FBI Joins Search for Missing Veteran American Journalist Shelly Kittleson

Shelly Kittleson, a veteran American freelance journalist who has reported extensively from the Middle East, was kidnapped in Baghdad, and the FBI has joined the effort to locate her. FBI agents met with Kittleson's family on Wednesday, as U.S. and Iraqi authorities intensified the search.

Kittleson was seized by four men in civilian clothes near the Palestine Hotel on Saadoun Street, one of the Iraqi capital's most prominent thoroughfares. Two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one of which crashed while being pursued near the town of Al-Haswa in Babil province, southwest of Baghdad. Kittleson was then transferred to a second car that fled the scene.

A U.S. official blamed Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia group in Iraq, for her disappearance. The State Department said a suspect taken into custody by Iraqi authorities had ties to the pro-Iranian militia Kataib Hezbollah. The group is designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.

The abduction came despite explicit warnings. A second U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to privacy concerns, said Kittleson had been warned multiple times, including as late as Monday night, that she was in danger and should leave Iraq immediately. The State Department said it had "previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them" and would "continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible."

Al-Monitor, a U.S.-based news organization, confirmed Kittleson's kidnapping and called for her "safe and immediate release," saying it was "deeply alarmed" by the abduction. "We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work," the publication said. Kittleson has reported as a freelance contributor to Al-Monitor, Foreign Policy, Politico, and the BBC.

Kittleson's mother, 72-year-old Barb Kittleson, who spoke to the Associated Press at her home in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, said she heard about the kidnapping from a news report on Tuesday and was visited by the FBI at her house on Tuesday night. A native of Wisconsin, Kittleson moved to Italy at the age of 19, where she attended school and worked as a nanny. She spent about 10 years in Italy before eventually settling in Iraq. Her mother said she last exchanged emails with her daughter on Monday.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad had issued an evacuation advisory for all American citizens in the country on March 3, due to the threat posed by Iran-backed militias, including Kataib Hezbollah, which have been conducting attacks against the American military and diplomatic presence in the region since February 28.

The kidnapping drew comparisons to the 2023 disappearance of Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton University graduate student, who vanished in Baghdad and was later freed and handed over to U.S. authorities in September 2025. Tsurkov said she had been held by Kataib Hezbollah, though the group never officially claimed responsibility for her abduction. Kittleson's case now tests whether U.S. pressure on Baghdad can again secure an American's release from the same network.