The family of freelance journalist and photographer Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria for over a decade, said that remains found in Syria were not in fact the journalist, despite media reports over the weekend. 

A Sky News Arabia report on Sunday cited sources who said the former Marine's body was found in a cemetery in northern Syria. Tice has been missing for 12 years, and the FBI believes he was kidnapped by the country's former government in Damascus. 

A spokesperson for the Tice family told reporters on Monday that there has been no evidence that remains found in Syria belong to the Marine veteran. Bodies were discovered during a search operation organized by Qatar to find captives once held by ISIS.

"We appreciate whatever mission is ongoing to help families of ISIS victims find closure," the spokesman told Fox News. "However, an initial and erroneous report that Austin Tice was identified among the remains was quickly and completely contradicted."

Tice has not been spotted publicly since shortly after he went missing in 2012, when a video was sent to his family that showed masked gunmen holding the former Marine at gunpoint. But one former Syrian prisoner told news outlets in December that he saw Tice in a Syrian jail as recently as July 2022. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.