warmbier came here on a private sight-seeing tour. after a night out on the town to celebrate new year s eve, the university of virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner from the wall of his hotel. for that, he got a 15 year sentence. soon after, mysteriously, he ended up with a brain injury. in north korea, otto warmbier has been released. hets go to straight to our will ripley. this was one of the hardest reports i ve ever had to give. i d spoken just weeks earlier with warmbier s parents. at the time, they had no idea about their son s deny. but this reunion is not the happy union tha his family had been hoping for as recentl as a wee ago because that is when they learned, according to a family statement, that otto warmbier has been in a coma since march of 2016. in june of 2017, he returned to his hometown near cincinnati, ohio, in a vegetative state.