BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Sept. 8, 2006
Air Force Major Missing In Kyrgyzstan
U.S. Military: Nothing Ruled Out In Disappearance Of Servicewoman
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Play CBS Video Video Officer Missing In Kyrgyzstan Air Force Maj. Jill Metzger was about to return home when she was last seen in Kyrgyzstan. Capt. Joshua Mayo, Jill's husband, and his father, Kelly, join Julie Chen to discuss her disappearance.
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Air Force Maj. Jill Metzger has been missing since her visit to a shopping center in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Sept. 5, 2006. (AP)
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"This is worrying because it could mean that her phone was in someone else's hands or that she was unconscious and could not reply," he said. The ministry, which oversees the police, is also trying to establish the holder of a phone she called about 45 minutes before she was last seen, he said.
Police Chief Moldomusa Kongantiyev said Wednesday that Metzger had been expected to return to the United States by the weekend.
A statement from base officials said group of 22 U.S. military investigators and logistics officers along with Kyrgyz police are involved in the search for Metzger, who was stationed at an air base near Bishkek with the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing.
She was dressed in civilian clothes at the time of the disappearance, according to base officials.
Capt. Anna Carpenter, a U.S. military spokeswoman in Kyrgyzstan, said "there has been a lot of progress" in the investigation but could not discuss details.
The Pentagon on Thursday formally declared Metzger missing, a status officially known as "duty status whereabouts unknown," and disclosed that her normal duty station is Moody Air Force Base, Ga., as a member of the 347th Mission Support Squadron. It said she was on temporary duty in Kyrgyzstan but offered no other details.
In 2003, Jill Metzger was stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany when she won the women's division of the U.S. Air Force Marathon, The Henderson Daily Dispatch reported at the time. She was a member of the Air Force-Europe team.
Metzger had run in every Air Force marathon since its inception seven years earlier, the newspaper said, and had run marathons in Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin.
Base officials announced new travel restrictions Thursday, barring all off-duty personnel from leaving the base until Metzger is found.
The U.S. military has maintained an air base at Kyrgyzstan's main civilian Manas airport since 2001, backing operations in nearby Afghanistan.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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