by Bryan Cribb, posted Thursday, February 07, 2002 (22 years ago)
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Roommates
Southern Seminary student Marjorie Clark, left, and imprisoned missionary Gracia Burnham in a graduation photo from 1981. The two were roommates at Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, Mo. Burnham and her husband, Martin, have been prisoners in the Philippines since May 27, 2001.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--New Tribes missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, have suffered a harrowing reality for the past eight months. The Burnhams were kidnapped in the middle of the night and since have been forced on the run with their captors, in the jungle, dodging bullets and authorities. Video footage released by their captors showed the couple with obvious signs of malnutrition and illness.
The torturous plight of the Burnhams has been an agonizing concern for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary student Marjorie Clark. A friend and former roommate of Gracia at Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, Mo., Clark has followed the Burnhams' situation almost from the start.
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Missionary hostages
Martin and Gracia Burnham, missionaries in the Philippines kidnapped by an Osama bin Laden-related terror group, as they appeared in footage aired in November on TV in the island nation.
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She first heard about their kidnapping shortly after it happened. On May 27, a Muslim extremist group, Abu Sayyaf, took the Burnhams at gunpoint while the missionaries celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary at a resort off the island of Palawan in the Philippines. Some 20 others were also taken. The terrorist group has killed several captives, including a California man. The group has been linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network.
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