Washington D.C. – USA Today, May 08, 2025
Joe St. Clair, 33, served in the military for nine years. The crypto linguist departed the Air Force in 2020 and stayed with his parents in their North Kitsap home that summer. The highly decorated veteran, who grew up in North Carolina, got to explore the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and hike some trails in the Olympic Mountains before moving to Texas.
Joe St. Clair touched base with his parents, Scott and Patti, from time to time. But it was unusual when Joe didn’t respond to any texts or calls last Thanksgiving, his parents said. The family knew he was in the South American country of Colombia, seeking treatment for his post-traumatic stress disorder and working in a language school.
A sibling reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Colombia and filed a report in January. On February 4, the parents got a call from the embassy and were told that Joe had been taken hostage as a political prisoner in Venezuela. The information came from the six American citizens who had been detained in Venezuela and were released early this year after President Donald Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
“Without that information, we would still be in the dark,” Scott said.
The State Department in March determined that Joe was wrongfully detained and is believed to be held in a Caracas prison. The family was connected to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) and assigned a case agent. The parents were thankful that the government acted quickly, Scott said.
