Jill Metzger

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Jill Metzger

Major Jill Metzger is a [United States Air Force]] personnel officer and successful athlete. She gained worldwide attention in September 2006 as the result of a still unexplained incident in Bishkek, capital of the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.

Metzger was 33 and had been married to a fellow officer in the spring of 2006. She was deployed in June 2006 to serve as a personnel officer with the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan for four months. The U.S. military has maintained an air base at Kyrgyzstan's main civilian airport since 2001, backing operations in nearby Afghanistan. On September 5, 2006, shortly before she was scheduled to return to the United States, she went shopping in a mall in Bishkek, allegedly to buy souvenirs for her family. She failed to return to Manas Air Base and was listed as missing.

Three days later, police responded to a call from a home in Kant, a suburb of Bishkek, where Jill had appeared with her hair cut and dyed. She claimed she had been kidnapped by three men and a woman who had held her against her will until she was able to escape. There are additional reports (Russian News Agency RIA Novosti, Washington Post, MSNBC) that someone had placed an object on her person with "bomb" written on the object, causing her to fall into the abductors' hands.

The USAF released a statement to the local media that gave no details of her reappearance, although Metzger's superior, Colonel Joel "Scott" Reese, praised "the cooperation between the base and local civil and police authorities during the investigation." The statement also said: "Her condition will be determined by a team of medical professionals. The investigation concerning her disappearance is continuing."

Metzger was quickly transported to an American military hospital in Germany and then returned to the United States. Initial sympathy for her experience was followed by media confusion about conflicting details of the story, and speculation on some blogs that she might have been responsible for her own disappearance. The case has been cited as an example of Missing White Woman Syndrome. In October the US Department of Justice announced that it was investigating the incident, and Metzger appeared before a Grand Jury to recount her story after failing a polygraph test [FOX News].

Metzger was the women's winner of the United States Air Force Marathon in 2003 and 2004 and placed 12th in the women's division of the Marine Corps Marathon in 2005 with a time of 3:06:39. While in Germany became a jagermeister. It involves highly intensive training to become a jager so one can hunt in Germany.