OTTAWA -- The American wife of former overseas hostage Joshua Boyle has reportedly left Canada and returned to the U.S. with the couple's children, nearly six years after being abducted while backpacking in Afghanistan. Former Taliban hostage Caitlan Coleman returned to the United States with her three children on Monday, almost six years after she was abducted while backpacking across Afghanistan with her husband, ABC News has learned.Coleman is petitioning an Ottawa family court to grant her full legal custody of the children she shares with Joshua Boyle, who is facing multiple allegations of physical and sexual assault stemming from incidents since his return to Canada On Monday, a judge ruled that Coleman, a U.S. citizen, could relocate pending a resolution of her case, so she decided to leave both Canada and Boyle behind, crossing the U.S.-Canada border with her three children that same night.Coleman declined to comment, and Coleman's family declined to disclose her final destination but said the search for a suitable location for her and her family has taken on a new urgency - Caitlan discovered earlier this year that she is pregnant with her fourth child. READ MORE: Joshua Boyle, former Afghanistan hostage, granted bail with conditions

The news report says Coleman is seeking full legal custody of the children, all of whom were born in captivity, and that she is pregnant with a fourth child. Related: Canadian freed from captivity says family was kidnapped because wife was pregnant

Boyle’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon tells The Canadian Press that his client’s primary concern is the children’s wellbeing and that he is devastated by the court order, which makes any access to his children nearly impossible. On New Year's Eve, police in Ottawa arrested Boyle and jailed him on multiple charges, including physical and sexual assault of a woman and physical assault of a child.The judge ordered a publication ban in January, meaning the alleged victims and most details of the criminal investigation could not be revealed by news media. In June, he was released on bail, fitted with a GPS electronic bracelet and ordered to live with his parents, Patrick and Linda Boyle, in Smiths Falls and continue receiving psychiatric care.
Caitlan Coleman, the wife of former Taliban hostage Joshua Boyle, returns to the United States with her children after a family law court in Ottawa approved her request.