Austin Tice

Austin Bennett Tice (born August 11, 1981) is a former U.S. Marine and is a freelance journalist who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria August 12, 2012. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Early life and education
Tice is from Houston, Texas, the eldest of seven siblings. He was an Eagle Scout and grew up dreaming of becoming an international correspondent for NPR. Tice attended the University of Houston for one year, and graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2002. He attended Georgetown University Law Center for a period of time, but dropped out to pursue journalism.

Career
Tice was previously a U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer. Tice's father said, “He was hearing reports from Syria saying this is happening and that is happening but it can't be confirmed because there really are no reporters on the ground. And he said, ‘You know, this is a story that the world needs to know about.’” He was one of only a few foreign journalists to report from inside Syria during intensification of the civil war. He entered the country in May 2012 and traveled through central Syria, filing battlefield dispatches before arriving in Damascus in late July 2012. Tice’s reporting garnered his Twitter account 2,000 followers. He stopped tweeting after August 11, 2012.

Tice was one of the first American correspondents to witness Syrian-rebel confrontations. His coverage was cited (along with efforts of additional reporters) as contributing to McClatchy winning a George Polk Award for war reporting for its coverage of Syria’s civil war.

Abduction
Tice was working as a freelance journalist for McClatchy, The Washington Post, CBS and other media when he was abducted from Darayya, Syria. Since then, there has been no contact from Tice or his captors. A 47-second video of Tice blindfolded and bound was released in September 2012. As of October 2012, he was believed to be in the custody of the Bashar al-Assad regime.