DARLINGTON — Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped on Tuesday, March 31, from a busy intersection in Baghdad, according to CCTV footage released by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and verified by ABC News. 

A silver car approached her on Saadoun Street in Baghdad, and several people grabbed her and forced her into the car before it sped away, the security video showed.

A 1995 Darlington graduate, Kittleson went on to learn Arabic and has worked the Middle East beat for about two decades. She worked through the early years of “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and other U.S. conflicts in the region, and has documented the news as tensions have continued in the years since.

According to Tim Elliott of WMTV 15 News, her mother Barb, of Mount Horeb, said Shelly left Wisconsin many years ago to work abroad and that she’s been working for roughly 20 years as a journalist. He reported that Barb said she feels “terrible” about her daughter’s kidnapping. The last time she heard from her was in an email she received Monday, March 30. She said Shelly Kittleson is not married and does not have children.

“She just wanted to help people,” Barb Kittleson told the Journal Sentinel about the abduction on April 1. “She just likes to help people and that’s her passion. ... She’s just a journalist.”

Kittleson has worked in the Middle East as a freelance reporter since 2010, according to her public LinkedIn profile, which says she has worked for Al Malala since January 2023 as a freelance journalist. Other social media profiles show she has worked for publications including BBC World Service and Politico.

In 2024, Shelly Kittleson was presented with the Premio Civitas 2024 in Italy for her “passion and courage at the service of truth at any cost.”

“I just spent a few brief days back in Italy. ... Honored and happy to see continued appreciation for journalists and journalism in such difficult times for the profession,” she wrote on Instagram after receiving the award. Her last post on Instagram came on March 20, 2026 of the Syrian desert.

Americans in the Middle East, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, were warned by the government over the past month to evacuate the region amid the Israel-U.S. war in Iran.

Kittleson, based in Rome and Baghdad, was in Iraq working on a story “she wanted to work on,” Nazish told ABC News.

Journalist Lauren Wolfe wrote on Substack that “Most journalists working abroad today are freelance — there are no staff jobs to be had in the industry.” She also called out other media members as painting Kittleson “as some kind of renegade journalist because she’s a freelancer… as if she brought this on herself because of it.”

Another professional colleague and friend, journalist Hollie McKay, said in a column in The Free Press that there had been repeated warnings to Kittleson, “and they had come with specifics.”

Kiran Nazish, director of the Coalition for Women in Journalism, told ABC News that threats against journalists in Iraq — and across the Middle East — are common and that Kittleson had been threatened before. According to Dylan Johnson, U.S. assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, the U.S. State Department had warned Kittleson “multiple times” recently of threats against her.

“In the days before her abduction, Shelly was told it was too dangerous and was barred from re-entering Iraq through standard channels after a trip to Syria. So, she found another route, entering through Jordan, where there appeared to be a breakdown in communications, and she was waved through,” McKay said.

McKay added that a CIA source spoke of frustration within the intelligence community that “runs deep.”

It is believed Kittleson was lured to the corner on Saadoun Street in Baghdad to meet a source for a story, only for it to be a setup.

“I do think she was certainly targeted because she’s American. So that’s a huge factor,” Nazish said. “Also, she is one of the very few journalists who go into the region. A lot of people know her. It’s possible that she was on the radar.”

Kittleson had recently completed a security training course in Baghdad, a course colleagues said she had taken multiple times in order to keep her skills sharp and minimize the risks of her work.

“We are deeply alarmed by the kidnapping of Al-Monitor contributor Shelly Kittleson in Iraq on Tuesday,” the publication said. “We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work.”

Nazish described Kittleson to ABC News as not only “brilliant in her reporting” but someone who is “very vigilant and careful.” Nazish added that Kittleson spoke Arabic and built many connections throughout the region.

“Shelly Kittleson risked everything to cover the world’s deadliest stories. Now she’s missing, and the dangers freelance journalists face are clearer than ever,” McKay added. “She is 49 and has spent more than a decade tenaciously covering some of the most dangerous regions of the world, refusing to quit the only work she has ever loved.”

“I fall asleep wondering if Shelly is scared. I wake up wondering if she’s being treated okay. I spend my days talking to mutual friends and getting their advice,” Wolfe said.

Alex Plitsas, a CNN national security analyst and Kittleson’s designated U.S. point of contact, posted on X that Kittleson is “a well-known front-line reporter in conflict zones providing valuable and insightful coverage. People like Shelly provide sourced and vetted reporting where transparency and truth are scarce. She has been at the forefront of world events for decades and is among the most selfless people I’ve ever met.”

Wolfe said the State Department has only publicly said that they warned her she was at risk of kidnapping. “I know more than I can say, but I never will because the only thing that matters is getting Shelly home safely. This is not just a ‘story.’ This is my friend’s life.”

The group responsible, Kata’ib Hezbollah, has demanded the release of several members involved in attacks on the U.S. embassy, a source close to the Iraqi Interior Ministry in Baghdad told Middle East Uncovered, one of the publications Kittleson reported for.

“Shelly has become a card between America and Iran,” the source said in a story by Olivia Cuthbert, Senior writer at Middle East Uncovered. The source added that Kata’ib Hezbollah is seeking to use the hostage situation as leverage against the United States to influence the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Previously in 2023, Kata’ib Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University, holding her for nearly three years. According to UNESCO, 198 media professionals were murdered in Iraq between 2006 and 2018.

The Iran War is heightening tension and creating danger for those there, according to Liz Richards, director of hostage advocacy and research at the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation which advocates for American hostages and international journalist safety.

“Reporters need to be able to move about the world freely and in a safe manner to tell stories,” Richards said. “It is always on the captor when someone is taken.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Iraqi authorities to “take all necessary measures to secure” Kittleson’s release.

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin is aware of Kittleson’s kidnapping and has contacted the State Department and FBI for information about steps being taken to expedite her return. The FBI is reportedly working to ensure her release. 

After the kidnapping last week, U.S. officials issued a new warning for Americans still in Iraq, advising them to leave immediately because national security intelligence expects terrorist militia groups in the region aligned with Iran to conduct further attacks.

“Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours,” the warning from the United States Embassy and Consulate in Iraq stated. “Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militias have conducted widespread attacks against U.S. citizens and targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR).”

— The Wisconsin Newspaper Association and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.