Missing American ‘pilgrim’ Travis Timmerman found in Syria after spending months locked up in prison

A scruffy, bearded man who identified himself as missing Missouri resident Travis Timmerman was found in Syria Thursday — and said he was imprisoned after traveling to the country “for spiritual purposes.”

Timmerman, 29, said he had spent more than half a year in the government prison when he was freed by rebel fighters armed with AK-47s on Monday as Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell.

“My door was busted down, it woke me up,” Timmerman told CBS.

“I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the warfare could have been more active than it ended up being… Once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting.”

Video of Timmerman posted Thursday by Turkish news agency Anadolu had initially sparked speculation that he could be American journalist Austin Tice, who vanished in 2012 while covering the anti-Assad uprising in Damascus at the beginning of the Syrian civil war.

Timmerman said he was detained seven months ago after entering Syria without permission when he crossed the border from Lebanon.

He had traveled from Europe to Lebanon for “spiritual purposes” — and described himself to NBC News as a religious “pilgrim.”

His experience in one of Syria’s notorious prisons “wasn’t too bad,” he said.

“I was never beaten. The only really bad part was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom,” he told CBS News.

He was found by journalists walking barefoot in the town of Dhiyabia outside of the capital on Thursday as he headed towards Jordan.

Timmerman told CBS he had the chance to speak with his family three weeks ago on the phone while in prison.

Finally freed, he said he’s having more difficulty now trying to find a place to sleep at night in the streets, but people have been more than willing to assist him.

“I’m feeling well. I’ve been fed and I’ve been watered, so I’m feeling well,” Timmerman told CBS.

Earlier this year, authorities in Missouri and Budapest, Hungary put out missing persons reports for a man named Pete Timmerman Hungarian authorities identified him as “Travis” Pete Timmerman, NBC reported.

The alert from the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Timmerman vanished in Budapest on May 28.

Budapest police said he was last spotted at a church and had “left for an unknown location.”

US officials are aware that Timmerman has been found and are working to provide support, CBS reported.