Man who took hostages from Clinton office in 2007 missing from unit - Fox News

Published April 07, 2013

Associated Press

MANCHESTER, N.H. –  A man who took hostages at a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign office in 2007 escaped from a minimum-security correctional facility on Sunday, authorities said.

Leeland Eisenberg was discovered missing during a head count Sunday afternoon at the Calumet Transitional Housing Unit in Manchester, state Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Lyons said.

Eisenberg was sentenced in May 2010 to 3 1/2 to 7 years for probation violations. The 52-year-old would have been eligible for parole in August.

Once he is found, he will be charged with escape, a felony punishable by 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison, Lyons said. Eisenberg isn't considered armed.

Eisenberg spent about two years behind bars for the November 2007 siege at Clinton's Rochester campaign office in which he claimed to have a bomb. No one was hurt in a five-hour standoff and the bomb turned out to be road flares.

At his arraignment in that case, public defender Randy Hawkes portrayed Eisenberg as a man at the end of his rope emotionally after being repeatedly turned down when he sought psychiatric help.

Eisenberg "heard voices and saw a movie in his head telling him he had to sacrifice himself" to shine light on the flaws in the health care system, Hawkes said.

Eisenberg was released on probation in November 2009. His first violation occurred soon after his release, when he failed to charge his monitoring bracelet. He was incarcerated in January 2010 after failing to take mandatory alcohol breath tests.

In February 2010, he cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and fled, a day after being given a last chance at freedom by a judge who released him despite multiple probation violations. He was found in his Dover apartment the next day.

Eisenberg's long criminal record also includes two rape convictions.

He was sentenced to 10 years for rape in Worcester, Mass., in 1985 but escaped the next year and committed another rape, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to 11 to 20 years for that. He was released from prison in March 2005.

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British hostage's family 'saddened'

11 March 2013 Last updated at 17:53 ET

Relatives of Brendan Vaughan have released a statement in which they pay tribute to him

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• Who are Ansaru?
• Guide to trouble spots
• Going global?
• 'No-one is safe'

Relatives of a British construction worker thought to have been murdered by a Nigerian Islamist militant group have said they are "shocked and saddened".

Brendan Vaughan's family said he was a "lovable rogue" who "lived his life to the full and on his own terms".

Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday that Mr Vaughan, 55, from Leeds, was "likely" to have been killed, along with six other foreigners.

The workers were captured in a raid on a construction site on 16 February.

Ansaru, a suspected off-shoot of the Boko Haram network, said it had carried out the attack in revenge for what it called atrocities by European nations against Islam.

An Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers were also seized in the raid on the Setraco construction site, in the northern state of Bauchi.

One security guard died during the assault.

In a statement, Mr Vaughan's relatives said: "The family of Brendan Vaughan, aged 55 from Rothwell, Leeds, are obviously shocked and saddened by recent events.

"Brendan, best described as a lovable rogue by everyone who knew him, lived his life to the full and on his own terms.

Grandfather-to-be

"He was a loved father, brother and fiance who was tragically killed on March 10th 2013."

The statement added that Mr Vaughan had been "deprived of meeting his first grandchild, a baby girl to be born in May.

"Brendan may be gone but will be never forgotten."

On Sunday, Mr Hague said Mr Vaughan was "likely to have been killed at the hands of his captors, along with six other foreign nationals.

"This is an unforgivable act of pure, cold-blooded murder, for which there can be no excuse or justification."

On Monday, the militant group purportedly posted a video online with the caption: "The killing of seven Christian hostages in Nigeria."

In it, a gunman with a rifle is seen standing in the sand next to several bodies, the Associated Press reports.

The video appears to match grainy images of bodies posted online by Ansaru on Saturday.

In an accompanying online statement, the militant group said it had killed the captives.

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Nigeria hostages are feared dead

10 March 2013 Last updated at 09:45 ET

Italy's government says it believes claims by a Nigerian militant group that it has killed seven foreign hostages it seized last month.

The hostages - from Italy, Britain, Greece and Lebanon - were captured in the northern state of Bauchi.

In an online statement posted on Saturday, the militant group Ansaru said it had killed them.

The group, which emerged last year, is suspected of being an offshoot of the Boko Haram Islamist network.

The seven hostages were seized in a raid from a construction site belonging to the Setraco company. The raid also resulted in the death of a guard.

Ansaru said the hostages were killed because of a rescue attempt by British and Nigerian forces. But British officials said they were not aware of any such attempt.

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