Questions still surround Metzger's disappearance

By MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN, Daily Dispatch Writer
Nov. 22, 2006

The three-day disappearance of a Vance County native and U.S. Air Force major stationed in Kyrgyzstan ended happily when Jill Metzger turned up safe on Sept. 8.

But it's not yet clear whether Metzger and her loved ones will live happily ever after following an experience a relative described as a traumatic, torture-filled kidnapping.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Air Force Office of Special Investigations are jointly looking into Metzger's disappearance, which took place while she was on leave from Manas Air Force Base. The 33-year-old major told authorities that she was abducted from a popular department store in Bishkek shortly before she was scheduled to return home after a tour of duty at Manas.

Kyrgyzstan's interior minister voiced doubt that the 1991 Northern Vance High School graduate had been kidnapped even before she turned up in a small town called Kant. American authorities have not officially contradicted Metzger's account.

Metzger's husband and father-in-law, both of whom reportedly work for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, initially informed the Associated Press that the missing woman had been found by the side of the road with her head shaved.

But Kyrgyz police said that a disoriented Metzger had dyed hair and dye-stained hands when she knocked on the door of a Kant home. An AP photo of Metzger's reunion with her family showed the officer with black hair.

Metzger told police that her abductors planted an object on her and slipped her a note claiming that it was a bomb that would be detonated if she did not follow their commands.

In what appears to be the only interview the family granted since Metzger returned to the United States, her father, retired Air Force Lt. Col. John Metzger, told the Air Force Times that his daughter had been traumatized by the abduction and mistreatment at the hands of her captors.

“She was tortured to some degree,” John Metzger said to the Times' Erik Holmes. “They beat her up real bad, had a rope put around her neck, her face black and blue.”

Jill Metzger, an accomplished marathon runner, escaped and ran for seven hours - perhaps 35 miles - before coming to a Kant farmhouse, John Metzger said in the October interview. The Kant family called the police.

Metzger's weight dropped to 90 pounds, from nearly 110 pounds, during her ordeal, her father told the Air Force Times.

John Metzger also told the Times that his daughter had been summoned before a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.

Grand jury proceedings are secret.

Neither the Air Force Office of Special Investigations nor the FBI nor federal prosecutors would comment on the case when contacted by the Dispatch this week. However, an Air Force spokeswoman said that the OSI and FBI frequently work together.

Maj. Metzger returned to duty at her regular station, Moody Air Force Base in southern Georgia, in late October. She works as a personnel officer there.

“Our focus here at Moody has been seeing that we reintegrate Maj. Metzger into her daily duties,” said base spokesman Capt. Dustin Hart.

Metzger is not interested in speaking to the media, he stated.

Metzger's mother, Jeannette Metzger, said that she and her family did not want to be interviewed out of deference to Jill's wishes and because of the ongoing investigation.

Doubts about what caused and what happened during the three-day disappearance have surfaced in some quarters.

Kyrgyz authorities publicly complained that they were given little opportunity to question Metzger before she left the country, and unidentified American military and federal law enforcement officials have told Fox News that they felt Metzger's account did not add up.

The incident has provided the pretext for a seemingly endless stream of commentary, speculation and character assassination on certain Internet bulletin boards; the posts at one site, wizbangblog.com, approach 500 pages when printed out.

A few have speculated that Metzger was targeted by bride kidnappers or that she was participating in, or providing a distraction from, a covert operation. Still others insist that the incident was entirely the major's fault.

Internet posters have interpreted and reinterpreted all sorts of details about the case, including the dye stains that were on Metzger's hands and the blood that was on her feet when the major reappeared in Kant. Aspects of Metzger's marriage to a younger officer, Air Force Capt. Joshua Mayo, have also been questioned by skeptics.

A number of individuals who have posted - especially in the days when the major was still missing - identified themselves as friends or acquaintances and said Metzger was a woman of excellent character. Other supposed acquaintances, though, have attacked her for alleged flaws or misconduct predating her disappearance.

Some of the officer's critics derisively refer to Metzger online defenders as “Jill's shills” and ask if Metzger or her relatives are pretending to post Internet messages as someone else.