Haiti judge: No release of US Baptists this week as he awaits witnesses

Haiti judge: No release of US Baptists this week

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A Haitian judge says American missionaries Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will remain in jail over the weekend as he awaits more testimony.

Judge Bernard Saint-Vil says he has asked two real estate agents and a pastor from the Dominican Republic to testify in Port-au-Prince about property the missionaries rented to set up an orphanage.

That is expected Monday. If they do not show, Saint-Vil says he still expects to rule next week.

He also said Thursday he wants to question a pastor and another man from a border town.

Silsby and Coulter were among 10 Americans detained in Haiti while trying to take 33 kids to the Dominican Republic after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The others have been released and returned home.