Tadias Magazine
News Update
Published: Monday, November 3rd, 2014
New York (TADIAS) – A month has passed since Almaz Gebremedhin, 42, was first reported missing in Wylie, Texas (where she lived with her husband, Sisay Zelelew, a 10-year-old son, an 8-year-old daughter and her mother). Almaz was last seen leaving her home for work in the early hours of Thursday, October 2nd. A neighborhood security camera shows her car driving off at 5:30 a.m that morning. Her boss Judy Houston, a supervisor at the nearby Garnet Hill Rehabilitation and Skilled Care, told The Dallas Morning News that Almaz “never missed work, so when she didn’t show up, people immediately became concerned.”
The Dallas Morning News notes that Almaz is one of two women who have vanished without a trace in Collin County, Texas in the past couple of months. The second person is Christina Morris, 23, who has not been seen for 58 days. “Video surveillance shows the Fort Worth woman walking with a friend into a parking garage before they went their separate ways at The Shops at Legacy in Plano just before 4 a.m. Aug. 30. No one has seen her since,” the paper reported. “Her locked car was found in the garage four days later. Police have found no evidence of a crime in either case. Nor has there been any activity on either woman’s cell phone, credit cards or bank accounts. For now, they remain classified as missing persons.”
The newspaper adds: “Both women are listed online in the Texas Department of Public Safety Missing Persons Clearinghouse. They also appear in the National Crime Information Center, a database accessible to law enforcement nationwide, as well as a public database called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. The latter, according to NamUs director of communications Todd Matthews, is often used to match unidentified remains with a missing persons case. And while some families believe a listing there could be considered a concession that the person is dead, Matthews said, missing people on the list have turned up alive.”
Meanwhile the Wylie Police Department spokesperson Detective Nuria Arroyo says that Almaz’s case has been difficult to work. “We don’t have a lot of information to go off of yet,” Detective Arroyo is quoted by The Dallas Morning News. “Detectives there have been tracking tips, she said, but so far, not many have come in.”
The report states: “Gebremedhin’s family and friends have searched on their own as well. They’ve checked the route she normally takes to work. They’ve handed out fliers. They recently hired a private investigation firm to help. Social media also plays a role in keeping her name and photo in the public eye.”
“It really has been tough,” said Feyera Milkessa, a friend of the family. Milkessa said he last saw Gebremedhin at a gathering about 10 days before she disappeared. She seemed happy, he said. “She’s a very, very sociable person,” Milkessa said. “She loves her family.”
Anyone with information should contact the Wylie Police Department at 972-442-8171.
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