Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
Aferdita Gjergjaj
Aferdita, date, approximate 2001; Binak Gjergjaj
Date Missing 02/26/2001
Missing From
Auburn Hills, Michigan
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/07/1970 (52)
Age 30 years old
Height and Weight 5'3 - 5'5, 115 - 130 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A black top, a denim jacket, a black leather coat and denim slacks.
Associated Vehicle(s) Light blue Ford Escort (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Red hair, brown eyes. Aferdita's nicknames are Gina and Rita. Her last name is pronounced "jehr-jyz." She is a native of Albania; she moved to the United States in early childhood. Aferdita has a scar on her forehead.
Details of Disappearance Aferdita was last seen in Auburn Hills, Michigan on February 26, 2001. She told her sister she was going to meet her ex-husband, Binak "Kola" Gjerjaj, and their children in the parking lot of Show Cinemas on Opdyke Road at 7:00 p.m.
Images from a surveillance camera in the parking lot show Aferdita arrived there, got out of her car, went to another one and sat inside it for half an hour. Then the vehicle drove away with her still inside. She has never been heard from again.
Afterdita was reported missing after she failed to arrive for work at a clothing boutique in Troy, Michigan, where she was the manager. Her light blue Ford Escort was found in the parking lot of the cinemas shortly after her disappearance. Her cellular phone and purse were inside the vehicle, and so was an unused round from Aferdita's handgun. The gun itself was missing and has not been recovered.
A photograph of Binak is posted with this summary. He and Aferdita married in 1987 and separated in 1996, and in 1998 Binak filed for divorce. Aferdita and Binak shared child custody, but physical custody was granted to Binak. Aferdita had been seeking more access to the children in 2001, and Binak had allegedly threatened to kill her if she tried to take them away from him. He fled the country shortly after Aferdita went missing, leaving his children, and hasn't contacted them since.
Binak moved to Kosovo, a nation in the Balkan peninsula area in southeastern Europe. In 2002, he was charged with felony assault for allegedly beating beating Aferdita in 1998. Kosovo refused to extradite him to the United States to face the charge, however.
In March 2011, he was arrested in Kosovo on another warrant out of Michigan, charging him with Aferdita's murder. Again, however, Kosovo refused to extradite him, and he was released in June of that year.
In June 2019, Binak was arrested again in Kosovo for Aferdita's murder, and this time it looked more likely that Kosovo would extradite him, as they had, for the first time in their history, extradited another indicted person to the United States. While still in the custody of Kosovar authorities, he hanged himself in a jail bathroom.
Aferdita has been declared ly dead, but her body has never been found. Her disappearance remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.
Investigating Agency
Auburn Hills Police Department
248-370-9444
Oakland County Sheriff's Department
248-858-0692
Other
Auburn Hills Police Department
Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney's Office
The Detroit News
North American Missing Persons Network
America's Most Wanted
NamUs
WXYZ 7
MLive
Shqiptarja
Metro Gazeta
Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
