2 US Missionaries Murdered in Jamaica

Jamaican police said Sunday that two US missionaries were found slain in a rural area of the Caribbean island that has long struggled with high rates of violent crime. The Jamaica Constabulary Force identified the two men as Randy Hentzel, 48, and Harold Nichols, 53, the AP reports. Their battered bodies were found in bushes in separate areas of St. Mary Parish. There have been no arrests, and investigators made no comment about a possible motive. Both missionaries lived and worked in Jamaica for a Pennsylvania-based religious organization called Teams for Medical Missions. The two men and their families did evangelism and Bible ministry and built homes.

"We do not know who would do this or what their motivation was. These men greatly loved the people of Jamaica and were greatly loved in return," says the executive director of Teams for Medical Missions. On social media, a fellow missionary says he was told the two men were killed on their way to check on the foundation of a house they were building for an impoverished family. The men were last seen riding rented motorcycles on a trail in the Albion Mountain area, reports the Jamaica Observer. The US Embassy in Jamaica says officials are in touch with the victims' families, and the ambassador has contacted the leadership of the island's security establishment. (More Jamaica stories.)