Posted on 09/09/2006 7:55:49 AM PDT by Mr Rogers
A U.S. Air Force officer found alive three days after she went missing near the Kyrgyz capital was abducted by someone who put a purported bomb object in her pocket, a top government official said Saturday.
Maj. Jill Metzger, 33, disappeared Tuesday from a department store in Bishkek while on temporary duty there from her base in Georgia.
Shortly before midnight Friday she knocked on the door of a house in Kant, a town about 22 miles from the capital, and told its residents she had been abducted, Kyrgyz Deputy Interior Minister Omurbek Suvanaliyev said.
Metzger told Kyrgyz law enforcement agents she had been seized by three young men and a woman in a minibus and held in a rural area about 30 miles from the capital, Suvanaliyev told The Associated Press, citing local police in Kant.
She was exhausted and her hair had been dyed, he said.
Metzger's disappearance had baffled investigators, and the military had 22 special agents looking for her.
A Kyrgyz police official, Kemilbek Kiyazov, said Metzger told police that while she was in a popular department store someone placed an unspecified object in the rear pocket of her trousers. Writing on the object said it was a bomb.
The message also gave detailed instructions telling her where to go in Bishkek, which she followed, Kiyazov quoted Metzger as saying. "Metzger stated that it was as if she were in a trance," he said.
She was then met by three men and a woman who put her into a vehicle, took her to a residence and placed her in a dark room. According to Kiyazov, Metzger managed to escape after an abductor brought her food and she struck him.
Kiyazov, who personally saw and talked to Metzger, told the AP her hair had been dyed dark brown and her hands were stained with dye.
This account differed from one given by Metzger's father-in-law, Kelly Mayo, who told The Associated Press in Colorado Springs that the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations said she was found on the side of the road with her head shaven. He also indicated she had been kidnapped and beaten.
"I know she's coherent, and whoever had her let her go," Mayo said. "We've got her back. Praise the Lord."
It wasn't immediately clear why the two accounts differed.
Capt. Anna Carpenter, a spokeswoman at the U.S. air base at Bishkek's Manas airport where Metzger had been temporarily stationed, said Metzger was in "stable condition." She was taken several hours later to another base in the region, Carpenter said, but declined to give the name of the base. Manas is the only U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan said in a statement that "it now appears that Major Metzger had been abducted," but added that she was now "safe" and thanked Kyrgyz officials for their efforts and close cooperation.
Mayo said Metzger's husband, Air Force Capt. Joshua Mayo, was overjoyed when he was told Friday that his wife had been found.
"I can't even describe it. He's just beside himself, just unbelievable joy," Mayo said.
Metzger was serving a four-month stint at the Bishkek base with the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing. She had been scheduled to return to her U.S. base in Georgia on Friday.
Military officials said Metzger was a newlywed and was to travel with her husband to Jamaica for a belated 10-day honeymoon after she returned to the U.S.
The U.S. military has maintained an air base at Kyrgyzstan's main civilian airport since 2001, backing operations in nearby Afghanistan.
As I've said to everyone else on this thread who is out for my scalp; which quote? Which damn quote of mine are you talking about?????? What the hell did I say?
"If this turns out to be a hoax there will be plenty of time after that is determined for all these comments. If it is not a hoax there will be no way to really take back the nasty comments I have seen on these threads."
We are having fun with the goofy reports. There is no harm in this because she is safe. If she had been found with an air gap between her head and shoulders we wouldn't be making cracks like ten year olds.
I was quite alarmed at her disappearance. A lot of this is out of a sense of relief. It is not nearly as much fun to make smart-ass comments after the entire thing is entirely explained by sober-minded people. In the absence of entirely verifiable information alternative, often silly, explanations rule.
Now give me back my mouse.
Your comment caught my eye on the other thread. Although I haven't followed this story closely, I've wondered about, as you say, the "Runaway Bride" thing.
I admit the reports are goofy, but has anyone else noticed the source of the goofy information is local law enforcement in a foreign country? Reporters are rushing to get stories out and the fact is so far they have had no reliable sources for facts. If you note, quotes attributed to the Major came via foreign LE.
If posters were only making fun of the goofy reports that would be one thing, but the posts that anger and sadden me are those that directly make fun of the Major. No one knows yet what happened to her, and of course it is possible she did have some sort of issues that caused her disappearance. It is also possible that she indeed was kidnapped and the facts have yet to come out.
I do not think it is harmless to make fun of a military officer; the reputation of anyone in the military is important- especially an officer. I really think much of what is happening is disgraceful because she is a member of the military and there should be a level of respect there that would cause people to wait for the whole story to come out before trashing her reputation.
To me this is all part of support for the military, not that I think military people are perfect and never should be criticized but I do think they deserve the benefit of doubt. I have also been very upset when military members are accused of wrongdoing and freepers are quick to be judge and jury before their stories are out either.
It may just be me, and I do know others feel differently, even some of those who have served in the military. It is how I feel about it, you are of course free to think any way you wish.
It sure doesn't, the stench is almost overpowering.
Don't know if you followed the "Runaway Bride" story on TV here about a year ago. It was so heavily covered I'm assuming everyone else had the details firmly imbedded in their brain forever.
The story was: A well connected attractive white woman who is due to marry a very wealthy man disappears and is believed kidnapped.
She turns up a week later after a couple million dollars in law enforcement resources are spent trying to track her down. Her story was very, very weird involving kidnapping, and sexual assault by a hispanic man and woman. It turns out she was freaked out about her wedding.
They did charge her for making a false report and she got community service which involved her mowing lawns and whatnot.
Here's her wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Wilbanks
If you google "runaway bride" you'll get 38,000 hits
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