Denver Newsroom, Aug 31, 2022 / 14:00 pm
An American religious sister ministering in Burkina Faso who was kidnapped in April is free and safe after nearly five months of captivity, according to her congregation and the local diocese.
Suellen Tennyson, 83, a New Orleans native, has served at a missionary outpost in northern Burkina Faso since 2014. She was abducted by unidentified armed men on April 5 from the small home she shared with two other members of her congregation, the Marianites of Holy Cross. Reportedly abducted without shoes, she also left behind her glasses and blood pressure medication.
Sister Ann Lacour, the current Marianite congregational leader, confirmed Aug. 30 that Tennyson is now safe and in the hands of U.S. authorities. The FBI had issued a missing person notice for the sister, but until this week there had been no news of her location or condition.
“She is safe,” Lacour told the Clarion Herald, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. “She is on American soil, but not in America. She is safe. She was recovered (Monday) morning. We have spoken to her. She eventually will get back to the United States.”