Roy Hallums

Roy Hallums (born June 23, 1948) is an American contractor who was kidnapped in Iraq on November 1, 2004. He was held in Iraq for 311 days and liberated on September 7, 2005.

Life Hallums grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1971 he married Susan Hallums and they had a daughter, Carrie Anne. The couple divorced in 2003, but remain good friends.

On December 18, American diplomats identified Hallums as the American kidnapped on November 1. His family had pleaded for his release weeks before, however, and Hallums had been identified on several websites. Hallums recounted that The Jawa Report was where his wife Susan first saw his name mentioned in public.

His daughter Carrie Anne Cooper soon set up a website asking for Hallums' release. His family also appealed for his release on Al Jazeera.

A videotape of Hallums was released by insurgents on January 25, 2005. It is unclear when the tape was made. Hallums had a long beard and was seated with a gun pointed at his head. "I have been arrested by a resistance group in Iraq," Hallums said. "I am asking for help because my life is in danger, because it has been proved that I work for American forces."

Hallums did not appeal to American President Bush, but did so to Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi to help secure his release.

Liberation Hallums was freed on September 7, 2005, along with an Iraqi captive, when members of the U.S. Army's Delta Force raided a farmhouse 15 miles south of Baghdad. The location was apparently given by an Iraqi detainee. When coalition troops arrived, the kidnappers had fled.

Hallums story was featured on an episode of the TV series Locked Up Abroad.