A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Dec. 4, 1991, after being abducted and held for nearly seven years as a hostage by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was released from captivity.
Per reports, Anderson was abducted at gunpoint from a street in Beirut in March 1985 by a group of Hezbollah Shiite Muslims in an attempt to drive U.S. military forces from Lebanon during the country’s civil war. He was held for nearly seven years before being released in December 1991.
That’s 4,524 days.
He was the longest held of 92 foreigners abducted during the civil war. Most were ultimately freed. Eleven died or were killed in captivity.
And he likely would not have been freed if not for the efforts of his sister, Peggy Say.
Say spent nearly seven years on a tireless quest for the release of her brother and fellow hostages.
The self-described housewife met periodically with then-United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. Her travels put her face to face with Pope John Paul II, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the president of Greece, Syria’s foreign minister and an associate of notorious terrorist Abu Nidal.
After returning to the United States in 1991, Anderson led a peripatetic life, giving public speeches, teaching journalism at several prominent universities and, at various times, operating a blues bar, Cajun restaurant, horse ranch and gourmet restaurant.
Anderson chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants in his bestselling 1993 memoir “Den of Lions.”
He also struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, won millions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets after a federal court concluded that country played a role in his capture, then lost most of it to bad investments. He filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
At the time of his abduction, Anderson was engaged to be married and his future wife was six months pregnant with their daughter, Sulome.
The couple married soon after his release but divorced a few years later. Anderson and his daughter were estranged for years.
Father and daughter reconciled after the publication of her critically acclaimed 2017 book, “The Hostage’s Daughter,” in which she told of traveling to Lebanon to confront and eventually forgive one of her father’s kidnappers.
Say died in 2015 at age 74.
In April 2024, Anderson died at age 76.
Here are some articles from Deseret News archives about Anderson’s abduction and time as a hostage, and his reflections after he was released:
“Anderson looks to ‘a new life’”
“Terry Anderson recalls hostage taking in special”
“4-year-old begs hostage father to come home”
“Anderson celebrates 42nd — 5th birthday as captive”
“Hostages know of efforts to free them, relative says”
“Ex-hostage in Lebanon is set to speak at USU”
“Terry Anderson: ‘Den of Lions’; hostage’s life full of pain and memories”
“Forcing former hostage to sue over records hints at cover-up”