Daniel PearlNORTH ADAMS, Mass. - Pakistani officials tell ABC News they have arrested Aari Abdul Hayee, a
suspect in the 2002 brutal murder of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.
Daniel Pearl worked locally for a number of years, in one of his first jobs as a reporter for the Berkshire Eagle and the North Adams transcript.
John Barrett was mayor of North Adams back in 1986 when Daniel Pearl was getting his
start working as a journalist for the North Adams transcript.
"Danny Pearl was a fine young man with a lot of ambitions," Barrett told NEWS10. "He was a young
reporter he saw all the good in everybody, but at the same time he liked to take
chances and do things that were above the norm."
Pearl went on to work as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, before he was
kidnapped in January of 2002 while he was en route to interview a Pakistani Militant and was later beheaded in a gruesome video that was eventually posted
online.
Officials tell ABC News that Aari Abdul Hayee was captured Sunday in a
targeted operation in Pakistan. He is the fifth person to be arrested in
connection with the beheading of Pearl. Officials say they believe 27
people were allegedly involved in Pearl's kidnapping.
Barrett says though Pearl was taken too soon, he made his mark, nationally
and locally.
Pearl is survived by his wife and child, his parents currently life in southern California.
NEWS10 ABC
