YouTuber, 26, ‘shot twice’ in armed kidnapping by men posing as police

Police fear that a 26-year-old YouTuber has been fatally shot.

Elliot Eastman is believed to have been kidnapped and shot twice by armed men posing as police officers in October.

Eastman was abducted on October 17 in the coastal town of Sibuco in Zamboanga del Norte province, says Filipino police, with his abductors taking him onto a motor boat before speeding away.

Six individuals have since been arrested and charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

Elliot Eastman has been missing since October (Elliot Eastman/Facebook)

In a harrowing update, police have revealed that a source told them that Eastman, a US native, died on the night of his kidnapping.

The witness also alleged that the 26-year-old's body was thrown into the ocean after being shot, but police are yet to find Eastman's body.

The information is said to have come from one of the relatives one of the suspects, says ABS-CBN.

Regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan said in a statement, as per the news outlet: "Late October, during our investigation, we encountered one witness who told us that someone told him that on the night that Elliot Eastman was abducted, he was shot and when those who abducted him were upset, they noticed that later on, Eastman is dead."

The 26-year-old had been posting videos to social media in the days leading up his kidnapping (Elliot Eastman/Facebook)

"What they did was they threw Eastman's body into the water," he added.

This information has since been corroborated by a key suspect in the kidnapping, who was arrested recently.

Speaking on Eastman's body not being found, Sawan added: "We have not seen his body yet, although we tried to search for any signs on the shores and neighboring islands. We really haven't found anything yet."

While information points to the idea of Eastman having died on the night of his abduction, Sawan said that they remain hopeful that this might not be the case.

As to why Eastman was in the Philippines, he's said to have moved there 18 months ago to meet 'the love of his life'.

Sadly, the young American is presumed dead (@ElliotBeastman/YouTube)

"I came to the Philippines about a year and half ago where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the red zone of the Philippines,” the bio on Eastman’s YouTube channel reads.

"Zamboanga del Norte is a recently developed area of the Philippines that was once only accessible by boat. I will be showing you my day to day life as the first and only foreigner to have ever lived here in sibuco for a long period of time."

The last video posted to his channel was on October 15, two days before his kidnapping. It shows Eastman eating noodles. He hardly says anything in the five-minute-long footage, which has been viewed almost 30,000 times.

UNILAD have approached the US Embassy in the Philippines for comment.

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