By NATALEE CAPPS
natalee@du2.byu.edu
The two missionaries abducted in Russia last week and released Sunday by their captors are currently awaiting reassignment by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Dan Rascon, specialist in electronic media relations for the church, said the missionaries would be relocated after they finished working with investigators on the case. It could be as much as a week before the missionaries are transferred, Rascon said.
Travis Tuttle, 20, from Gilbert, Ariz., and Andrew Propst, 20, from Lebanon, Ore., were kidnapped last Wednesday, March 18, and held for a $300,000 ransom. They were later released on the outskirts of Saratov, Russia, about 450 miles southeast of Moscow.
The choice to relocate was made by the church and not the missionaries, Rascon said. The church will not release where the missionaries will be transferred.
'The church feels it would be best to keep the relocation private since this case has received so much media attention,' Rascon said. 'We would not want the media following the missionaries to their new location.'
The church is still working with investigators in Russia to find the third suspect in the kidnapping case.
A woman and a man were arrested Monday and confessed to taking part in the kidnapping. They both have indicated a third suspect was involved but that suspect has not yet been located.