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An American missionary pilot kidnapped in Niger last October has been released and is in US custody after more than nine months in captivity.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: In October 2025, Kevin Rideout was driving to the airport in Niamey, Niger’s capital, when three men grabbed him outside the Bravia Hotel downtown, within sight of the presidential palace. Rideout is a pilot for Serving in Mission, a Charlotte-based evangelical group operating in more than 70 countries, and had spent 19 years in Niger flying missionaries and cargo to postings around the region. His captors drove west toward Tillabéri, the region where fighters tied to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State operate, and no group publicly claimed responsibility. By March, US officials believed he had been moved across the border into Mali and was being held by JNIM, al-Qaeda’s affiliate there. Officials later said Abu Bilal al-Minuki, an ISIS leader killed by US and Nigerian forces in May, had been directly involved in the kidnapping.

What’s going on now: Two US officials told the New York Times on that Rideout, 50, is healthy and in FBI custody, and that they had received proof-of-life images in the previous two days. SIM confirmed the release the following day. “We are grateful to confirm that our good friend and brother in Christ, Kevin Rideout, has been released after over nine months in captivity,” SIM International Director Phil Bauman told CNN, adding that Rideout will soon be reunited with his family.

Almost everything about how it happened is still unknown. Officials would not say where or how he was freed, and one said no one could determine who was holding him at the end, because he had likely changed hands shortly before his release.

The search for Rideout shaped US military posture across the region. The Trump administration called his release a top priority from the start. Nigeria allowed** American surveillance flights from its bases partly to help locate him, and Washington pushed to resume intelligence collection in Mali for the same reason.

The White House, FBI, State Department, and Pentagon declined to comment.