(CNN) -- The parents of an American journalist missing in Syria have a new message for his captors: "Let us be a whole family again." In a statement published Thursday on the McClatchy Newspapers website, Austin Tice's parents say he went to Syria to share the stories of the country's people. "We urge you, whoever you are: Let Austin come home for Christmas," Marc and Debra Tice wrote. "Let us hug him, laugh and cry with him, love him in person." Austin Tice, who was working as a freelancer for McClatchy and other news outlets, last contacted his family on August 13 while in Syria reporting on the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government. He was reportedly preparing to leave Syria for Lebanon when he went missing, according to his family.
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Marc and Debra Tice: "We urge you, whoever you are: Let Austin come home for Christmas"
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Austin Tice last contacted his family on August 13 while in Syria
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The State Department has said it believes he was detained by Syrian officials
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The Syrian government has said it doesn't know where the journalist is
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State Department officials have questioned the veracity of the video, which purports to show @placeholder in the custody of rebels fighting the Syrian government.
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State Department officials have questioned the veracity of the video, which purports to show Tice in the custody of rebels fighting the @placeholder government.