Pvt. Angel Gonzales poses for a photo on a path in this undated photo. Gonzales, with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, was reported absent by his unit after leaving Aviano Air Base last week and turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Rome on March 14, 2024. (U.S. Army)

A 173rd Airborne Brigade soldier who was AWOL for nearly a week after walking away from Aviano Air Base is in military custody, officials said.

Pvt. Angel Gonzales turned himself in Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, said Jeff Alderson, a spokesman for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force. Gonzales will be returned to his unit in Germany, Alderson said.

Gonzales, a cannon crewmember stationed in Grafenwoehr, was in Aviano for a routine training exercise, brigade spokeswoman Capt. Jennifer French said Monday.

He was part of a parachute detail on the night of March 7 and left voluntarily during the early morning hours the following day, she said.

The unit searched the immediate area for four days before heading back to Germany, French said.

The Army Criminal Investigative Division was notified last week of Gonzales’ disappearance, but the agency did not investigate the case because there was no indication that Gonzales was threatened or that a third party was involved, French said.

However, authorities at the U.S. Army base in Vilseck, Germany, did open a missing person case regarding Gonzales, she said.

Stars and Stripes reporter Brian Erickson contributed to this report.