Missing American Travis Timmerman found in Syria is released to U.S. forces, officials say

Travis Timmerman, the missing Missouri man who was unexpectedly found in Syria after he said he crossed into the country to make a “pilgrimage,” was flown out by the U.S. military to Jordan, two U.S. defense officials and his family said Friday.

Family said they had gone several months without any contact from Timmerman, 29, and then saw him in media coverage Thursday after video emerged from Syria leading some to misidentify him as missing American journalist Austin Tice, 43.

“Feels pretty great! Praise the Lord!” Timmerman’s sister, Pixie Rogers, said after learning that he was a step closer to coming home. “I would like for him to know that my whole family and I love him so much and that we are happy to know that we are going to see him soon.”

Syria’s Department of Political Affairs confirmed the transfer in a Telegram post. Timmerman was flown out of Syria via a U.S. military helicopter.

Timmerman told news outlets he had been imprisoned after he had “been reading the scripture a lot” before deciding to cross the mountains from Lebanon into Syria.

His discovery came as a shock to locals and journalists as thousands of detainees emerged from jails after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend.

Timmerman’s family knew he had traveled to Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic and Hungary, to write and learn more about God and religion, but when contact dried up after May, they worried his laptop and cellphone may have been stolen.

Only in recent weeks, Rogers said, after Missouri law enforcement was able to get in contact with U.S. Embassy officials in Hungary did the family learn Timmerman was in Lebanon.