"I am so happy that my son is well," said a visibly relieved Francine Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald is the mother of Garrett Hand who, with his girlfriend Jamie Neal, was thought to be missing in Peru since Jan. 26.
"I finally heard my son's voice today, and you all helped make that happen," she told a gathering of media outside her Concord home.
Hand and Neal were on a bicycle trip through South America since November. Fitzgerald became concerned when she stopped hearing from them on Jan. 25, and became truly alarmed when she read on the U.S. Embassy website that Americans should be extremely careful in the month of February, as they were likely to be targeted for criminal activity.
Fitzgerald recruited the embassy, Peruvian police and the American media to help her find the couple, who were located Tuesday on a boat. Though word made it to Fitzgerald, she was not convinced of his safety until, she said, she heard his voice with her own ears.
That happened today. And a frightening saga has turned into a tale of relief and gratitude.
