Fast Facts: Recent U.S. Hostages

Paul Marshall Johnson, 49, of Stafford Township, N.J.

Johnson, who worked for Lockheed Martin in Saudi Arabia, was seized June 12 by a group calling itself Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The organization is believed to be headed by Al Qaeda's chief in the kingdom, Abdullah-aziz al-Moqrin. On June 15, Johnson's kidnapers issued a 72-hour ultimatum threatening to kill the hostage unless Saudi Arabia frees Al Qaeda militants. Three days later, on June 18, Johnson was beheaded, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya reported.

Nicholas Berg, 26, of suburban Pennsylvania

Berg was kidnapped while in Iraq seeking business for his Pennsylvania communication company. His body was found May 8 near a highway overpass in Baghdad. He was last seen on April 10 when he left his Baghdad hotel. Berg was decapitated by masked men, one of whom is believed to be Al Qaeda-linked military Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A video posted May 11 on an Al Qaeda-linked Web site showed the killing, which the masked men said was in response to the alleged abuse of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.

Daniel Pearl, 38, native of Princeton, N.J.

Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was abducted in Karachi, Pakistan, on Jan. 23, 2002 during what he thought was a meeting to interview a militant leader about convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid. He had his throat slit and was decapitated by terrorists from The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, a group U.S. authorities believe is tied to Al Qaeda, who said Pearl was a spy for Israel. The group released a videotape of Pearl's death. He was serving as the newspaper's South Asia bureau chief, working out of Mumbai, India, at the time.

Thomas Hamill, 43, of Macon, Miss.

Hamill, a dairy farmer who signed on with Halliburton subsidiary KBR — formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root — in Iraq as a truck driver to pay off debts, was kidnapped on April 9 in an insurgent attack on his supply convoy and was found by U.S. forces on May 23 south of Tikrit after he apparently escaped from his captors. There had been no word on his fate since a video released on April 10, which showed Hamill standing in front of an Iraqi flag. A spokesman heard on the video threatened to kill him within 12 hours unless the United States lifted the Marine siege of the city of Fallujah.

Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio

Maupin remains missing after he and Hamill were abducted in Iraq April 9 when their convoy came under attack on the western outskirts of Baghdad. Besides Hamill and Maupin, six other employees of the Halliburton subsidiary KBR and another U.S. solder were missing. The bodies of four of the KBR employees and one U.S. soldier were later found.

William Bradley of Chesterfield, N.H.

Bradley went missing April 9 after his supply convoy was attacked outside Baghdad. He was in the same convoy as Hamill and Maupin and is a truck driver employed by the Halliburton subsidiary KBR.

Timothy Bell, Mobile, Ala.

Bell went missing April 9 after his supply convoy was attacked outside Baghdad. He was in the same convoy as Hamill and Maupin and is a truck driver employed by the Halliburton subsidiary KBR.

Heather Mercer, 24, and Dayna Curry, 30

American Christian aid workers from Waco, Texas, Mercer and Curry were with the German-based relief agency Shelter when they and six other foreign workers arrested by Afghanistan's former Taliban government, in August 2001. The Taliban harbored bin Laden for years before its collapse in early December. The eight Christians were freed November 15 as U.S. and coalition forces swept through the country.

Other Hostages in Saudi Arabia 

On Saturday, May 29, gunmen wearing military-style uniforms sprayed gunfire inside two office compounds in Khobar, the heart of the Saudi oil region, killing 16 people, including an American. The attackers then took dozens of people hostage; most were Westerners, including Americans. An American man was among those confirmed killed. The next day, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States said security forces rescued seven of the American hostages taken.