Rescue group talks about search for Navy vet trained at Syria’s Camp Pendleton

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) – The founder of a rescue group helping search for Austin Tice, a Marine veteran trained at Camp Pendleton in Syria, says he hopes Tice can be found.

“This has never been more urgent in the history of this case,” said Bryan Stern, an Army and Navy veteran and founder of the Tampa-based company. Gray Bull Rescue Foundation.

He says an undisclosed number of his team members have been on the ground in Syria searching for Austin Tice since the fall of the Assad regime more than a week and a half ago. His group has been going in and out of Syria for many years to gather intelligence on Austin.

“My main concern right now is that he’s locked in a cage somewhere, and that cage, which has already been maintained…meaning people are bringing him food, people are bringing him food. water…wherever it was, it was abandoned,” Stern said.

In 2012, Austin, a freelance journalist and former Marine captain trained at Camp Pendleton, was kidnapped while covering an uprising against Assad in Syria.

A video released shortly after his kidnapping showed Tice, blindfolded, being held by armed men.

Austin is believed to have been alive until a few weeks ago and was being held in Damascus by Syria, although the Assad regime has denied this.

After the fall of Assad, the prisons were emptied.

Stern sent us a video of himself in one of the prisons, as he and others pored over countless files, trying to learn the fate of the prisoners.

In one photo, a hole was dug in the prison floor as rescuers searched for hidden cells, but there was no sign of Austin. Stern doesn’t believe he’s ever been to prison.

“It’s more like a private home or ranch that’s privately owned, of course. He’s a secret prisoner, which means you don’t put him with the other prisoners.

Stern says they’ve been searching locations and gathering intelligence to find who might have been guarding Austin.

When Austin’s sister, Naomi, spoke to me last week, she called on U.S. officials to contact Assad.

“We think he knew where Austin was this whole time,” Naomi Tice said in the interview.

At the same time, Austin’s mother wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a news conference Thursday, Putin said he would ask Assad about Austin. Assad is believed to be in Moscow after being granted asylum.

Back in Syria, the research continues.

“I wouldn’t be here Christmas week if I didn’t truly believe in my heart of hearts that not only is he alive, but he’s also findable,” Stern said.