Reward Money Upped For U.S. Hiker Missing In Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal (AHN) – After a tireless but so far futile effort, the family of missing U.S. hiker Aubrey Sacco has upped the reward money for information leading to the whereabouts of the 23-year-old woman to $14,000.
Sacco disappeared April 22 during a solo trek to the Langtang region of northern Nepal. Park records show she entered the Langtang trail from Syabrubesi on April 20. She stayed at a local hotel in Pairo on April 21. She has not been seen since since lunch the following day.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting U.S. authorities to find the missing hiker.
Connie Sacco, mother of the missing hiker, said if informants fear for their safety in providing information, safe haven with the U.S. Embassy and safe passage to neighboring India will be provided, if necessary.
“We don’t care who is responsible for her disappearance, we just want Aubrey back. We believe that someone knows exactly what happened,” Connie Sacco was quoting as saying by the Himalayan Times. Nepali police and army and as well member of the U.S. embassy and three private firms conducted a joint search.
“In the last three weeks we have been busy conducting a new 15-man search of primitive villages in Nepal, and distributing posters to thousands of people through a group of benevolent doctors from Colorado who are treating thousands of Langtang locals,” her parents wrote on their daughter’s website on Oct.21.
“We do not yet know the fruits of our labor but they should be many,” they added. “We are also working with private investigators out of Los Angeles and Colorado and using the assistance of the Embassy in more creative ways. Basically our search web is getting larger and larger and reaching various different levels of people including centers for missing persons. Surely this should yield a positive result.”
The family said they have received emails from trekkers who say their posters are being removed in the Langtang villages. “We recently had many posters put up that were laminated to withstand weather. The trekkers saw the posters at the beginning of their trek and when they return they are gone.”
The family has also been launching fundraising campaigns across the U.S. to expedite the search for Aubrey. More than 8,000 letters have been sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking for her office’s support in putting more US resources into in Nepal to help in Aubrey’s search.
Om Rana, deputy superintendent of police in Rasuwa, said that police search have produced no clues in Aubrey’s case. “The investigation, however, is underway,” he said.
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