Staff Sgt. Jonathan Lane is pictured in undated photos released by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division July 6, 2023. Lane, a U.S. soldier stationed in Ansbach, Germany, was reported missing last year. The Army announced April 5, 2024, that Lane had been found and taken into custody. (Army)
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany – A U.S. soldier initially listed as missing and spotted last year at an Air Force base in Germany under an assumed name has been found and taken into custody, an Army statement said Friday.
Staff Sgt. Jonathan Lane, 31, a helicopter repairer assigned to the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach, was reported missing June 27 after he failed to show up for duty.
It was later discovered he had tried to access Ramstein Air Force Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center four days prior under the name “David Hersher.”
Staff Sgt. Jonathan Lane, a U.S. soldier stationed in Ansbach, Germany, had been reported missing since June 2023. The Army announced April 5, 2024, that Lane had been found and taken into custody. (U.S. Army)
Ramstein is located about 125 miles west of Lane’s duty station in Bavaria.
“We are thankful that Staff Sgt. Lane has been found,” brigade commander Col. Ryan Kendall said Friday in a statement. “We are grateful for the collaborative efforts of the German Polizei and Army [Criminal Investigation Division]. Lane would not have been found if it wasn’t for the help our host nation provided.”
Lane was apprehended with help from Ansbach and regional police in the vicinity of the southwest German city of Trier, CID spokesman Thomas Hamilton III said Friday.
No further details regarding Lane’s discovery and capture were available Friday, according to brigade officials and Hamilton, who added that the investigation into the case is ongoing.
Lane was spotted last year on June 23 in his vehicle at brigade headquarters on Katterbach Kaserne, a CID statement July 18 said.
Later that day, Lane, wearing a blue T-shirt and portraying himself as a civilian, attempted to access Ramstein Air Base.
He was last seen at 3:18 p.m. entering a gate at nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Army officials at the time declined to say whether he received treatment at the hospital, citing medical privacy rules.
Lane’s car was found abandoned two days later near Urbach in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, about two hours north of Ramstein, the CID statement said. His last known location was the Koblenz main train station on June 29.
U.S. Army Europe and Africa announced he had gone missing July 4. Notices of his disappearance have been up at military post offices in Germany ever since, asking for help in finding Lane.
If charged and convicted of desertion under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Lane faces a maximum of five years in prison, pay forfeiture, reduction in rank and a dishonorable discharge.
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