The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Associated Press A man who identified himself as kidnapped contractor John R. Young from Kansas City, Missouri is seen in this image taken from video made available to the Associated Press on Jan. 3, 2007. Authorities have recovered the remains of Young and Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, two U.S. contractors who were kidnapped in Iraq more than a year ago, the FBI said Monday.

DALLAS (AP) - The remains of two U.S. contractors kidnapped in Iraq more than a year ago have been recovered, the FBI said Monday, weeks after families of several long-missing men gained hope that they might be found alive.



Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, and John Roy Young of Kansas City, Mo., were among six Western contractors kidnapped separately. The disappearances received new attention this month when the severed fingers of several men were sent to the U.S. military in Iraq.



Several relatives had taken the discovery of the fingers as a hopeful sign, including the father of Jonathon Cote, who remains missing.



"We feel very sad that this is how it turned out. We wish it turned out a better way," Francis Cote said from his home in Getzville, N.Y., near Buffalo.



Cote said he had spoken to the families of Withrow and Young. He said that he was holding out hope his son is still alive but that the discovery of the bodies dampened those hopes.



"Let me say this: I'm not as optimistic as I was in the past," he said.



Withrow worked for JPI Worldwide when he was kidnapped in January 2007. Young worked for Crescent Security Group when he was kidnapped in November 2006. Withrow was among those whose severed fingers were sent; Young was not.



Withrow's mother, Barbara Alexander, said an FBI agent visited her Sunday night.



"You just can't really be prepared for any news like that, especially when you had hope that your son is alive," Alexander said by phone from her home in Afton, Texas, about 270 miles northwest of Dallas.

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