Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Sister of Missing Paralegal to Pick Up Search in China

By ParalegalGateway.com

Sossy Ashekian will leave Windsor for Hong Kong Monday to assist in the search for her sister Ani, who vanished in the city of seven million people nearly two months ago.

She will join a growing team of volunteers circulating pictures of Ani on the bustling streets of Hong Kong, where a $8,000 reward ($50,000 in Hong Kong currency) is being offered for information on Ani?s mysterious disappearance.

?She?s going to go out and look for her sister,? said Rosie Kampstra, the eldest of the three Ashekian sisters. ?Hopefully, Sossy can make a difference.?

Ani Ashekian was raised in Windsor, where her sisters and family still live, and is a graduate of the University of Windsor and St. Joseph?s high school. She had been working as a paralegal in Toronto.

She left for Beijing Oct. 24 and was supposed to return home from Delhi, India, Dec. 15. She went missing in Hong Kong in mid-November and hasn?t been heard from since. There is no record of her leaving the country. Her last contact with her family was a Nov. 10 text message sending birthday greetings to Kampstra?s two-year-old daughter.

The last time Ani?s credit card was used was also on that date ? a disconcerting sign ? but her family is refusing to give up hope, noting there have been a dozen sightings in Hong Kong of someone fitting Ani?s description.

?I just know she?s still out there. I just have that feeling inside that she?s still around. I don?t have that eerie feeling that something bad has happened to her,? said Kampstra. ?I know we?re going to bring her home.?

Kampstra described her sister as ?free-spirited? and a ?strong person? who planned on moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina, after returning from Asia.

Ani?s boyfriend, Wenddell Walsh, returned home from Hong Kong earlier this week after several fruitless days spent searching and distributing flyers. The number of volunteers helping him grew each day thanks to coverage the story received in the Hong Kong media.

In an interview with Global News, Walsh said police had surveillance tape footage of Ani withdrawing $1,000 from an ATM on Nov. 10.

?She had looked over her shoulder a couple of times,? Wendell said in the interview. ?We don?t know if she was alone but we do know it was her.?

Wendell and Kampstra both praised the work of Hong Kong investigators, who contact Kampstra almost daily with updates or seeking information about Ani. Kampstra also credited the Department of Foreign Affairs for its work on the case.

Kampstra expressed her heartfelt thanks to the old friends and acquaintances who turned out for a fundraiser last Sunday at the Armenian Centre.

The family is holding off on hiring a private investigator because they do not want to impede the police investigation. They have posted a reward of $50,000 in Hong Kong currency, roughly the equivalent of $8,000 in Canada.

?You have to stay positive. That?s the only way we?re ever going to bring her home,? said Kampstra. ?I keep telling my mom, ?Tears aren?t going to bring her home, mom; you?ve got to stay positive.??

Anyone with any information can write findani@gmail.com or check out the Facebook group entitled ?Missing: Ani Ashekian.? (Source >>>)

Full post as published by ParalegalGateway Blawg on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).