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 the same was like having a rehearsal… of what it will really feel like when Austin is on the loose.
Despite initial reports Wednesday that the American found in Damascus could be Austin Tice, Debra Tice said she knew immediately it was not her son.
“My oldest daughter came into my room at 4:25 p.m. and said, ‘Mom, you know, we have this video. You should watch it. We don’t think it’s Austin, but a lot of people think it’s Austin.’ , so we want you to see if it’s Austin,'” Debra Tice recalled.
She added, “I took one look and said, ‘No, that’s not Austin.'”
She described the number of people who contacted the Tice family that day with congratulations, believing Carpenter to be Austin Tice.
“It’s almost like having a rehearsal, you know? Just an idea of what it’s really going to feel like when Austin is on the loose,” Debra Tice told moderator Kristen Welker.
Marc and Debra Tice, parents of journalist Austin Tice who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012, hold respective portraits of him during a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2017.
Austin Tice first disappeared in 2012 while in Syria reporting on the country’s civil war.
Shortly after his disappearance, the US State Department concluded that he was being held by the hostile Syrian government, something former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad denied for years.
In the days since the Assad regime fell, thousands of prisoners held under the former leader have been released by relatives, but it is still unclear where Austin Tice was being held or whether he has been released.
In recent weeks, a former inmate told NBC News that he was being held captive in a cell across the hall from Austin Tice and that he did not see him alive until July 2022.
NBC News cannot independently verify this account, but Debra Tice said Sunday, “We were able to verify that he” was there in 2022.
The new leadership of the Syrian rebel government blamed Assad for the pain inflicted on Austin Tice’s family earlier this month. A government spokesman claimed they were trying to locate Tice but had had no luck so far.
“We have tried as much as possible to find information about Austin and return him to his mother, but we have not achieved any results,” the spokesperson said.
Even though her son has not yet been located, Debra Tice said she hoped he would be found and said her family shares “joy” with the Timmerman family.
“The way I feel about the people I see coming out and even Travis — you know that feeling, where as humans we share joy, right? We also share the suffering, but we share the joy. And so just seeing these families reunited – think of Travis’ family being reunited with him – you know, what an incredible joy, and we can share that,” Debra Tice told Welker.
Last weekend, after addressing reporters at the White House, President Joe Biden said he believed Austin Tice was still alive.
‘We believe he is still alive. We think we can get him back, but we don’t have any direct evidence of that yet. And Assad must be held accountable,” Biden said, adding, “We want to get him out.” We need to determine where he is.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
