THE mom of a missing US journalist abducted by Assad's savage regime has discovered a chilling clue about her son in a Syrian prison. Now that Assad's bloody regime is gone, Debra Tice was able to travel to Syria and study a clue in a prison cell - which she is convinced is evidence left by her son.
![[A woman wearing glasses and a hat sits in a dimly lit room.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/98e41ccb-fc7f-4cda-afda-3fd6f2f6d386.jpg?strip=all&w=892)
Austin Tice, who would now be 43, was kidnapped 12 years ago in a suburb outside the Syrian capital Damascus whilst reporting on the civil war. In the last known footage of him alive, Austin is being led, blindfolded, by men who force him to recite Muslim prayers, before he says: "Oh Jesus, oh Jesus. God," in clear panic.
![[Red wall with white markings, possibly writing.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/d4cd15ba-1a92-4c72-872a-b70bc90d490a.jpg?strip=all&w=887)
Debra spent months in Syria in the years after his abduction, but failed to find her son, before Assad's government blocked her from entering the country. Debra returned to Damascus last week for the first time in almost ten years to see for herself a patch of graffiti on a cell wall which she is convinced was left by her son.
![[Photo of Austin Tice.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/journalism-georgetown-edu-freeaustintice-https-837850419.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The footage shows Debra descend down through dark passages at the prison, along with Nizar Zakka, president of the Hostage Aid Worldwide NGO. She is guided to the tiny cell where her son may have been held, and sheepishly peers in. Inside the cramped cell, the scarlet-red walls are scratched all over with the marks of past prisoners.
![[Map showing Syrian rebels' 10-day offensive, resulting in Assad fleeing Damascus.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/DD-08-12-map-syria-offensive-v2.jpg?strip=all&w=528)
As soon as Debra enters, she points to a patch just above head height and lurches towards it. "It's right here," she says. The mother against the opposite wall, head back, and stares at the engraving for a long time. Afterwards, Debra said: "I hardly know what to say about that experience it was beyond anything I could have imagined.".
![[A woman in a blue jacket reacts in a dimly lit red room.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/horrible-nightmare-shock-moment-missing-966337471.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
