How a U.S. woman got stuck in an East Timor jail

An Oregon woman said a simple misunderstanding has landed her in a jail cell thousands of miles from home.

Stacey Addison was visiting East Timor in Southeast Asia, but became tied up in a drug trafficking case that stemmed from a cab ride with a stranger. Now her mom is making it her mission to bring her daughter home, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

Addison was on an adventure she'd planned for two years; a trip alone around the world, from Antarctica, to Central America, to Asia.

Back home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, her mother Bernadette Kero collected the postcards.

"She's just the most responsible person I've ever met and never ever, ever had any sort of problem, trouble, you know, in her life," her mom Kero said.

Addison loves animals. She's a veterinarian and her goal was to see wildlife wherever she traveled.

In early September, she crossed the border from Indonesia into the relatively new nation of East Timor, sharing a taxi with another traveler.

"The other passenger said he wanted to pick up a package at DHL and when he came out, the police swarmed it and she was terrified," Kero said.

She didn't know the other passenger.

"No, complete stranger, except they shared this vehicle, this taxi," her mother said.

Addison spent the next four nights in jail. Officials eventually released her, but seized her passport, leaving her unable to leave the country. She could reach people back home on Skype.

"Police searched me, they tested my urine. Everything was negative, so I thought its okay, it will be okay -- but it's not," Addison said.

"She was hopeful that she was going to be able to come home," mom Kero said.

East Timor gained its independence only in 2002 and its justice system is still under development. Without explanation, on October 28, Stacey was arrested again and has been in prison ever since.

"Our understanding is that Dr. Addison is currently being detained as a witness to a crime," U.S. Department of State spokesperson Jen Psaki said.

Addison's mother now spends most of her days working for her daughter's freedom.

"Just to think of it, to think that she's in a cell locked up, 18 hours a day, really it breaks my heart to think of it," Kero said. "I'm trying to write everybody I can. I'll write the Pope, Bill Clinton -- someone's got to be out there that can resolve this."

Addison has a local lawyer, and American embassy officials visit her regularly, but they have little information about her case.

"I just want my daughter home, that's all, I just want my daughter to be freed, to come home," Kero said.

November 5th was Addison's 41st birthday, and in a note to her mother she said fellow prisoners helped her mark the day.

"They said they didn't have anything to give her, but they would pray for her to be able to come back to America," Kero said.

For more information, visit the "Help Stacey" Facebook page.