After Years, F.B.I. Recovers Remains of American Woman in Afghanistan

The recovery of Cydney Mizell, an aid worker abducted in 2008, demonstrates the intricacies of tracking down hostages, particularly in a country where the United States no longer has a presence.

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The disappearance of Cydney Mizell was one of the oldest terrorism kidnapping cases that the F.B.I. had worked on in Afghanistan.

Cydney Mizell, an aid worker teaching English in southern Afghanistan, vanished in 2008, abducted after being driven off the side of a road and presumed dead for 15 years.

Members of her family, left with few other details of the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, wondered whether they would ever learn her fate.

Jan Mizell, her younger sister, said she would tell people: “Somebody over there knows what happened to my sister. They’re just not talking.”

But about a year ago, Ms. Mizell, 64, who lives south of Seattle, received news from the F.B.I.: Agents had collected small bone fragments belonging to Cydney in Afghanistan and would try to bring back all of her remains.

The recovery of Cydney Mizell brings to an end a terrorism case that had long stymied investigators, becoming one of the oldest kidnappings that the F.B.I. has worked on in Afghanistan. It also demonstrates the intricacies of tracking down hostages, particularly in a country where the United States no longer has a presence, and underscores the difficulty of finding the bodies of those lost abroad.

The F.B.I. did not make the discovery public at the time but confirmed in a statement on Saturday that Ms. Mizell’s remains were “recovered and repatriated to her family.” The effort included F.B.I. agents in the District of Columbia, as well as officials across the intelligence community who are part of the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, which focuses on hostage cases.

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