U.S. reups $6M reward for American missing in Afghanistan for 12 years

The United States on Friday reupped two rewards totalling $6 million in the case of an American who vanished 12 years ago in Afghanistan. 

Freelance writer Paul Edwin Overby Jr., who had been conducting research for a book in May 2014, had said he might cross the border into Pakistan when he vanished in Khost province, Afghanistan, the FBI said.

Overby had written an earlier nonfiction book on Afghanistan, “Holy Blood: An Inside View of the Afghan War.” Reuters reported his wife, Jane Larson, said he was researching a follow-up to the book and hoped to interview Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Taliban-allied Haqqani militant network. 

His wife told a Pakistani newspaper in 2017 that she believed he was kidnapped and appealed to his kidnappers to reunite “an aging couple.” Overby would be 83 years old.  

“For over a decade, FBI agents and analysts have worked tirelessly to find Paul and bring him home,” Assistant Director in Charge Darren Cox said. “We will continue to coordinate with partner agencies and pursue all credible leads until we can provide Paul’s family with the answers they’ve waited 12 years to hear.”

The Taliban has recently released several Americans wrongfully detained in Afghanistan. In March, Dennis Coyle, a 64-year-old academic and language expert from Colorado, was released from detention. 

Ryan Corbett and another American, William McKenty, were released in January 2025, with the help of Qatari negotiators, in exchange for a Taliban figure who had been imprisoned for life on drug trafficking charges. 

George Glezmann and another American, Faye Hall, were released in March 2025, followed by a fifth American, Amir Amiri, who was freed last September. 

The FBI Washington Field Office announced a reward of up to $1 million. The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program is still offering a reward of up to $5 million for information.

Both rewards for information leading to Overby’s location, recovery and return remain unclaimed.