Missing Iraq Vet May Have Phoned Home

Feb. 22, 2008— -- The missing ex-Marine who vanished into the Florida woods earlier this month during a "combat flashback" is believed to have phoned a female acquaintance twice this week, his mother told ABC News.

"We can kind of confirm it because the nature of the conversation was very personal between the two of them," said Becky Hall, the mother of 24-year-old Eric Hall.

The first call came into the unidentified friend's cell phone early Thursday morning, Becky Hall said. The conversation lasted about 45 seconds with Eric Hall mentioning the names of the woman's children, she said.

Becky Hall said she alerted the local media and a local news channel aired a story about the phone call Thursday evening. Shortly after the broadcast, around 7:30 p.m., Hall placed a second call to his friend in Indiana, a woman his mother described as an old high school pal and confidant.

Eric Hall had apparently seen the newscast, his mother said, because in the second call he warned the woman that someone was coming to get her. The woman tried to prompt Hall to explain where he was and told him to call home, Becky Hall said, but the conversation, like the first one, was over in about 45 seconds.

"We feel like now he's trying to reach out," the missing Marine's mother said. "The message I'm trying to get across to him is that mom's here. I need you to call me. I need to hear that you're all right. And I love you Eric."

The former Marine, who suffered permanent injuries from an Iraqi bomb blast in 2005, exhibited some paranoia and what authorities described as a "combat flashback" when he fled from his grandmother's Florida home Feb. 3.Before fleeing, he began walking around the house shooting an imaginary gun at imaginary enemies.

Hall then took off on his motorcycle, which was later found lying in the middle of a road in Deep Creek, near Fort Myers, on Florida's west coast, with the engine running.