A missing American citizen was found Thursday in a Syrian prison after being missing for several months.
The man identified himself as Travis Timmerman, a 29-year-old Missouri resident, and said he was imprisoned after traveling to the country “for spiritual purposes.”
He said he spent more than half a year in a government prison before he was freed by armed rebel fighters on Monday after Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad‘s regime fell.
“My door was busted down, it woke me up,” Timmerman told CBS. “I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the warfare could have been more active than it ended up being.
“Once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting.”
He was found walking barefoot in the town of Dhiyabia outside the capital on Thursday by journalists while heading toward Jordan.
He also told CBS that he spoke with his family on the phone three weeks ago while in prison.
Timmerman told CBS he had the chance to speak with his family on the phone three weeks ago while in prison.
He added, “I’m feeling well. I’ve been fed and I’ve been watered, so I’m feeling well.”
Earlier this year, missing persons reports were issued in Missouri and Budapest, Hungary, for a man named Pete Timmerman, whom Hungarian authorities identified as “Travis” Pete Timmerman, NBC reported.
The alert from the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Timmerman vanished in Budapest on May 28.
Budapest police said he was last spotted at a church after leaving “for an unknown location.”
U.S. officials have been alerted of his whereabouts and are working to provide him support, CBS reported.
Getty ImagesTravis Timmerman said he was arrested after entering the country on footA US man, detained for months in a Syrian prison after entering the country
DAMASCUS – An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months
DAMASCUS – An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months
DAMASCUS – An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country on foot seven months ago on a Christian pilgrim