amount of his years, and always trusting or hoping that he would see the bloom in the spring. So for me, I was never hopeless. How strange that sounds but I was never without hope,” Els Woodke mentioned.

All whilst her husband says his captors persevered to torment him into submission.

“They broke my hope. I was in that box for two months, I disassociated numerous times. I thought I was dead. They hated me for being an American, for being a suspected security agent, for being a Christian, doing missions work, all those things,” Woodke mentioned.

As days changed into years, Woodke feared he’d by no means be unfastened once more and says he was once chained to a tree in isolation for as a rule.

“I had to sleep under the tree at night, you can’t see it’s pitch dark and you hear these snakes hissing and hissing all around you and you don’t know where they’re at,” Woodke mentioned.

Then sooner or later in a while earlier than his liberate, Woodke says he won a letter from “the big boss” that mentioned, “In a week, you’ll be with your family.”

“I gave it back to the zone commander. I said, ‘This is a lie.’ And I was on a hunger strike. They took me away and gave me to another transport team. But these guys were hardcore. These guys were combat Mujahideen, and they were nasty,” Woodke mentioned.

Woodke says they arrived at a camp day after today the place any other hostage was once being held — French journalist Olivier Dubois, who was once kidnapped in 2021 in northern Mali. Upon finding out it was once Dubois, Woodke says they each cried as they embraced every different.

“And then he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jeff, we’re going out. We’re going home. You can go ahead and eat,'” Woodke mentioned.

The two males have been recovered via French safety forces on Niger’s western border and the French put him on a airplane house — in a firstclass seat, Woodke mentioned.

Els says she was once ecstatic to be informed her husband was once now unfastened after six lengthy years.

“I just jumped out of bed and all I said [was], ‘It’s over, it’s over,'” Els Woodke mentioned.

The White House has mentioned little in regards to the instances surrounding Woodke’s liberate, best announcing, “The United States did not pay ransom or make any other concessions” and that it was once a “collaborative effort.”

The French govt has additionally no longer absolutely defined the prerequisites of the prisoners’ liberate.

Still, Woodke applauds the Biden management for serving to to convey him house and asks that their efforts proceed for the opposite Americans who stay wrongfully detained in another country.

“There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done. And there’s no excuse why our government should treat us like we’re things, bargaining chips. Treat us with respect and bring us home,” Woodke mentioned.

Woodke says he has been getting better from the yearslong ordeal since his liberate in March. Although he is happy to be house, he says he’s nonetheless therapeutic and “learning how to become a human again.”

Editor’s Note: This replica prior to now incorrectly known Jeff Woodke as a former USAID employee.