RIYADH, 15 July 2004 — The US Embassy has announced that the search for the remains of Paul M. Johnson Jr., an American kidnapped here on June 12, is drawing to a close, with no recovery of the body.
In a statement, the embassy said cooperation between Saudi and US authorities, which involves the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), will continue in the investigation of both Johnson’s murder and that of Kenneth Scroggs, a co-worker gunned down the same day.
Al-Qaeda terrorists led by Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin claimed responsibility for both deaths. Police killed Al-Muqrin and three associates after a shootout in Riyadh on June 18.
US Ambassador James C. Oberwetter informed the Johnson family of the outcome of the search for his remains by telephone, through the victim’s son, Paul III, again expressing sympathy.
“We did everything we could to find Paul and bring him home,” the ambassador said. “Saudi law enforcement officials asked for FBI assistance and the FBI had their total support. We will continue to work with them here in Riyadh in the effort to ensure that all who may have been involved in any way in this terrible murder are brought to justice.”
According to the US Embassy, at the invitation of the Saudi authorities, a team of FBI special agents and experts arrived in Riyadh to work on the Johnson and Scroggs cases shortly after June 12. Drawn from throughout the United States, they included members of the Critical Incident Response Group, which deals with hostage situations. After the US Embassy confirmed Johnson’s death on June 18, additional FBI personnel were dispatched. The intensive three-week search for his body in and around Riyadh was conducted with the help of a Human Remains Detection K-9 unit, commonly known as a “cadaver dog” team.
Significant evidence collected during the search for Johnson’s remains has been shared and is currently being examined by Saudi authorities and will be examined in the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C. Assistance to the Johnson family, including his wife Thanom, who has departed Saudi Arabia, as well as to the Scroggs family, is now being provided in the United States through the FBI’s Victims Assistance Program.
US Embassy spokesperson Carol R. Kalin described the cooperation between the Saudi and US law enforcement teams as “unprecedented.” She said at this time the bulk of the FBI personnel who came to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Johnson investigation had returned to the US. Those few remaining are in the process of departing. Kalin did clarify that a death certificate has not yet been issued to the Johnson family.
Arab News spoke by telephone with Paul III, in Port St. John, Florida. The younger Johnson was distressed and urged the Saudi government to continue the search for his father’s remains.
“My father helped the Saudi government and the Saudi people for 12 years through his work with Lockheed Martin in Saudi Arabia,” Paul III said. “My family and I need closure. This is not the proper closure we have been seeking.”
“My family and I do not hold any sort of grudge against the people of Saudi Arabia for what happened to my father,” Paul III added. “What we do want is a meeting with the Saudi authorities in the United States. We have requested such a meeting from the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C. I will be traveling to Washington on Monday or Tuesday and I hope a high level Saudi official will be there to explain exactly what has been done in the search for my father and what will be done in the future.”
Paul III said that his father’s wife was coming to the US and that several family members hoped to travel to Washington for the meeting at the embassy. The family is still waiting for confirmation of the meeting’s date and time. Paul III’s comments followed a report from the AFP news agency that another member of the Johnson family, Wayne Johnson, and a US-based peace activist had petitioned the Saudi ambassador in Washington for news concerning the remains of Paul Johnson Jr.
“Mr. Wayne Johnson and I request an urgent meeting with you as soon as possible,” Dr. K.A. Paul said in a letter to Prince Bandar ibn Sultan. The letter, co-signed by Johnson’s brother Wayne, said the two wanted to hear directly from a trusted Saudi authority about exactly what has happened to Johnson’s body.
“Reports indicate that the perpetrators were killed as they were trying to dispose of Paul Johnson’s body. If that is true, then where is the body? If the reports are not correct, we would like a truthful accounting of precisely what happened,” they wrote in the letter dated July 10.
Wayne Johnson and K.A. Paul traveled last week to the family home in Jordan of suspected Al-Qaeda top operative Abu Musab Zarqawi, in what they said was part of efforts to secure the return of Johnson’s body.
The Johnson family has grown increasingly frustrated as weeks have passed with no new information concerning the whereabouts of Johnson’s remains. Johnson family members have written e-mails to prominent businessmen and media in Saudi Arabia expressing their outrage over the situation and requesting assistance. Their distance from Riyadh has made it difficult for them to see and understand the amount and level of resources that have been committed to attempting to recover Johnson’s remains and to bringing all those involved in his kidnapping and murder to justice.
As Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena wrote to Paul Johnson III on July 6 in reply to an e-mail received from him, “We are doing our best. We are also distressed at this act. Rest assured that we are in touch with all the authorities. God bless your father’s soul and punish his murderers.”
