American Captive Traveled World
Jeffrey Ake Pushed Businessmen To Pitch Wares In Foreign Countries
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Play CBS Video Video Dual Iraq Car Bombs Iraqi al Qaeda clamed responsibility for the worst car bombings in a month, which occurred during morning rush hour. Lee Cowan spoke with witnesses about the insurgents' agenda.
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Video American Pleads For Life American contractor Jeffrey Ake pled for his life after being captured by Iraqi insurgents. Lee Cowan reports that he was kidnapped in broad daylight, but he might not have been the target.
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Video U.S. Lied, Says Italian Journo 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley talked to Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian reporter kidnapped in Iraq whose car came under U.S. fire. She described what it's like to be in the hands of insurgents.
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Jeff Ake, 47, of LaPorte, Ind., president and CEO of Equipment Express, whose products include machines that fill water bottles, is shown in this 2004 photo. (AP/South Bend Tribune)
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A yellow ribbon is tied around a tree in the front yard of the home of Jeffrey Ake Wednesday, in La Porte, Ind. (AP)
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Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Interactive Attacks Map Details on the insurgency and terrorism that has continued to take lives since the fall of Saddam.
After meeting with the family, LaPorte Police Chief David Gariepy said they were following the FBI's advice in not commenting. He asked the community to "hope and pray and wait."
Equipment Express, in nearby Rolling Prairie, makes machines that fill and cap water bottles. Ake started the company in 1995 out of his garage after working 17 years for a firm once owned by his father.
Ake, author of a 1996 book about exporting, has long championed doing business outside the United States and touted the power of personal sales calls by American entrepreneurs who travel to foreign countries.
"Think of other countries as U.S. states with cultural nuances thrown in," he urged participants in a 1995 trade seminar in Orlando, Fla.
Ake has done business in dozens of countries, including South Korea, Iceland, Indonesia and the Philippines. He also taught American culture and history in Russia. His wife, Liliana, is Russian-born.
Ake traveled often to developing nations to help install systems to provide safe drinking water. Last year, he partnered with a Nigerian businessman to create a multimillion-dollar bottled water company designed to supply clean water to millions of Africans.
"The expertise he had could really help society, and I suspect that is what really motivated him," said LaPorte Mayor Leigh Morris, who knows the couple.
Among Ake's trips to Iraq was a 2003 project to build a machine that fills containers of cooking oil and a system to provide water bottles sold in Baghdad.
Ake is one of at least 14 Americans who have been kidnapped or have gone missing in the past year in Iraq. At least three have been killed.
President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, said there would be no negotiating with the kidnappers.
"Any time there is a hostage — an American hostage — it is a high priority for the United States," he said. "Our position is well known when it comes to negotiating. Obviously this is a sensitive matter."
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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