The skeletal remains of an American aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan 15 years ago have finally been returned to her family.
English teacher Cydney Mizell, 50, vanished in January 2008 after she was driven off a road and abducted by gunmen with her driver Muhammad Hadi near Kandahar.
For over a decade her family presumed her dead, but awaited to find out the details of what had happened to Mizell, from northern California.
As the US prepared to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2021, the State Department offered a $5million reward for information on the kidnapping.
Last year Mizell's sister Jan received a call from the FBI saying they had collected small bone fragments belonging to the aid worker.
The skeletal remains of American aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan 15 years ago Cydney Mizell have finally been returned to her family
Jan said she was told the reward led to a breakthrough, with somebody stepping forward with bone fragments the FBI matched to DNA samples from Cydney's dad.
Two FBI agents escorted the remains, draped in the US flag, back home through a third country. They also brought the journals she kept in Afghanistan.
According to an autopsy report, Mizell was shot in the head and her skull was crushed. The FBI believes she was killed in 2008 and buried near Kandahar.
The FBI did not disclose the findings until Saturday, when the agency told the New York Times Mizell's remains had been 'recovered and repatriated to her family.'
Afghan police tightened security in the southern city of Kandahar after the kidnapping, as seen above in January, 2008
It is not clear if anyone was given the $5million reward. No one has been charged in the case, but a former US official said the Taliban were most likely to blame.
They claimed they most likely wanted to trade Mizell for one of their members held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mizell's family held a memorial for her in October in Seattle, Washington. They had created a GoFundMe in August, 2023, to cover the costs.
The page's description read: 'After 15 years, we recently got word that her remains were retrieved. Although this has been emotional it finally brings much needed closure to our family, specially her only sister, my mom.
Mizell taught English at Kandahar University and embroidery and sewing at a girls’ school. She had lived in Afghanistan for three years
'My Aunt Cydney was a pure hearted soul, fully devoted to God and everyone she met. She will be forever missed, but is truly a martyr in heaven.'
Mizell taught English at Kandahar University and embroidery and sewing at a girls’ school. She had lived in Afghanistan for three years.
The aid worker's kidnappers used her phone to call the aid agency she worked for several times after she was abducted. But shortly after she was taken, the kidnappers indicated she had been killed, without offering any details.
Mizell's father died shortly after she was kidnapped, after making several public appeals for her return.
Shortly after Mizell's kidnapping, hundreds of Afghan women gathered in a rare protest.
The women, many wearing burqas, called on officials to find the captive American and urged the kidnappers to release her.
The demonstration by so many Afghan women in the conservative southern province of Kandahar was a rare display of women's wishes.
The 90-minute meeting was filled with prayers and speeches calling on government leaders to act.
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