Debra Tice, the mother of journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing since he was detained in Syria in 2012, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday that seeing another missing American, Travis Timmerman, found in Damascus was “almost like having a rehearsal … of what it’s going to really feel like when it is Austin walking free.”
Despite initial reports on Wednesday that the American found in Damascus might be Austin Tice, Debra Tice said she knew instantly it wasn’t her son.
“My oldest daughter came into my room at 4:25, and said, ‘Mom, you know, we have this video. You need to look at it. We don’t think it’s Austin, but a lot of people think it’s Austin, so we want you to look and see if it’s Austin,'” Debra Tice recalled.
She added, “I took a glance and I said, ‘No, that is not Austin.'”
She described the number of people who reached out to the Tice family that day with congratulatory messages, believing that Timmerman was Austin Tice.
“It’s almost like having a rehearsal, you know? Just an inkling of what it’s going to really feel like when it is Austin walking free,” Debra Tice told moderator Kristen Welker.
Austin Tice first disappeared in 2012, when he was in Syria reporting on the country’s civil war.
Shortly after his disappearance, the U.S. State Department concluded that he was being held by the hostile Syrian government, something that former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad denied for years.
In the days since the Assad regime toppled, thousands of prisoners held captive under the former leader have been freed by family members, but it is still unclear where Austin Tice was being held and whether he’s been released.
In the last few weeks, one former prisoner told NBC News that he was held captive in a cell across the hall from Austin Tice and saw him alive as recently as July of 2022.
NBC News cannot independently verify this account, but Debra Tice on Sunday said that, “We were able to verify that he was” there in 2022.
The new leadership of Syria’s rebel government blamed Assad for the pain inflicted on Austin Tice’s family earlier this month. A spokesperson for the government claimed that they were trying to locate Tice but have so far had no luck.
“We tried as much as possible to find information about Austin and return him to his mother, but we have not reached any result,” the spokesperson said.
Even though her son hasn’t been located yet, Debra Tice said she remained hopeful he would be found and said her family shares “joy” with the Timmerman family.
“The way that I’ve been feeling about the people that I see coming out and even Travis — you know that feeling, where as humans, we share joy, right? We share suffering too, but we share joy. And so just seeing these families reunited — think about Travis’ family being reunited with him — you know, what incredible joy, and we can share that,” Debra Tice told Welker.
Last weekend, after he addressed reporters at the White House, President Joe Biden said he believed Austin Tice was still alive.
“We believe he’s alive. We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet. And Assad should be held accountable,” Biden said, adding, “We want to get him out. We have to identify where he is.”
