Fowle didn’t yet know he was being freed, fewer than 24 hours from home.
“His guide came into his room and without saying anything began to go through his belongings,” attorney Tim Tepe said Thursday, “moving certain things and confiscating certain things and stuffing other things into his bag. And then basically tells him, ‘Come with me. We have to go right now.’
“Jeff, at that point, I think that he was thinking he was being taken to trial and going to end up being where Kenneth Bae is,” Tepe added. “I think that was his train of thought. The next thing he knows, he’s being put on a plane. And from his perspective, I think he fully expected all three Americans to be coming home.”
Fowle’s release Tuesday from North Korea, where he was accused in early May of leaving a Bible in a public location, came as a surprise not only to him, but to others who had worked to secure his freedom. Meanwhile, both Bae and Miller remain imprisoned, serving 15-year and six-year terms, respectively.
The Korea Central News Agency, the DPRK’s government-run media outlet, said its leader, Kim Jong Un, ordered the release of Fowle, who was referred to as a “U.S. criminal,” after considering repeated requests from President Barack Obama.
During Fowle’s captivity, his family had sought to enlist the aid of Obama and former presidents in order to gain his release.
On Tuesday, Fowle went from his room, where Tepe said his client was alone each day for all but about an hour, to a U.S. military plane “rather quickly, less than an hour.”
Tepe said to the best of his knowledge that Fowle was not debriefed by U.S. government officials. On the aircraft, Fowle was accompanied by several Americans, all of them in plain clothes, he said
“I think he had a lot of questions that he wanted to ask,” Tepe said. “Who were these people on the plane? Why wasn’t Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller with him? How did he get released? He still doesn’t have answers to those questions. I think Jeff’s mind was just spinning.”
Normally unable to sleep on planes, the Beavercreek High School graduate and former Moraine city worker was unable to get much rest, Tepe said, but ate some waffles and other “typical food.” Meanwhile, the plane stopped in Guam, where Fowle received a medical check-up, before refueling in Hawaii and later touching down at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday.
“He was exhausted after he got off the plane,” Tepe said.
Fowle was greeted by his wife, Tatyana, and their three children — Alex, Chris and Stephanie — before being taken by motorcade to their house on Soldiers Home Road, where local, national and international news organizations were camped out.
“When Jeff landed, he had no idea of the intense media coverage the case had generated,” Tepe said. “It wasn’t really until we were pulling onto his street, and he saw the six or seven satellite trucks sitting there, that I think it really hit him.”
Fowle is interested in “getting back into a routine with Tatyana and the kids,” and intends to return to work for the city of Moraine, where he had worked for more than 26 years before being terminated in September after his sick leave expired.
The city’s severance agreement stipulated that Fowle could be reinstated, and Moraine officials said his former position remains open and available for him.
“I think he wants to get back to normalcy,” Tepe said.
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