Syosset Man Escapes Capture in Syria

Masked captors. Torture. Forced false confessions. Financial rape. 

Seven months of pure terror.

A self-funded trip to war-torn Syria, intended to jumpstart his career, turned into a season in Hell for Syosset photojournalist Matthew Schrier after he was plucked from a taxi by Syrian Jihadist rebels.


As told to The New York Times' C. J. Chivers, Schrier, 35, studied film at Hofstra University and traveled to Turkey and Jordan in November intent on breaking into the field, documenting the ravages of war with his camera. An activist offered to bring him to the city of Aleppo and arranged a taxi. When the taxi fell through, the nightmare began as the next taxi delivered him to the arms of his captors.

En route to Aleppo after being rerouted at a checkpoint, the taxi was stopped by a truck that disgorged armed rebels who quietly ushered Schrier into their truck.

Although at first oddly polite, over the next seven months, his captors beat and tortured Schrier, accused him of being a spy and forced him to make false confessions. His captors stole his identity and used it to empty his bank account, buy things online, and send false, placating emails to his family.

In late July, he escaped through a small window in his basement cell. One other American captive was reportedly left behind; his identity has not been released.

Schrier has since returned to the United States and his story is spreading across the media. According to Chivers, Schrier's experience illustrates "the descent by elements of the anti-Assad forces into sanctimonious hatred and crime." 

Chivers writes in his piece that the captors "neither publicly acknowledged holding them nor issued any demands. Their abductions were also not disclosed by their families or the American government."

The FBI said it issued a Missing Person poster for Schrier, but discontinued it upon his recent return home to the United States.

The State Department refused to comment in detail, only saying, "We are aware of reports that a U.S. citizen has escaped captivity in Syria. We continue to work through our Czech protecting power in Syria to get information about U.S. citizens in Syria. We remain concerned about the safety of U.S. citizens in Syria."

Patch is looking to speak to Mr. Schrier or his family for a followup story. Email Syosset Patch Editor Leah Bush at Leah.Bush@patch.com.