American negotiates for release of kidnapped wife and son

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Low-key negotiations aimed at securing the release of naturalized American Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and her son, Kevin Eric, have started, Mayor Celso Lobregat said.

Lobregat said the negotiations kicked off after authorities granted the request of Hiko Lunsmann, the husband of 42-year Gerfa, to allow the family to handle the situation.

He said leading the family in negotiating with the kidnappers was Hiko himself.

“Actually, honestly, we are trying to keep this as low-key as possible to more or less give space to whatever talks are going on between the kidnappers and the family, which is basically the husband,” Lobregat told reporters here Tuesday.

Gerfa and Kevin, who lives in Campbell County in Virginia, were vacationing on Tigtabon Island when they were abducted on July 12, along with Romnick Jakaria, a relative.

Gerfa had come to Tigtabon to make her son aware of her roots. She was raised on the nearby Pangapuyan Island but was adopted by an American couple when she was 9.

Four days after the abduction, the kidnappers contacted Hiko and demanded an unspecified amount of money, according to Lobregat.

The demand was not met and the kidnappers held on to the captives, he said.

“Whatever effort the husband is doing, we respect that,” he said.

But Lobregat added that the Task Force Lunsmann continues to do its job.

They are “working quietly and continue to gather information for the solution of the kidnapping of the Lunsmanns,” he said.