The Missouri man who was imprisoned in Syria after he claimed to have entered the country on a “pilgrimage” to Damascus was praised by his family and friends on Thursday for his remarkable recovery, calling it a “Christmas miracle” after a period of seven months without communication.
“We’re very blessed that he is safe, that he is good, that he is protected,” Pixie Rogers said of her brother, Travis Timmerman. “And I saw on the news that he got fed.”
Originally identifying himself as “Travis” in a video that surfaced overnight, Timmerman, 29, from Urbana, Missouri, a small town north of Springfield, was mistakenly recognized by some as missing American journalist Austin Tice, 43.
Despite not knowing he was in Syria, Timmerman’s family claimed he had also gone missing.
Rogers remarked, “I’m not sure what his thinking was in that,” in reference to her brother traveling to a war-torn nation. “I wouldn’t think he’d do something like that.”
According to her, his family was aware that he would visit Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and subsequently Hungary. During his travels, he wanted to write and understand more about religion and God, according to his mother, Stacey Collins Gardiner.
Gardiner told Kansas City’s NBC affiliate KSHB that the March trip abroad was his first time traveling abroad and that at first, she was unaware of any specifics of his schedule. After attending law school at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and relocating to Chicago, Timmerman had been living with her and his stepfather until that point.
She stated he called roughly three times a week while she was overseas.
said, ‘Mom, I’m going somewhere where I won’t have internet,’ when she called me at the end of May. ‘How long, a week or two?’ I asked. “I don’t know, but I’ll give you a call,” he replied, Gardiner added. “And that’s all I know.”
However, communication ceased, and his family became concerned that his phone and laptop might have been taken.
According to Rogers, the family only found out that Timmerman was in Lebanon in the last several weeks, following Missouri law enforcement’s successful communication with U.S. Embassy representatives in Hungary.
Gardiner claimed that not hearing from her son, one of her four children, over the past few months had devastated her.
She claimed, “I had happy tears,” when she found out he was still alive on Thursday.
“It was a relief to find out he was still alive because he’s my baby,” she added.
Don Kelderhouse, the pastor of Preston Bible Baptist Church, in Preston, Missouri, where Timmerman attends services, said he knew of his plans to travel to Eastern Europe, but not the Middle East.
Kelderhouse added, “We thought the money would run out and he’d go home,” adding that it might be a month or two before he left. Whether he was living or dead was unknown to us.
Authorities in Missouri and Budapest, the Hungarian capital, put out a missing persons report for a man named Pete Timmerman, with Hungarian police identifying him as “Travis” Pete Timmerman.
Timmerman vanished from Budapest on May 28, according to a public awareness notice from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Timmerman told reporters that he entered Syria on foot earlier this year and was halted by Syrian authorities.
He told NBC News, “I was on a pilgrimage to Damascus,” in a facility outside the capital. He said that before being discovered and taken into custody by a border guard, he had lived “without food and water” for three days in a mountainous region near the Syrian-Lebanese border.
According to Timmerman, he was imprisoned by the regime for months during which he was fed adequately and had access to water at all times; the only challenge was that he was unable to use the restroom on a regular basis.
He was then released by rebel forces as they broke into prisons across the country to free detainees.
Timmerman said he spent the past few days wandering the streets barefoot, sleeping outside and in an abandoned house. He was then found once again by a local resident he had asked for water, subsequently appearing in the video that quickly spread across social media and drew the news media s attention.
Timmerman, who was discovered in Dhiyabia by NBC News and other media, claimed to have “been reading the scripture a lot” prior to making the decision to cross the mountains from Lebanon into Syria.
Timmerman was anxious to share his religion after being baptized in the church approximately a year and a half ago, according to Kelderhouse. The concept of his traveling across Eastern Europe to express his ideals and learn more about the globe didn’t seem strange to him, he said, adding that he also had a law degree and has been writing. However, he continued, it was unexpected how much risk he assumed by traveling to Syria.
“God must have a plan for his life,” expressed Kelderhouse. “He kept him alive.”
Kayle Owens, a classmate of Timmerman’s at Skyline High School in Urbana, a town of about 400 people, said he had played football and made “many lifelong friendships at our school.”
Friends prayed when they found out he was missing.
“It truly is a Christmas miracle,” Owens said. “We’ve been praying tirelessly for his safe return, and those prayers have been answered.”
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!