YouTube Star Feared Dead After Being Shot in Armed Kidnapping: Latest on Elliot Eastman

Authorities in the Philippines have released a harsh revelation on the fate of YouTube star Elliot Eastman. According to E! News, the 26-year-old content creator was kidnapped in the Philippines on Oct. 17 and likely perished from his gunshot wounds sustained during the alleged abduction.

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Eastman was taken at gunpoint while in the town of Sibuco, and ended up being shot twice while trying to struggle with the four kidnappers. They had posed as police, authorities told the Associated Press.

According to Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan with the Philippine National Police, a relative of a suspect informed them about Eastman’s death, claiming he died due to “gunshot wounds in the thigh and abdomen.” They also claimed his body was dumped at sea, supporting earlier reports that he was forced into a motorboat.

“We are constrained to believe that he has died,” Sawan told the media. “All of the information that we have points to that.”

Eastman’s body has not been recovered as of publication, but authorities have continued to search. Several arrests have been made, with three potential suspects involved in the kidnapping being gunned down in a shootout in November. Sawan added that the lack of a body is “leaving a little bit of hope that it may not be the case,” but the outlook is grim.

The YouTube star had been living in the Philippines for nearly two years, revealing he met his wife and love of my life” in the mountains of the “red zone of the Philippines.” One of his final videos uploaded to YouTube is titled, “I opened a store in the most dangerous part of the Philippines.”