In 2012, Austin Tice, a former U.S. Marine turned freelance foreign correspondent, vanished in Syria during the early stages of the country's civil war. If he is still alive, he would be the second-longest detained journalist in the world. Josh Baker, a journalist based in Wales, has been investigating Tice’s disappearance through a podcast he produced, which he described as "almost like a Bourne novel, utterly extraordinary." The story delves into a world of espionage, spies, and authoritarian rule, while also shedding light on the 14-year-long Syrian conflict. Baker highlights the Syrian regime’s systematic use of disappearance and torture, noting that the search for those who know the truth about Tice and those responsible for wartime atrocities are closely linked. He has received numerous confidential tips from various sources about Tice’s case, adding layers of complexity to the mystery. Baker’s third series for the BBC, titled "I'm Not a Monster," explores several gripping stories, including that of an American woman who joined the Islamic State with her children and an episode focused on Shamima Begum, a British woman who fled to Syria with ISIS and later returned to the UK. Baker, now 37, began his career as a night editor on the foreign desk of The Times and later directed a documentary titled Battle for Iraq, a co-production with the Guardian and PBS. During his time embedded with Iraqi special forces, he was caught in the middle of an explosion caused by an ISIS car bomb in Mosul and survived. He later received a home video from Raqqa showing a young American boy, Matthew, being forced to assemble a suicide bomb. This led Baker on a search that eventually led him to the boy, whom he found seven months later. The episode on Shamima Begum came from a source who told Baker about a Dutch ISIS bride in a refugee camp with Begum and her children. Baker had previously worked on a documentary about Begum and was inside the mosque the day she disappeared in 2015. He also investigated the role of Canadian intelligence in helping Begum cross the border, suggesting that the act was cynical and aimed at portraying Begum as a victim rather than a terrorist. Baker noted that if the intelligence had been British, he would not have been able to prove it due to differences in how intelligence operations are handled in different countries. Baker and his team received death threats after the documentary, which tackled sensitive topics such as terrorism, foreign policy, and what it means to be British. He mentioned that in the U.S., particularly in Washington, it is easier to access intelligence officers and senior law enforcement compared to Britain. However, under the Trump administration, people became less willing to speak openly. Despite the podcast on Tice being 14 years in the making, Baker described it as feeling close to the source and urgent. His initial goal was to find answers for Austin’s mother, but he also aimed to draw attention to the plight of Syria, where an estimated 100,000 people have been disappeared. Baker left traditional news work because he grew tired of explaining complex issues in a detached manner and now wants to slow down and make people care about the individuals involved. He relates to Austin’s mother, thinking of his own mother who raised him alone. While he has a strong sense of what may have happened to Austin, definitive answers remain elusive.