YouTuber Elliot Eastman Was Kidnapped From His Home in the Philippines — What Happened?

According to Elliot Eastman's YouTube channel bio, he is 26 years old and he moved to the Philippines a year and a half ago where he met the love of his life. The area he relocated to is one of the most dangerous parts of the country and is classified as a red zone, which means there are high rates of terrorism and kidnappings in the area. It's unclear when he moved, but his first YouTube video about living in Sibuco was uploaded in September 2024.

The most recent video on Eastman's YouTube channel was uploaded on Oct. 15, 2024. Two days later, he was kidnapped and as of December 2024, is still missing. Unfortunately, there is more to this story. What happened to Elliot Eastman? Here's what we know.

According to the Daily Mail, mere weeks before he was kidnapped, Eastman went on Facebook Live where he said, "As long as I'm here, my life is still at risk, you know." He went on to say that was the reality of his situation, especially the area he was living in. Eastman chose to stay after falling in love with a local Muslim woman. All of his YouTube videos are about their life in Sibuco, though in one video he admitted to struggling with his vlogging as his day-to-day life never changed.

Two police reports were filed after Eastman was kidnapped. In them, a resident of Sibuco, a man named Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, said he saw "four men in black clothing who were armed with M16 rifles," identify themselves as police officers. They grabbed Eastman, shot him in the leg after he tried to escape, and dragged him to a speedboat. He hasn't been seen since, and no one has asked for a ransom. Authorities now fear the worst.

Philippine police officials have received reports that Eastman has died from the injuries sustained during his kidnapping, per CBS News. Multiple suspects have been arrested and in November 2024, three were killed during a shootout with police. Regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan was told by one of the detained suspects that Eastman "died due to gunshot wounds in the thigh and abdomen."

This information has been confirmed by another key suspect in the kidnapping by way of a sworn statement given to government prosecutors. "We are constrained to believe that he has died," said Sawan. "All of the information that we have points to that." Despite this, he remains hopeful that Eastman will be returned safely due to the fact that they have yet to find his body. Eastman's Filipino wife and the U.S. Embassy in Manila have both been told that he is dead.