March 28, 2024, 11:30:24 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: NEW CHILD BOARD CREATED IN THE POLITICAL SECTION FOR THE 2016 ELECTION
 
   Home   Help Login Register  
Pages: 1 2 »   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: 23 year old Colorado woman Aubrey Sacco missing in Nepal, April 20, 2010  (Read 30782 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« on: May 20, 2010, 04:46:52 PM »

Search in Nepal Heats Up for Missing US HikerUpdated: 1 hour 14 minutes ago

David Lohr
 Contributor

AOL News (May 20) -- A massive search has been launched in Nepal for a 23-year-old Colorado woman who disappeared during a remote nature hike late last month.

The family of Aubrey Sacco recently traveled to Nepal to join in the search, but the sheer scale of the search area, combined with a shaky government infrastructure, is making the effort difficult.

"They are looking at roughly 80 different trails that she could have taken," Sacco family spokeswoman Aileen Barry told AOL News. "Not only that, but there is supposed to be a big government strike starting on Monday. If that happens, everything will be shut down, and the army and local search teams will no longer be able to help with the search."
 
Sacco was last heard from on April 20, when she set out on a weeklong hike in the Langtang Valley just south of the Tibetan border.

According to Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide publisher in the world, the area is "relatively isolated" and consists of "picturesque alpine wilderness and affords brilliant views of the mighty peaks of Langtang and Ganesh, as well as a sprawl of endless 6,000m+ summits."

Sacco was familiar with the area and had gone hiking there in the past. "She is no stranger to traveling," Barry said. "She has been traveling her whole life, and she is a very free spirit."

After graduating from the University of Colorado last year, Sacco, a talented artist and photographer, decided to spend some time traveling the world before determining which direction to go in her life. That journey began in December in Sri Lanka, an island country in South Asia. At the request of her family, Sacco chronicled her journey on a personal blog titled Glitter the World: Spreading the Sparkle One Country at a Time."

"I am currently on a five-month journey through Sri Lanka and Southern India," reads an introductory post on Sacco's blog. "I will be in Sri Lanka for one month, teaching yoga. ... I will then be spending my remaining time in India."

The last blog entry was made on April 15, just five days before Sacco's disappearance. In it, she wrote, "In India I have come to understand that the most incredible experiences are of something beautiful, magic, unique or rare."

Sacco's life-changing trip was nearing its end. On the day she went missing, she called her parents and updated them on her adventures and her plans to complete the trip in the Langtang Valley.

"She said she was going on April 20 and returning on the 29," Barry said. "She left her luggage, including her cell phone, her computer, her guitar and clothing, at a hotel, rented a backpack and took off."

Barry said authorities have confirmed that Sacco made it to two different check-in stations along the Langtang Valley trail, but whatever happened to her after that remains a mystery.

"Not long after she set out on the trail, there was a strike with dangerous protests," Barry said. "There were no phones, no transportation and no way for her to get back in touch with her parents. We think she turned around and went back up to the trail, but nobody has heard from her. We don't know if she got lost or if somebody kidnapped her. There are really no answers."

When Sacco failed to make contact with her family by May 4, it contacted the U.S. Embassy in Nepal and requested assistance. In response, the embassy began working with the Nepal government, the tourism board and local police. Several search parties were dispatched to the area, but no sign of Sacco was found.

Concerns for her safety were heightened on May 15, when she failed to make her return flight back to the U.S. In response, her father, Paul Sacco, along with her brother Crofton and Barry's nephew, Dinesh Shakya, an expert on Langtang National Park, decided to fly to Nepal to help in the search.

"We feel we've done as much as we can from our little control center at our home, and now we feel it's important to be on the ground and actually be talking with the people who are coordinating the search," Paul Sacco said in a May 17 interview with CBS4denver.com.

According to Barry, the men landed in Nepal on Wednesday, where they were met by representatives of Nepal's U.S. Embassy.

"They called last night to give us an update," Barry said. "They said the Nepalese Army has search crews with dogs out on the trails, and U.N. advisers have also joined that team. They are supposed to be getting helicopters up for the search today."

Barry said concerns over another possible strike have led the Saccos to contact outside resources. As a result, several search and recovery teams from all over the world are heading to Nepal to assist in the search.

"We want to be prepared, because this next strike is supposed to bring some heavy-duty clashes," Barry said.

Meanwhile, the Saccos are asking anyone who can assist in the search to contact them by e-mail at csacco2700@gmail.com.

"I pray to God she is found safe," Barry said. "Her thing is to spread glitter around the world, and I want her to continue doing that."
Logged

2 4 1
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2010, 04:55:01 PM »




Forgot her picture
Logged

2 4 1
klaasend
Administrator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 74276



WWW
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2010, 04:55:21 PM »

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=10219519&ref=search&sid=1570897983.2534659815..1



http://www.aubreysacco.com/acs/home.html

http://blogs.bootsnall.com/aubrey/

http://picasaweb.google.com/GlitterTheWorld/FirstEverSchoolPictureDay#5452981709929870002

Me and Latha ~ she is just Beautiful!
Photo information
Loading…
 
Mar 25, 2010
1600×1066 pixels – 200KB
Filename: IMG_5665.JPG
Camera: Canon
Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Focal Length: 18mm
Flash Used: Yes
Latitude: n/a
Longitude: n/a
more info

Logged
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2010, 05:24:54 PM »

Thanks Klaas


http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/

Colorado man headed to Nepal to find daughter

The Himalayan Times
 
 
 
 Associated Press


DENVER: A Colorado man whose daughter is overdue from a trek in Nepal is traveling there to try to find her.



Paul Sacco of Greeley had a flight Monday to Nepal. He and his wife haven't heard from their 23-year-old daughter, Aubrey Sacco, since April 20, when she e-mailed plans of hiking alone through Nepal's Langtang region.



She planned to finish around April 30, but while she was in Langtang National Park, protests and strikes demanding the resignation of Nepal's prime minister shut down businesses, transportation and much of the local communication networks.



She had been scheduled to fly Saturday from Nepal to Sri Lanka, but no recent sightings of her have been reported.



Aubrey Sacco graduated from the University of Colorado last year.

Logged

2 4 1
klaasend
Administrator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 74276



WWW
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2010, 05:43:15 PM »

http://**/greeley/ci_15127247

Dad of missing Nepal hiker finds daughter's laptop
The Associated Press
Posted: 05/20/2010 02:33:38 PM MDT
Updated: 05/20/2010 03:08:16 PM MDT



DENVER—The father of a Colorado woman who went missing while hiking in Nepal has discovered the missing woman's laptop and journal in the last hotel where she stayed.

A friend of missing hiker Aubrey Sacco told The Associated Press Thursday that the 23-year-old's father, Paul Sacco, is in Nepal looking for Aubrey. Aubrey Sacco has been missing since last month, when she left for a solo hike in the Himalayan mountains.

The family friend, Aileen Barry, says Paul Sacco found some personal items belonging to Aubrey at the last hotel where she stayed. Barry said Sacco has also met with officials from the U.S. embassy but that no more clues have been found to indicate what happened to Aubrey Sacco
Logged
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2010, 03:29:40 PM »

Don't know if this has any connection or not. Why, she went into Nepal I will never understand. I have friends from there and they are even afraid to go back to visit.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Missing+doc%27s+briefcase+found&NewsID=244921&a=3

Missing doc's briefcase found
Last Updated : 2010-05-22 11:33 PM
The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s)



CHITWAN: Police today found the briefcase belonging to Dr Bhaktaman Shrestha, executive director of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur, who has been missing since last Tuesday.

According to Bikas Adhikari, sub-inspector, Area Police Office, Muglin, Yam Bahadur Thapa of Labaltar, Darechok-3, had found the briefcase in Ghoptebhir on Wednesday morning.

After learning that Dr Shrestha was missing, Thapa had told about the briefcase to the manager of Manakamana Cable Car, who in turn informed the police.

Police said the briefcase contained Dr Shrestha’s and his wife Shilu’s identity cards and their passport size photographs and two blank cards of Karmachari

Sanchaya Kosh.

Dr Shrestha’s car was found in Kudahar Chowk, Pokhara-10 on Wednesday evening. Police suspect at least two vehicles were used to kidnap him as the car was found in Pokhara whereas the briefcase was found in Darechok.

Meanwhile, police found three bodies in the Narayani River while searching for Dr Shrestha. Bishwonath Ojha, a member of the search team, said the bodies are yet to be identified.


 
Logged

2 4 1
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2010, 11:35:25 PM »

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20100521/NEWS/100529945/1002&parentprofile=1001
Mother holds out hope for daughter missing in Nepal
May 21, 2010


Recent developments
Authorities in Nepal are searching for a young man who recently had contact with Aubrey Sacco, said Aileen Barry, a friend of the family.
Aubrey apparently met the man in India, and family members learned recently that he was also in Nepal when Aubrey was there, Barry said.
Paul Sacco, the father of Aubrey, recovered his missing daughter's laptop computer and journal from the last hotel where she stayed.
The journal was heartbreaking to read, Barry said.
“There were so many passages like ‘Thank you Mommy and Daddy for letting me take this trip,'” Barry said. “They had to stop reading it.”
» How to help: A fund for the search for Aubrey Sacco is set up at Colorado East Bank & Trust. The website is www.coloeast.com. The nearest branch is in La Salle, 207 1st Ave., but there are locations in Keenesburg and Dacono as well.
La Salle's branch number is (970) 284-0211.
» Where to go: A gathering with music for Aubrey will be at 5 p.m. Sunday at Greeley Central High School, 1515 14th Ave. Participants should bring soccer balls and glitter ribbons. The event is free and will be held outside. In case of bad weather, the event will be in the gym.


 Connie Sacco sits in the room with the TV playing soft, comforting music. An orange cat climbs on her lap and purrs. A laptop glows by her side, and the phone sits at her feet.

She wanted to talk in here, in the living room of her Greeley home, because she wanted to get out of the other room, where she's spent most of her time since her daughter, Aubrey, went missing in Nepal after April 29. It's nice to hear a little music. The house has been too quiet — like a morgue, she says. Then she laughs a bit. She's only half-kidding.

It's still pretty quiet through the music and the purring, until the phone rings, and Amanda Allen, Connie's future daughter-in-law, explodes like a sprinter out of the blocks to find it. Connie can't find the phone until she looks down at her bare feet. She sheepishly apologizes to Amanda.

As the conversation about her daughter goes on, she knows she can't stay there. She sighs and asks you if you want to see the other room. She gets up before you answer. She and a bevy of friends, family and neighbors call it Ground Zero. A piece of paper on the door — a sign, of sorts — says so in black marker, and underneath, it says “Glitterville.”

A map of Nepal and the line of trekking trails, including the one where Aubrey vanished, is marked with pins, neon sticky notes and scrawled notations. Connie stands before the map and starts talking. She talks about this trail, and how Aubrey was seen two days after she signed in at Langtang National Park. A hotel clerk thinks she had pizza and a Coke. Connie is doubtful. Aubrey does not drink Coke.

She points out other trails and areas where Aubrey could be, where others may have seen her, where she could have gone astray. She could have gone down here, or maybe she went to see some chanting monks down this way, only if she did, it's hard to find your way back. Connie talks nonstop about all of it. If she were a TV show, she would be well past a commercial break.

The map is marked from hours, days and weeks of phone calls, e-mails and Facebook messages from a seemingly endless corps of people wanting to help search for her. Her husband, Paul, and her son, Crofton, both guided by family friend and Nepal native Dinesh Raj Shakya, are over there now, looking for her, and though this makes her think her work here is done, she knows that's not true. She won't let herself be done. Most of this work, because of the 12-hour difference, is done during graveyard hours. Her face shows it. She's exhausted. But she'll sleep when Aubrey's home. Aubrey, then, will clean the house, she says. Then she laughs. She's not kidding.

She is asked if, maybe, she's a little obsessed with the search. She gives you a wry smile.

“I think we obsess about our children since the day they are born,” Connie said. “I'm a mother. This is my job now. It's my job to be obsessed.”

And since Aubrey's disappearance, she's been working overtime.

» » »
Connie will admit she's a bit of a worrier, and that worrying nature — a common trait among mothers — doesn't exactly mesh with Aubrey's free spirit.

Aubrey teaches yoga. She is an artist. She loves and creates and paints bright and colorful things — Aubrey called it glitter — and that's why Connie's asking friends to attach sparkly, flashy ribbons — glitter, if you will — to their trees and mailboxes. But nature's flashiest, most colorful creatures are birds, and many birds migrate, flying thousands of miles across the world, and so, even though she was only 23 and tiny, she was a traveler. This, of course, made Connie nervous.

Connie once called the police because she didn't hear from Aubrey the whole night, and her daughter was furious. She was in college by then. But Connie called it holding her daughter accountable. She simply needed to know where she was.

This is what worries Connie the most. She believes Aubrey is alive. She calls Aubrey “her little girl” when she says this. Connie believes if Aubrey was dead, she would know it. She would feel dread, and though the stress and worry is compounded daily, she doesn't feel that black, hopeless gnawing in the gut that something is really wrong. But Aubrey understands her, Connie said, and she finds it hard to believe that her daughter would string her along like this. She never has before.

Still, there are many plausible theories for this, including a Maoist strike that stranded travelers the day after Aubrey's expected return, the loss of any communication, even the Internet, as a result of that strike, or the trails that braid off from the safe trek through Langtang. One of those trails strands many trekkers because it's hard to climb out of the area once they head down to the bottom. Though Aubrey is tiny, she's tough. Amanda, who is also one of Aubrey's best friends as well as her brother's fiancé, remembers playing soccer against her when they were both young and being afraid of her speed and ferocity.

That's why Connie stays in the house, afraid to even go to the mailbox, because the phone might ring, and it might be her. She stays up all night, almost every night, sifting through hundreds of e-mails, praying one of them will be from Aubrey. She hasn't worked in weeks, though she jokes she has an understanding boss: She works in her husband's law office.

Her youngest, Morgan, doesn't know what to do, and Connie keeps telling him to seek out the support of his friends. Connie has that support, she says, and she thanks God for it. Neighbors pop by, bringing meals or, more importantly, their company, and Amanda has slept there every night. Without that support, Connie said, the crushing quiet of the house, especially now that her husband and son are gone, would probably drive her insane.

She needs help monitoring the phone, the e-mails and the possible sightings. It is all-consuming.

Ah, those sightings. In most missing person cases, there are hours of worry, but those are coupled with moments of hope, even elation, and all of the ups and downs are wearing her down.

The last time was the worst. This was the day before Saturday, when Aubrey was due back on the flight home, and Connie heard through their extensive contacts that a small, foreign woman who did yoga was needing to get home to catch her plane. It HAD to be her. Connie already had plans for her. Like cleaning the house after they celebrated her return.

It was 2 a.m., but Connie was so excited she got everybody up, and they gathered together in Ground Zero, by the map, in their exhaustion, and waited anxiously as the hotel owner brought the phone to the woman. And the woman answered with a French accent. That was crushing.

“It was hard to go to bed that night,” Connie said.

Still, even if that disappointment led to another sleepless night, it also showed just how much help they really have. The U.S. Embassy in Nepal, soldiers, the police, volunteer searchers, even the Maoists who shut the city down are all out looking for her. Strangers are now friends, including Scott MacLennan, founder of The Mountain Fund, which works to eliminate poverty in mountain communities. MacLennan has devoted a ton of his time and energy to help the Saccos find her. There are many other examples, too many to mention, but another stands out: A helicopter pilot said he would devote his time to searching for her if they only paid for his gas.

A Facebook post Thursday from a hiker on the Langtang trek said he was thinking of Aubrey and that there were posters with her photo everywhere and that locals, including volunteers, were engaged in trying to find her.

Representatives from the embassy told Connie just a couple days ago that they've never seen such an organized search in their lives. Connie said her family and friends are “winging it,” but they have a weapon.

“When you're obsessed to find your daughter,” Connie said, “you can put together some pretty amazing searches.”

All of this continues to give Connie hope, and that hope is what allows her to sleep at times, even if it's only for a few hours. There is hope everywhere. She sees it every time she passes another house with those glittery ribbons on their tree trunks. It means others are thinking of Aubrey. Maybe not as much as her. But even if they keep her in their thoughts for a little time every day, it increases the chances that she'll be found.

Connie presses a glitter ribbon pin in your hand. She reaches down into a box by the door and cuts a long swath of sky blue and yellow ribbons. That is for your tree or house.

“Spread the word,” she said. “Until Aubrey comes home.”
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
klaasend
Administrator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 74276



WWW
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2010, 09:24:28 AM »

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20100524/NEWS/100529819/1051&ParentProfile=1001

Family, friends hold on to hope at gathering for Aubrey Sacco


By Dan England,
Even as dark thoughts began to hang over the friends and family of Aubrey Sacco, they gathered Sunday armed with the things she loved most to drive those thoughts away.

If you didn't know Aubrey, you might think Sunday's gathering was eccentric. Friends lit incense, hung Himalayan prayer flags and decorated a “hope tree” with bright ribbons near the entrance of Greeley Central High School, where Aubrey, 23, graduated a few years ago. And everyone wore crazy hats and sunglasses, and some wore glitter on their bodies. It was exactly the kind of gathering Aubrey would have ordered up to get people to stop worrying about her.

“People probably think we're nuts,” said Aileen Barry, a family friend who has helped coordinate the event. “But that's OK. We need to be a little nuts right now.”

They needed the music, even a CD recorded by Aubrey and Paul, her father who is now in Nepal searching for her. They needed the loud pep talk, the kind given by football coaches, by Connie, her mother, who said the gathering of 50 (and growing) was good because it let Aubrey know they wanted her home. And they needed the laughs after Connie said Aubrey would be grounded indefinitely once she did come home. It was probably the first time Connie spent significant time out of the house in weeks.

Aubrey was due back from the Langtang National Park trek on April 29, and a search for her started soon after. Paul is directing the search from Nepal, and Connie is directing it from the den labeled “Glitterville” by a hand-drawn sign on the door.

They needed it all because Barry said everyone was now looking into darker possibilities, such as kidnappings or worse, even as they continued to hold out hope that she would be found on the trail or in one of the nearby villages.

Indeed, the gathering shifted back and forth from a happy, crazy, fun party to a somber, tear-filled remembrance every few minutes, and sometimes it was both at the same time.

“We're trying not to look into that stuff,” Barry said, “but we've got to look into that stuff.”

Friends such as Kari Lynch, 23, and Chrissy Swanson, 22, enjoyed the music and the balloons and all that glitter as others wrote messages to her in cards.

“I think it helps,” Lynch said. “It's helpful to see everyone together, and I think it's helpful to the family to see how many love her.”

Michael Hamling decorated that hope tree with dozens of bright ribbons, almost to the point where you couldn't see the bark any longer. She decorated herself, too, so much with glitter paint that she gave off a glare in the early evening sun. Hamling played in an orchestra with Aubrey when they were younger and swapped art projects with her. She remembered one such project when Aubrey coated a doughnut in glitter and then ate it.

“I'm trying to keep the worst things out of my mind,” Hamling said. “Aubrey was always so positive. She believed in that. She never focused on the negative. So why should we?”

A strong wind blew and almost took a shiny butterfly balloon to the sky. But Hamling chased it for a few yards, and just when it seemed the balloon was going to get away for good, she pinched a small piece at the end and brought it back to earth.

That symbolic gesture was replaced by another, when they all gathered in a circle and released all the balloons, including the butterfly, to send positive energy to Aubrey for her safe return.
Logged
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2010, 04:51:34 PM »




http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37374391/ns/today-today_people/

Parents vow to find daughter missing in Nepal
Aubrey Sacco, 23, is a ‘free spirit’ who disappeared while hiking alone
 
TODAY
Aubrey Sacco disappeared during a planned 10-day hike in Nepal. Her parents are convinced the free-spirited 23-year-old is alive, and her father has vowed not to return from Southeast Asia until she is found.
 
May 27: Aubrey Sacco was last seen trekking through the Himalayas. When she failed to call home, her parents began to worry, calling it “every parent's nightmare.”
Today show
 
Aubrey Sacco is no shrinking violet. The 2009 graduate of the University of Colorado with degrees in studio art and psychology is, in her own words, an artist, traveler and yogi. Her motto, expressed on her Web page, is “Make love to life.”

Late last year, the globe-trotting 23-year-old set off on a trek to India and the Himalayas. Starting with a stint as a yoga instructor at a resort in Sri Lanka, she eventually made her way to Nepal, where she set off on April 20 for a trek through Langtang National Park in the Himalayas. She planned to finish the hike by April 29 or 30.

She hasn’t been seen since. It is, her mother, Connie Sacco, told NBC News, “every parent’s nightmare.”

Traveling alone
The Greeley, Colo., mother said Aubrey checked in with park officials when she began the hike, but she never checked out of the park. Connie Sacco believes her daughter was hiking alone without a guide or porter. She did not make contact with her parents at the end of April as she had promised.

“She’s a free spirit. She’s an artist, she’s a yogi, she knows herself. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever known,” Connie told NBC in a report that aired Thursday on TODAY. “She’s my best friend in the world. She knows that, and I know she knows we’re trying to find her.”

Om Bahadur Rana, the police chief in the Rasuwa area, said police teams were searching the trekking route and interviewing inn owners and villagers. Word has been sent to local monasteries, which are often visited by foreign trekkers.

Rana said the teams are searching for clues up to 300 feet on either side of the mountain trail. Police sniffer dogs will also join the search, he said, adding that no one has reported seeing a woman meeting her description leave the area.

‘A big place’
The search was unable to begin sooner because mass protests on May 1 and a general strike imposed by Maoist former rebels shut down all transportation in Nepal until May 7.

 
Missing hiker Aubrey Sacco started off her Asian travels with a stint as a yoga instructor in Sri Lanka.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Thousands of Western backpackers visit during the spring season to hike in Nepal, home to dozens of popular mountain trails as well as Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.

Aubrey’s father, attorney Paul Sacco, has flown to Katmandu to help with the search. Friends have created a Facebook page to keep Aubrey’s friends up to date on developments in the search.

The U.S. Embassy in Katmandu is also involved in trying to find a traveling companion that Aubrey may have met along the way. The Nepalese government is coordinating search efforts.

“The best way to find my daughter is to have all those people on the trail looking for her. Even though we have some good people, it doesn’t hurt to have numbers. It’s a big place,” Paul Sacco told NBC News.

Positive thoughts
Aubrey Sacco is an experienced traveler. According to ColoradoDaily.com, she had traveled to Panama, Japan and Asia under grants arranged by the University of Colorado.
 
“She is incredibly courageous and a free spirit,” Paul Sacco told ColoradoDaily.

The father said he won’t come home until he finds his daughter. He’s hoping to find other trekkers who may have run across her during her travels. Both parents feel she is alive.

“I feel that she’s just lost, she’s just gotten off the trail and she’s just missing,” Connie Sacco said. “My gut is that she’s waiting for her father to come and get her.”

“She may not be lost, but there’s no communication,” Paul Sacco told The Associated Press. “It’s terrible. But what do you do? Do you wait a month? It’s so frustrating. Aubrey is a student of Eastern philosophy, and she firmly believes that positive thoughts from everyone will fix any problem, and I really believe that.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.

Logged

2 4 1
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« Reply #9 on: June 02, 2010, 12:29:55 PM »

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20100602/NEWS/100609949/1051&ParentProfile=1001

Foul play creeps into fears of Aubrey Sacco's family

One thought has haunted Connie and Paul Sacco throughout the long, exhausting search for their daughter, Aubrey, that has stretched into more than a month.

“She can't just disappear into thin air,” said Aileen Barry, the family's spokeswoman and friend.

So the Saccos have expanded their search in Nepal beyond the area of the Langtang National Park's main trekking trail and its nearby villages and hotels because they fear foul play is a real possibility, Barry said Tuesday.

“They're still very hopeful,” Barry said. “But they're also being very realistic and looking at other options and things she might have faced.”

The Saccos always considered that, of course, but they were hopeful she may have just lost her way because they were told by Nepal officials that the area was safe. Paul, however, held a news conference Monday in Nepal, where he has searched for Aubrey for two weeks, to talk about other Western tourists who have disappeared while trekking alone in Nepal.

Those cases include Julian Wynne, a British tourist trekking in the Everest region who vanished in December 2008 and hasn't been found since, Paul said at the news conference, according to The Times of India.

Paul traced Aubrey to a hotel, where she stayed on April 21, and resumed trekking the following day, staying at a hotel for lunch. She vanished and no one has reported seeing her since.

That's especially disturbing, given that a substantial reward of 100,000 rupees is being offered for information leading to Aubrey's whereabouts, Barry said.

“That could feed a family for years over there,” she said, “and yet no one has come forward.”

Sacco is now searching hospitals, jails and other places, and back home in Greeley, Connie and Barry have appeared on several national TV news programs, including “The Early Show,” the “Today” show and CNN.

“There's something else there,” Barry said, “and that's what we're trying to find out.”
Logged

2 4 1
Edward
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3816



« Reply #10 on: June 02, 2010, 01:16:50 PM »

Positive thoughts
Aubrey Sacco is an experienced traveler. According to ColoradoDaily.com, she had traveled to Panama, Japan and Asia under grants arranged by the University of Colorado.
 
“She is incredibly courageous and a free spirit,” Paul Sacco told ColoradoDaily.


Well then, Good Luck. 
Logged
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2010, 09:29:03 PM »

http://www.vigilantpress.com/family-of-missing-girl-in-nepal-offers-reward/2086.html
Family Of Missing Girl In Nepal Offers Reward
June 9, 2010

Colorado lawyer Paul Sacco,in high hopes of finding her missing daughter alive.

The 23 year old Aubrey Sacco was on solo post-college trip to Sri Lanka and India when she told herfamily that she had gone to Nepal.She graduated at University of Colorado in 2009. Sacco told her family that on April 20th that she’d be hiking alone in the Langtang National Park,base of the Himalayas north of Kathmandu,Nepal’s capital.

Her father, Atty Paul Sacco,believes that she’s still wanting to be found.

In his interview via Skype from Kathmandu,”I have a strong connection to her. Sometimes a family member can feel if a person is dead or in pain, like intuition. I have a very strong feeling that she’s alive.”

On May 19, Paul Saco andhis son along with a Nepali family friend who resides in Colorado arrived in Nepal to help coordinate efforts on searching. Through discussions with the witnesses and invetigation reports, the Sacco fmily learned that:

• Aubrey left a Kathmandu hotel on April 20 and took a bus to Langtang National Park. She left the belongings that she wouldn’t be hiking with — like luggage and a computer — at that hotel and never came back for them.

• Aubrey started her trek on April 21 and stayed the night at a hotel in the park. There, she spoke with a trekking guide, and they talked about opportunities for her to volunteer with schoolchildren in Kathmandu after she finished the hike, according to her mother, Connie Sacco, who is following events from Colorado.

• The guide says he saw Aubrey continue her hike on April 22. That day, a different hotel farther along the trek has a record of her having tea — her last known location, according to Paul Sacco.

The family offered a reward for about 100,000 Nepali rupees($1,320) for any infornation leading to her discovery.
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2010, 09:30:32 PM »

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/06/09/colorado.missing.hiker.nepal/?hpt=C1
Lack of witnesses, records baffle dad searching for Nepal hiker
June 9, 2010
(CNN) -- Three weeks into his personal search for his daughter in Nepal, Colorado lawyer Paul Sacco keeps running into this: The last trace of 23-year-old Aubrey Sacco was at a hotel a day after she began hiking in the Asian country in April.

Still, Paul Sacco plans to keep looking, buoyed by his belief that someone must have noticed the outgoing, 5-foot-tall artist and yoga instructor sometime after that. He also was given hope by the local Buddhist monks, who tell him they sense she's alive and still in Langtang National Park.

He says that he, too, feels she's still waiting to be found.

"I have a strong connection to her. Sometimes a family member can feel if a person is dead or in pain, like intuition. I have a very strong feeling that she's alive," Sacco said in an interview from Kathmandu via Skype this week.

Aubrey Sacco, of Greeley, Colorado, was on a five-month solo post-college trip through Sri Lanka and India when she told her family she'd gone to Nepal. The 2009 University of Colorado graduate said on April 20 that she'd be hiking alone in Langtang National Park at the base of the Himalayas north of Kathmandu, and would check back with them around April 29, according to her family.

Having not heard from her, the family started contacting the U.S. Embassy in Nepal around May 4. Embassy officials put missing-person posters in the airport and tourist areas and asked police and the Nepali military to start searches, according to embassy spokeswoman Nicole Chulick, and the Sacco family made contacts with other people in Nepal who also started looking.

On May 19, Paul Sacco, one of his sons and a Nepali family friend who lives in Colorado arrived in Nepal to monitor and help coordinate efforts. Through discussions with investigators and witnesses, the Sacco family says it has learned this:

• Aubrey left a Kathmandu hotel on April 20 and took a bus to Langtang National Park. She left the belongings that she wouldn't be hiking with -- like luggage and a computer -- at that hotel and never came back for them.

• Aubrey started her trek on April 21 and stayed the night at a hotel in the park. There, she spoke with a trekking guide, and they talked about opportunities for her to volunteer with schoolchildren in Kathmandu after she finished the hike, according to her mother, Connie Sacco, who is following events from Colorado.

• The guide says he saw Aubrey continue her hike on April 22. That day, a different hotel farther along the trek has a record of her having tea -- her last known location, according to Paul Sacco.

"What is very frustrating is that according to all the park's records, she just disappeared [after that tea]," Paul Sacco said. "There is no hard evidence as to where she is."

Sacco has speculated that Aubrey, at the end of her trek, might have had trouble finding a bus back to Kathmandu because of disruptive Maoist protests against the government in the capital in the beginning of May, and that she might have stayed in the park or tried to hike all the way back to the capital.

The family has offered a reward of 100,000 Nepali rupees (roughly $1,320, which experts told him was a good amount) for information leading to her discovery. Nepali police and soldiers continue to investigate and search, as do volunteers, including villagers who are helping at the urging of two Maoist leaders, Sacco said. Sacco, his son and family friend also have searched the trails for days.

The family also is working with private search-and-rescue teams, and the embassy this week helped arrange a local TV interview with Sacco to spread the word of Aubrey's disappearance, Chulick said. The embassy also has helped Sacco connect with Nepali authorities after he arrived, and a deputy of the embassy's consular section accompanied Sacco on one of the search missions, according to Chulick.

Sacco, who said he is grateful for all the help, said perhaps three-quarters of the park's hikable terrain has been searched. He now hopes to focus on a region through which Aubrey would have hiked had she decided to make a seven-day walk back to Kathmandu.

He said that, partly because Aubrey is a student of yoga and Eastern philosophy, he has consulted with Buddhist monks who claim psychic ability, including those who are said to have pinpointed missing hikers in the past.

"The general consensus among these people is that she is alive and she's in the park," he said.

That helps keep Sacco going in Nepal, where he is hosted by an American, Scott MacLennan, who is executive director of the Mountain Fund, a humanitarian organization that combats poverty in developing mountain communities. Sacco met MacLennan after Aubrey disappeared, and MacLennan has been helping the family conduct the search, Connie Sacco said.

On her Asian trip, Aubrey taught and took yoga classes in Sri Lanka, and volunteered at schools in India, helping them with art and music, her family said. She kept a blog of her travels; the last entry came on April 15.

"This is not an irresponsible traveler," her mother said. "She embraces the culture wherever she travels. She's the one you'll usually find with the villagers as opposed to the high-end places. She wanted to learn about places where she could volunteer."

"Her motto is 'glitter the world,' and she just glitters with her love and energy," Connie Sacco said.

Paul Sacco is able to do some of his law work from Nepal. His son, a law student, has put off an internship to look for Aubrey. Sacco said he'd stay there "as long as I feel I can be effective."

He said someone in the park must have seen her after the April 22 tea, and urged anyone with information to contact the family at findaubreyglitter@gmail.com or through a Facebook page dedicated to the search.

"She's bubbly and funny. Anybody who saw her is going to remember her," he said.
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2010, 09:03:40 PM »

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=United+States+warns+against+traveling+to+Nepal&NewsID=247070&a=3

United States warns against traveling to Nepal
Last Updated : 2010-06-16 2:27 PM
The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s)

 AP


KATHMANDU: The United States has warned its citizens not to travel to Nepal after months of street protests and political turmoil in the Himalayan nation.



The warning, issued by the State Department, said the United States remains concerned about the security situation in Nepal.



The Maoist former rebels shut down the country for more than a week last month protesting against the government. Street demonstrations turned violent with clashes between communist supporters and police.



No tourists were harmed during the protests, but a general strike shut down hotels, restaurants and transportation.



Logged

2 4 1
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2010, 06:54:31 PM »

http://sify.com/news/kin-hikes-reward-for-american-trekker-missing-in-nepal-news-international-kgqpucgijhf.html
Kin hikes reward for American trekker missing in Nepal
June 16, 2010

 Almost two months after a young American hiker went missing in Nepal, her family Wednesday trebled the reward for anyone who found her, refusing to call off their month-long search and rejecting the possibility that she may not be alive.

Paul Sacco, a former soccer player who travelled to Nepal last month to search for his 23-year-old daughter Aubrey, who went missing during a hike in the Langtang National Park in northern Nepal, said his family is now offering a reward of NRs.300,000 to anyone who finds her.

Aubrey, who was on a 'voyage of self-discovery' that took her to Sri Lanka, India and then Nepal, had planned to trek in Nepal and then do voluntary service.

She entered the Langtang trail April 20, according to park records, staying overnight at the Namaste Hotel.

On April 22, she had lunch at the Lama Hotel and then simply vanished into thin air.

Her family in Colorado initially thought she was late in communicating with them due to the general strike called by Nepal's opposition Maoist party last month that caused hundreds of tourists to be stranded.

However, when the silence stretched on, her father arrived in Nepal with her brother Crofton to retrace her trail and try to find her or at least people who had seen her.

In their anxiety, they have even consulted psychic Buddhist monks who say Aubrey is alive though hindered by a negative presence that is causing her 'to make mistakes'.

A search is also on for a Canadian or American, tentatively identified as Mitch, who had travelled with the young woman to Kathmandu from India.

There were indications by Aubrey that she was growing tired of his presence and wanted to shake him off. Paul Sacco thinks it is 'peculiar' that the man did not contact any of the authorities in Nepal or US even though Aubrey's disappearance is now on the national news in the US as well.

The new reward announcement comes even as the US State Department issued a travel advisory asking Americans not to travel to Nepal.

Aubrey Sacco's disappearance is the latest in a string of incidents involving western tourists, mostly travelling alone.


In December 2008, British trekker Julian Wynne disappeared in the Everest region. In 2006, Kristina Kovacevic, a German trekker, was found dead in northern Nepal with police saying she fell down a mountain and her sister Karoline alleging foul play.

In 2005, German tourist Sabine Gruneklee and Celine Henry from France went missing after they entered the Nagarjuna forest on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley on separate days. Gruneklee's body was found a year later but the French volunteer is still listed as missing.

Between 2003 and 2004, three more tourists went missing, including an Indian, Kushagra Vasant Singh, from Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
SEARCH

Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
SuzieQ
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3266


Justice for Natalee


« Reply #15 on: June 18, 2010, 11:40:30 PM »

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5492814/the_search_for_aubrey_sacco_missing.html?cat=25

Link to videos of the search at this site:


The Search for Aubrey Sacco, Missing After Hiking in Nepal (Video): Would You Help Get Aubrey Home?  Published June 16, 2010 by:
Radell Hunter


Aubrey Sacco Went Missing in Nepal, Her Family Needs Your Help in the Search for Her
Paul and Connie Sacco need your help to find their daughter Aubrey. Aubrey, 21, was a recent Colorado college graduate when she headed overseas for a five-month jaunt through India, Sri Lanka and eventually Nepal, according to CNN. But the 23-year-old young woman is now missing, presumably in Langtang National Park.

Were you in Nepal in April, 2010?

If you or anyone you know made the trek to Nepal during the month of April, even if you aren't sure if you saw Aubrey or not, please contact this writer.
Snipped:
Logged

2 4 1
Nut44x4
Maine - USA
Global Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 18800


RIP Grumpy Cat :( I will miss you.


« Reply #16 on: June 28, 2010, 07:22:18 AM »

Mystery of missing US girl deepens after 2 months
Last Updated : 2010-06-28 1:12 PM
KATHMANDU: More than two months later, there are still no answers. 23-year-old Aubrey Sacco who disappeared during a solo trek to Langtang area in Rasuwa district on April 21 is still missing.

Nepal Police, Nepal Army, US embassy and three private firms conducted a joint search, but that search produced no results. Om Bahadur Rana, DSP at the district police office Rasuwa on Monday said that the police recorded statements of seven persons near the hiking trail they knew she was last on. “All of the houses, hotels and monasteries in Rasuwa and adjoin area were searched, but there are no clues at hand,” Rana told THT. No trace has ever been found of Aubrey - no arrests, no evidential proof, no answers.

The authorities are now treating the case of the missing woman as a criminal matter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also started a formal missing person's investigation and is helping the US Department of State in the search mission. The agency is also working with Nepali authorities on the disappearance of Greeley woman, News Agencies quoted Denver FBI spokesman Dave Joly as saying. Her father, Paul Sacco said that FBI agents visited his home thrice to know the details about the case.

Now frustration and even some anger seem to be setting in, her family believes she is alive. Her mother Connie said that they have also offered to help protect whoever is brave enough to come forward with information that would lead to finding Aubrey. She believes that someone knows exactly what happened to her, but is refusing to tell authorities what they know. “If they are frightened, threatened or endangered in coming forward with information we will do our very best. But it is morally wrong to withhold information and not come forward on the whereabouts of a missing person, whether a woman, child or a man. In my country that is considered "obstruction of justice," Connie, who is following the events from Colorado, said.

Paul who was in Nepal for nearly a month returned home after an unsuccessful trip to find her. DSP Rana said that there is not a trace of evidence as to what happened. “We are doing everything in our power to find Aubrey,” he added.

According to the records, Aubrey had entered the Langtang trail from Syaphrubesi on April 20. She stayed overnight at Namaste Hotel in Pahiro on April 21. The following day she was seen last while having lunch at Lama Hotel. Since then, the girl has been out of touch.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Mystery+of+missing+US+girl+deepens+after+2+months&NewsID=248127
Logged

Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware/Of giving your heart to a dog to tear  -- Rudyard Kipling

One who doesn't trust is never deceived...

'I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind' -Edgar Allen Poe
Nut44x4
Maine - USA
Global Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 18800


RIP Grumpy Cat :( I will miss you.


« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2010, 07:24:21 AM »

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24062142/detail.html

FBI Joins Hunt For Missing Colo. Trekker In Nepal
Aubrey Sacco Disappeared in April While Hiking Alone

POSTED: 3:11 pm MDT June 27, 2010

DENVER -- The FBI has joined the hunt for a 23-year-old Colorado woman who vanished while trekking alone in Nepal.

Denver FBI spokesman Dave Joly said Sunday the agency will assist the State Department and Nepalese authorities in the disappearance of Aubrey Sacco of Greeley.

Her parents have not heard from Aubrey since April 20, when she e-mailed plans to hike alone through Nepal's Langtang region, near the Tibetan border.

She planned to finish the trek about April 30, but while she was in Langtang National Park, protests and strikes demanding the resignation of Nepal's prime minister shut down businesses, transportation and much of the local communication networks. She was supposed to check in after she finished the trek, but never did.

Her father, Paul Sacco, journeyed to Nepal in May to look for Aubrey, and he found her laptop and journal in the last hotel where she stayed.

The father told Greeley Tribune in May that FBI agents have made two or three visits to his home.

Aubrey Sacco graduated from the University of Colorado last year.

She had been in south Asia for five months, teaching yoga and traveling. She was hiking alone without a guide or porter. There were not many other backpackers in the area because it was end of the trekking season.

A Facebook page has also been created by a relative to share information on the search for Sacco.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122096637808141&ref=mf

Logged

Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware/Of giving your heart to a dog to tear  -- Rudyard Kipling

One who doesn't trust is never deceived...

'I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind' -Edgar Allen Poe
Nut44x4
Maine - USA
Global Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 18800


RIP Grumpy Cat :( I will miss you.


« Reply #18 on: June 28, 2010, 07:25:11 AM »

Logged

Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware/Of giving your heart to a dog to tear  -- Rudyard Kipling

One who doesn't trust is never deceived...

'I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind' -Edgar Allen Poe
Edward
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3816



« Reply #19 on: June 28, 2010, 08:41:21 PM »

Hard for me to get interest in this one.. kinda like the boys that decided to go hiking in Iran..

When you throw yourself on the railroad tracks it is nobodys fault but your own.

This girl was full of giggly ignorance.. Says a whole lot of our educated young adults.

jmho
Logged
Pages: 1 2 »   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Use of this web site in any manner signifies unconditional acceptance, without exception, of our terms of use.
Powered by SMF 1.1.13 | SMF © 2006-2011, Simple Machines LLC
 
Page created in 2.208 seconds with 21 queries.