Freelance US Journalist Shelly Kittleson Released from Captivity in Iraq

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Kittleson had been kidnapped on March 31 by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia group, while standing on a street corner in Baghdad. Two officials from the militia, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told The Associated Press that the release involved an exchange for several detained members of the group held by Iraqi authorities.

Kittleson's mother, Barb Kittleson, stated that she is relieved about her daughter's release. Barb Kittleson lives in Mount Horeb, a village of about 7,000 people in southern Wisconsin. She emailed her daughter from a local library, expressing hope that Kittleson would return to the United States and noting that she had prepared her bedroom.

left Wisconsin in 1995 at age 19 to study and work as a nanny in Italy.

Over the following years, she worked as a reporter in Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the Middle East for outlets including Al-Monitor. Barb Kittleson said her husband, Bob, died of pancreatic cancer in 2024, and she has not seen her daughter since 2002, when Kittleson visited her during a trip to Italy.

U.S. officials want her to say regarding the situation. She noted that officials are limiting contact with Kittleson for a week and expressed doubt about whether her daughter received the email, as captors may have taken her phone and computer. When asked if she misses her daughter, Barb Kittleson nodded affirmatively.

Kataib Hezbollah has been accused of kidnapping other foreigners.

Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton graduate student with Israeli and Russian citizenship, disappeared in Baghdad in 2023. U.S. authorities in September 2025, after which she stated she had been held by Kataib Hezbollah, though the group never officially claimed responsibility.