Grisly Message From Kidnappers

MINNEAPOLIS — Patrick Reuben doesn't like to think about someone cutting off his twin brother's finger. But 16 months after Paul Reuben and four other security workers were kidnapped in Iraq, the grim news that captors had sent severed fingers to American officials has managed to renew a sense of hope.

"It shows that they've been alive recently," Mr. Reuben said Thursday.

The families of the missing workers have gotten little new information in the case, causing frustration and doubt that they will see their loved ones again. That seemed to change with reports that five severed fingers sent to the American government matched the missing contractors' DNA.