The Jill Carroll Story: Read the complete series

KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ

The Jill Carroll Story, part 1

Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped by Sunni Muslim insurgents in Baghdad on Jan. 7, 2006.

KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ

The Jill Carroll Story, part 2

When Jill Carroll was nearly 4 years old, her family held a picnic at Kensington Park, a beach and lake recreation area outside Detroit. At one point, her mother, Mary Beth Carroll, realized that Jill had disappeared.

KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ

The Jill Carroll Story, part 3

Monday morning - two days after the kidnapping - my captors began trying to convert me to Islam. At first, they sat me down in front of the television and turned on a satellite channel which airs programs about Islam in English. After a while Abu Ali - the salt-and-pepper bearded man who had helped kidnap me - came into the room carrying a Koran.

KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ

The Jill Carroll Story, part 4

Exhausted, Jim Carroll walked the streets of Washington, headed back to his hotel. He'd hardly eaten all day, so he ducked into a bar for dinner. He hadn't been there long when his cellphone rang. It was the FBI. They wanted to know the family's decision. The previous day, Jan. 17, a video demanding the release of Iraqi women prisoners had aired on Al Jazeera. A 72-hour deadline was given.

KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ

The Jill Carroll Story, part 5

One afternoon in the first week after I'd been taken - and been moved to yet another house near Abu Ghraib - Abu Ali called me into a big sitting room with green velveteen couches. On the far wall, above the TV, was a gigantic poster of waterfalls and rocks and trees. It was beautiful. I could stare at it and get lost. I thought, I wish I was there, I wish I was there.

Kidnapped in Iraq

The Jill Carroll Story, part 6

Um Ali - the wife of Abu Ali, my stubble-bearded captor - was my constant companion during the first three weeks of captivity. She was about 25, very pretty with big eyes. Wherever I was moved, she came, too, along with some of her children. At first, I thought she might be an ally or at least sympathetic. She wasn't. One night - one of the first nights in a new house in Abu Ghraib - Um Ali and I had lain down on the thin mattresses that served as beds by night and seats by day. I had just taken off my head scarf when suddenly a guard rattled the key violently in the lock and burst into the room, flipping on the light.

Kidnapped in Iraq

The Jill Carroll Story, part 7

It was late January the next time we moved. Hot and tired of traveling, I threw up all over myself. They didn't know that I'd always been prone to car sickness.

Kidnapped in Iraq

The Jill Carroll story, part 9

Abu Qarrar was young, rotund, and seemed new to the mujahideen lifestyle. He hadn't memorized much of the Koran, unlike his more senior counterparts. He sometimes sneaked glances at the women on the music-video channels when he thought no one was looking.

Kidnapped in Iraq

The Jill Carroll story, part 10

The evening of March 29, Katie Carroll went to a party with some of her friends. Earlier that day, she had gone on the Arab satellite television network, Al Arabiya, to plead for her sister's life. When she got home that night, Katie imagined - as she had before - how great it would be if the phone would ring, and she would answer it, and it would be Jill, and this would all be over.

The Jill Carroll Story - Epilogue

On April 2, 2006, a white Lufthansa 747 with the designation "Hamburg" written on its side taxied up to a gate at Boston's Logan Airport. At 12:22 p.m., Jill Carroll stepped off the plane and onto US soil.

How to help

Alan Enwiya is one of nearly 100 journalists and media assistants killed in Iraq since March 2003. Alan is survived by his wife, Fairuz, his two children, Martin and Mary Ann, and his parents.

Troops killed in war

Blog