Show Notes
Episode 1: Reporter Zach Mack thinks his dad has gone all in on conspiracy theories, while his father thinks that Zach is the one being brainwashed. In 2024, after the latest round of circular arguments, they decided to try something new, an attempt to pull each other out of the spell each of them thinks the other is under. Can one family live in two realities?
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Josh and Sara track down a witness who says he knows what happened to Austin Tice. He gives them names, places and a version of events that is terrifyingly detailed. He says people are trying to stop the truth from coming out. Josh and Sara test his story. As the pieces begin to fit, Josh tells Austin’s mother Debra what they have found.
Josh and Austin’s mother Debra arrive in Beirut chasing the same man — someone who may hold the key to Austin’s fate. But he is not the only one who knows something, there are others. As Josh and Sara close in, competing accounts begin to emerge: stories of detention, death, survival and betrayal. Some may be telling the truth, others may be trying to bury it. But if anyone knows what really happened to Austin Tice, it is these men.
When was the last time Austin was seen alive? Josh and Sara find the people who claim to know. Josh meets a man who says he interrogated Austin. Then two more witnesses are found. Each of them helps fill gaps in Austin’s story, and the hidden months of his captivity are revealed.
Josh uncovers a hidden world of secret negotiations, backchannels, and high-level talks. And, after years of failed promises, Austin’s mother Debra decides to go to Syria herself - alone. She believes the U.S. government could have done more to get her son home. Josh finds the men who took part in covert talks between Washington and Damascus. Could Austin’s release have been possible? And what was Syria offered in return?
A video appears online titled: “Austin Tice Still Alive”. It shows Austin bound, blindfolded and terrified, surrounded by armed men. But as Josh and Sara dig deeper, the story begins to change. They uncover a trail that leads to the door of the most powerful man in Syria. Austin’s case is like no other.