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Thread: Nicole Vienneau (32) Canadian tourist missing in Syria since 07

  1. #1
    Olivia
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    Nicole Vienneau (32) Canadian tourist missing in Syria since 07

    My sister, Nicole Vienneau, a Canadian tourist, disappeared in Syria on March 31st, 2007 at the age of 32. She was in her fifth month of a six-month solo adventure through West Africa and the Middle East. She was last seen by the desk clerk as she left the Cairo Hotel in Hama, two hours north of Damascus. We know she intended to return to the hotel as her backpack was left in her room along with the picture-filled memory cards from her camera. Nicole had recently been asking other guests and hotel staff about how to get to the "Beehive Houses", a local sightseeing destination, as well as Qasr Ibn Wardan (a nearby castle). No one at these locations recalls seeing Nicole (and they are not heavily visited). Nicole preferred taking local transit, but none of the minibus drivers or locals remembers her either. The streets from the hotel to the minibus pick-up are main streets with lots of people, even at 8:30 in the morning.

    In May 2007, I flew to Syria with Nicole's fiancé Gary to re-trace her steps and meet with police and local officials. Gary spent an additional two months criss-crossing Syria searching for clues. My mother visited Syria in July 2007 and met with the Grand Mufti as well as the Minister of the Interior. She also made a personal plea on Syrian television and we put ads in the newspapers and local flyers. Gary and my mother returned to Syria in April of this year to raise awareness and follow up on leads with officials and the police. A third trip is planned for my mother in the coming months.

    There is up to 2,250,000 Syrian pounds ($45,000) in reward money for information leading us to Nicole.

    We are currently looking for other guests at the Cairo Hotel in case they spoke with Nicole.

    We are currently very interested in finding Amin Ben Yahia, born in 1984, father's name is Abbas, mother's name is Monica, nationality - Algerian (Mother may be Swiss). Amin visited Qasr Ibn Wardan on the day Nicole disappeared and we'd love to ask if he saw or remembers anything unusual about that day

    http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html

    At the link there is an archived journal of the search for Nicole and her brother updates regularly

  2. #2
    Senior Member kevansvault's Avatar
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    Re: Nicole Vienneau (32) Canadian tourist missing in Syria since 07

    Wow, Olivia...my heart aches to hear that.  I can't imagine what your family must be going through.  I hope your sister is found very soon.
    Don't like what I have to say? I respect that. Go fuck yourself.

  3. #3
    Olivia
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    Re: Nicole Vienneau (32) Canadian tourist missing in Syria since 07

    [quote author=kevansvault link=topic=18460.msg1172904#msg1172904 date=1233683460]
    Wow, Olivia...my heart aches to hear that.  I can't imagine what your family must be going through.  I hope your sister is found very soon.
    [/quote]

    She isn't my sister - I just copied and pasted direct from the website.  Sorry should have been more clear

  4. #4
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    Re: Nicole Vienneau (32) Canadian tourist missing in Syria since 07

    lol

  5. #5
    Senior Member Hayalet's Avatar
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    Re: Nicole Vienneau (32) Canadian tourist missing in Syria since 07

    Just an interesting article-



    Matthew Vienneau knows what it feels like to have a loved one fall off the face of the earth. His sister, Nicole, was last seen in Syria on March 31, 2007. She was an experienced traveller on the last leg of a trip that had taken her through Africa and the Middle East. Just a few weeks before, in fact, Mr. Vienneau was travelling with his sister but left for Canada before she did. It was a given she stay in touch with family at least once every two weeks while away and would arrive home safely.

    The family reported her missing on April 22. She was 32 when she disappeared.

    "At this point we mostly want to know what happened," he said. "There's always a slim possibility she's in a harem somewhere or was captured and being held, but it's extremely unlikely after all these months."

    When he first approached Foreign Affairs about his sister the message was to remain calm.

    "The government's first assumption, which is a correct one, is that the person has just gone missing and has lost contact because so many people go missing for several days. So they said, ‘Let's not panic just yet. We'll inform the embassy and we'll start checking official channels.' "

    The cautious approach made sense given that Nicole once went missing 15 years before in Jakarta but it turned out to be a communications glitch.

    But Mr. Vienneau soon realized there was little the government could do to find missing persons in foreign countries, especially when it is not a kidnapping and there is no one demanding a ransom or trying to make a political point.

    Canada has no jurisdiction outside its own borders. If someone goes missing in Canada, it is the Canadian police who look; in Syria, it is up to the Syrian authorities.

    It was obviously not an expertise he ever hoped to gain, but in the 18 months since Nicole vanished, Mr. Vienneau has become an expert of sorts on what needs to be done when a crisis like this hits.

    "If someone dies in an avalanche you immediately have your search teams out, police and governments begin investigating. Everyone's out there," Mr. Vienneau said. "And you kind of feel that when someone goes missing, like my sister, that the same thing is going to happen. But outside of Canada it's not true."

    When Nicole went missing Mr. Vienneau said got advice from others who had been in the same situation. They all said you have to go to the country yourself.

    "You are so much more effective when you are there and talking to people and getting information first hand. You get the lay of the land. But even when you're there, you have to do it all yourself. The expectation that it will be someone else's top priority just because it's yours is not true."

    By May, the family had sprung into action. They began doing a search of cheap hotels and by May 3, located Nicole's gear at the Cairo Hotel, two hours north of Damascus in Hama. Since then, the family has spent $100,000 of its own money on lawyers and investigators; family members have travelled to Syria and searched by foot far and wide.

    Nicole's boyfriend, Gary, spent months in the country retracing Nicole's steps and speaking with officials. His mother went to Syria in July 2007 and met with the Grand Mufti as well as the Minister of the Interior. She also made a personal plea on Syrian television and they put ads in the newspapers and local flyers.

    Mr. Vienneau set up a blog to keep information coming. Wired magazine did a story on the blog to show just how effective a web network can be. To date they have found 80% of the guests who were staying in the Cairo Hotel. They even managed to get people, through the blog, to trek to villages in such places as the Czech Republic and Finland to interview hotels guest.

    "I had a theory that the more people that got involved, the more likely someone would be able to give me information or help me out or have a connection. If at some point we applied political pressure we wanted to make sure we had the media interest too.

    "We also like having the attention because it shows people are concerned. It keeps us going to know that people are watching and hoping for us."

    He said with an 18-month perspective, there are things he would now do differently. They did not organize files because they were sure Nicole would show up in a few weeks. But after a while there were 5,000 emails and other documents and it was a chore to figure out where everything was.

    He would have also kept a running timeline right from the start so that every time a new person got involved they could hand over a clear file of what had already been done.

    But one thing he said he did do right from the beginning was to stay level-headed.

    "You're not going to get much accomplished if you're all over the place. And I'm able to distance myself and look at it as a problem to be solved. Let's figure out this puzzle."

    Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1160831#ixzz0TBzi4qNq

    http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1160831

    "Forensic astrology"

    http://forensicastrology.blogspot.com/2009/09/jacqueline-nicole-vienneau.html

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