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Missing Iraq War Vet's Call To Friend Gives Family Hope

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By KATE SPINNER

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: February 22, 2008

DEEP CREEK — Missing Iraq war veteran Eric Hall phoned a longtime friend in Indiana on Wednesday, his family said.

Family members still do not know whether Hall, who disappeared Feb. 3, is still in Charlotte County, but the call, in which Hall reportedly sounded confused, gives them hope because he is reaching out to people he knows.

His mother, Becky Hall, pleaded at a news conference Thursday for him to call home.

"You are safe and are not in any trouble," she said, directing her comments toward television cameras in her sister's Charlotte County home. "Please call me to let me know that you are all right. We are all so worried about you and love you."

Charlotte County Sheriff's Office investigators and law enforcement officers in Jeffersonville, Ind., Hall's hometown, are working on tracing the call to its origin.

They want to know whether it came from a cell phone or a pay phone, sheriff's spokesman Bob Carpenter said.

Eric Hall, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, moved to Charlotte County in January to live with his cousin and get a fresh start in a warm climate.

He left his aunt's Deep Creek home on a motorcycle after what his family suspected was a severe flashback to the war. The motorcycle was found abandoned on a nearby street, close to a patch of woods.

Almost three years ago in Fallujah, Iraq, Eric Hall saw his best friend killed by an improvised explosive device. The explosion tore apart his upper leg and left him with a permanent limp.

The phone call is the second sign of Hall this week. On Monday, dogs led a volunteer search crew to a shelter that Hall is thought to have dug or used.

Becky Hall would not disclose the name of the woman who received her son's call, but she said they had been friends since childhood and had a long on-again, off-again relationship.

The call came in the morning and lasted less than a minute.

Hall sounded confused and also felt as though people were chasing him, Becky Hall said. He did not let his friend know where he was.

Becky Hall, who has been leading the search for her son from her sister's house, learned of the call from her husband, who is at their home in Jeffersonville.

The woman called the Halls' home phone number shortly after hearing from Eric.

Becky Hall said the woman is someone her son feels comfortable reaching out to when he feels like he is in trouble.

"I feel like Eric's lost, but I feel like he's relatively safe, as safe as you can be when you've been lost 17, 18 days," she said.

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