Former FBI agent Robert Levinson traveled to Iran in March 2007 and was never heard from again. Now, according to his family, he's believed to be dead.
"We recently received information from U.S. officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody," Levinson's family said in a statement, according to CNN. "We don't know when or how he died, only that it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic."
The final decade or so of Levinson's life is, and perhaps always will be, shrouded in mystery. Iran has publicly denied knowing anything about his whereabouts, or ever holding him in custody. However, a United Nations group claimed in November 2019 that there was an ongoing court case in Tehran involving Levinson.
That news, coupled with President Donald Trump's focus on bringing American hostages back home, gave the family a short-lived glimmer of optimism that Levinson could still return alive. Still, though the family's mood has since shifted from hopeful to grieving, the president will not yet consider the case closed.
"It's not looking great, but I won't accept that he's dead," Trump said on Wednesday.
