Missing U.S. Officer Arrives in Germany

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060910/D8K25TLG0.html

Missing U.S. Officer Arrives in Germany
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Sep 10, 2:51 PM (ET)

By LEILA SARALAYEVA

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - A U.S. Air Force major who went missing for three days arrived at a U.S. military hospital in Germany on Sunday, and a senior Kyrgyz police official said that her departure "strongly complicates" the probe into her disappearance.

Maj. Jill Metzger vanished Tuesday in Bishkek, the capital of this former Soviet republic, while shopping for souvenirs at a department store before a scheduled departure from the country on Friday.

A massive search involving Kyrgyz and U.S. investigators came up empty until late Friday, when police said Metzger knocked on the door of a house in Kant, about 22 miles from the capital, and said she had been abducted.


Maj. Jill Metzger, 33, a personnel officer at the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan, is shown in an undated handout photo. Metzger, who was declared missing following her visit to a Bishkek shopping center Sept. 5, 2006, was found on the side of the road with her head shaven, father-in-law Kelly Mayo said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Colorado Springs on Friday, Sept. 8, 2006. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force Photo-HO)


The 33-year-old officer was taken out of Kyrgyzstan on Saturday. She arrived Sunday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for medical exams and debriefing, a statement from U.S. Air Forces Europe headquarters said.

FULL story at link above.

[TomInTib]

1. I'm betting she was having an affair with a local.

And then he and his family discovered that she was leaving and decided on a little payback.

[Name removed]

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[lumpy]

2. This story doesn't make sense.

Shopping woman has object slipped in her pocket, possible bomb with note with directions to go to a certain location; as in a 'trance' she goes to the location; claims she was abducted; is found a couple of days later knocking on a door says police; her hair has been dyed as well as her hands. Flown out of the country to a hospital in Germany before Kyrgyzstan or US authorities can hear her account of the affair. Conflicting AF reports she was found on the side of a road with shaven head. Sounds like she has some problems and decided to take a powder.

[Javaman]

3. "found on the side of a road with shaven head"

In reference to the first poster...

In WWII french women who were found to have been collaborating with the Germans had their heads shaven in public, then were shunned from society.

Perhaps, like the first posted stated...

"I'm betting she was having an affair with a local."

[noonwitch]

5. Shaving women's hair off is a form of humiliation

It's not only done with women who collaborate with enemies. In a culture where gender roles are clearly defined (i.e. the muslim world), it may be a form of punishment for a female soldier-in their world, women are not supposed to be soldiers.

I'm holding off on judgement of this young lady. I suspect she was raped, not that she was "having an affair with a local".

[oldcoot]

8. Bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan

I do not know if her story is true or not but I would give her the benefit of the doubt because the practice of bride kidnapping is not unusual in Kyrgyzstan. See http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kyrgyzstan/thestory.html for more information.

[rodeodance]

6. ........another account only says her hair was cut and dyed (she had dye

on her hands). Its a mystery yet.

...Kiyazov said Metzger told police that after she split from others at the department store, someone put a hard object in a back pocket of her jeans along with a note saying it was an explosive. The note also included detailed instructions about where to go and what to do.

Metzger said she was then met by three men and a woman who put her into a minibus, took her to a residence and placed her in a dark room, Kiyazov said. He quoted her as saying she managed to escape after an abductor brought her food and she struck him.

Kiyazov said her blondish hair had been dyed dark brown and her hands were stained with dye.

An account from Metzger's father-in-law differed from that of Kyrgyz police. Kelly Mayo told The Associated Press in Colorado Springs, Colo., late Friday that the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations said she had been found on the side of the road with her head shaven.

[BlueInPhilly]

7. She's a runaway bride...

she's supposed to go on her postponed 10-day honeymoon when she returns to the US. She was married for only a week when she was shipped out. Cold feet - a little late - but cold feet nonetheless. Everything about this smells fishy - from "being in trance" to having hair dye in her hands! C'mon, who is she kidding? :o