Found Deceased IA - Abdullahi "Abdi" Sharif, 18, Des Moines, 17 Jan 2020

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Emerald1328 said:
But payday being involved then raises other issues. If he had direct deposit and made a big withdrawal, there would be record of that. We haven’t heard anything about that, though that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And if it was a paper check, Target would have record of it being cashed.
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Snipped by me. As you mentioned earlier, banks and credit unions started closing early that day, possibly by 4 pm. Perhaps he needed to pay someone that day and was counting on cashing his check after his shift, but the banks had closed.
 
Has anyone that was at the search heard if LE requested footage from the Broadlawns and VA cameras...since the phone pinged around that area I would assume that would have been done ASAP but now I am wondering about hospital property and HIPPA laws preventing that...
 
missingm said:
Snipped by me. As you mentioned earlier, banks and credit unions started closing early that day, possibly by 4 pm. Perhaps he needed to pay someone that day and was counting on cashing his check after his shift, but the banks had closed.
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That’s a really good point. If he wasn’t able to pay someone that he needed to, if that person was “bad news”, and Abdi was unable to pay, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that may play a part in his disappearance.

I do want to make it very clear that all of the above is speculation - I brought up the possibility of pay day, but I’ve heard nothing about whether it was pay day, whether he had money on him/owed money to someone.

It’s not my intention to ascribe any negative attributes to Abdi at all. I’ve heard/read nothing about him being involved with unsavory people - in fact, everything I’ve read/heard talks about how great of a kid he is, so I think the probability that he was mixed up with the wrong crowd to the extent that he would disappear is very low. However, we all have secrets and I just hope Abdi’s secrets are the benign ones - wanting to be president, play pro sports, get married to a great girl and have a family, etc.
 
FEB 21, updated FEB 23, 2020
'Nobody just vanishes off the earth': Search intensifies for missing Des Moines teen Abdi Sharif
[...]

The search party fanned out around the area Abdi’s phone last pinged off of a cell tower.

Some things people looked for include clothing that matched what Abdi was wearing the night he disappeared, his cell phone and security cameras in the area.

One Des Moines private investigator said detectives can help in missing person cases by supplementing police investigations.

[...]
 
The LE didn't say anything about requesting camera footage. I did talk to Sgt Parizek because I thought we were going to be looking down by the river and was surprised by the map. He said they didn't want us going down by the river because they (LE) already searched that area.

Stephanie (private investigator) said she was going over to Auto Zone and car wash to ask about cameras and footage. We did take note of any cameras we saw and texted her the locations. Agape center right down the road on MLK has cameras in every corner.
 
Emerald1328 said:
Re:

Also, since it was Friday I wonder if Abdi got paid that day? From researching online, it looks like Target employees get paid bi-weekly, but I don’t know if that would’ve been his week to get paid. Did he possibly have a lot of cash on hand from payday that someone knew about? IF it was payday, it’s likely the pay was for the previous 2 weeks, December 29ish to January 11ish. Kids didn’t go back to school from winter break until Thursday, January 2 so he had opportunity to get a lot of hours in the beginning of that timeframe.

But payday being involved then raises other issues. If he had direct deposit and made a big withdrawal, there would be record of that. We haven’t heard anything about that, though that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And if it was a paper check, Target would have record of it being cashed. Based on the tight timeframe between when he left Target and when his last ping was, there’s virtually no way he would’ve been able to cash it in that short amount of time, so it would make no sense to harm him (again, assuming the last ping is when/if something nefarious happened to him). There is always the possibility that, again, if he got paid a paper check that day, he went to Target earlier in the day to get it and cashed it before his shift. I don’t think there’s anywhere in or near the mall where he could’ve done it on a break.
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snipped by me- My husband worked at target for many years and I still remember he always got paid on alternating weeks then me. Based on that, January 17th would NOT have been a pay day.
 
PommyMommy said:
FEB 19, 2020
'Every time I think about him I feel panic': Search party planned for missing Des Moines teen
[...]

FA remembers it was snowing when she dropped off Sharif, 18, at Target for work at 1:20 p.m. Jan. 17. He was scheduled to work until 5:30 p.m.

... The last time she would speak to him was around 5 p.m.— right before Sharif's shift would have ended — updating FA that he was going to work until 9:30 p.m.

So at 9:20 p.m, FA found herself once again at the Merle Hay parking lot waiting to pick up her son.

At 9:30 p.m., she called him. His phone was off. She kept calling as the minutes passed and he never came out of the store.

[...]

Around 10 p.m., Ahmed went into Target. There, she claims Target employees informed her that he had left when his shift ended at 5:30 p.m.

[...]

Police obtained surveillance videos of Sharif leaving the store around 5:30. It looked like he texted someone and then put his phone away, as well as his headphones. Police were able to trace him via surveillance video walking across the parking lot toward the street, and then finally in the AT&T parking lot nearby. That's the last sight of him.

[...]

"Evidence indicates that without any doubt, Abdi left Target voluntarily. There is video surveillance of him walking, alone, on a nearby roadway," he continued.

[...]
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BBM

So what information do we know about the parking lot cameras in the AT & T parking lot near the Merle Hay Mall the evening that Abdi disappeared? (Haven't yet caught up with all of the posts, but... perhaps another poster has already shared that information; it would certainly be a *huge* clue, if LE has viewed whatever images are on AT & T's parking lot cameras... JMOO)
 
thecatmeows said:
This is such a hard question to answer. What no one has mentioned is Merle Hay Mall isn't far from I80.

(snipped for focus)
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Excellent post! And as many Midwesterners know, just north of the Merle Hay Mall area a mile(?) or so, that section of I-80 figures in prominently to the regional human trafficking problem: To the west of Merle Hay Road and I-80 just a few miles is a Flying J truck stop and a "humongous" Pilot truck stop on Hickman Road; to the east of Merle Hay Road and I-80 (also just a few miles, in Altoona, IA) is another huge truck stop.

Hoping and praying that Abdi is alive and well, and has just left voluntarily, as suggested by the local LE. Second semester of one's senior year of h.s. seems like a peculiar time to go off on one's own to be "independent", rather than waiting until after graduation in late May -- just MOO.
 
PommyMommy said:
That's awesome, Emerald. :) MOO
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Hopefully they will still take volunteers if they can’t stay the whole time. I will have to leave by 3 whether or not it’s done. I sent an email to the address on the flier so we’ll see what they say!

My husband was shocked I wanted to go haha. I have some pretty good social anxiety and HATE going places by myself where I don’t know anyone (to the point where if I’m meeting friends for drinks or dinner somewhere, I will not go in and wait for them by myself - it’s so annoying!). I don’t feel that way when I think about going to the search by myself and having to interact with strangers. It’s just too important.
 
It’s going to be a nice day here in Des Moines for the search - 50 degrees and sunny! Unfortunately I can’t go now :( I’ve got influenza, my first illness in like two years, which is so frustrating.

I did hear back from the PI when I emailed asking if searchers could leave early and she said absolutely - any little bit helps. So if anyone is in the DSM area today and has a little bit of time today, they’ll take anything they can get!

Abdi, I hope they find a clue as to your whereabouts today. If you’ve left on your own, that’s ok. You can tell someone so they can let your family know you’re safe. If you’re no longer with us, I hope you can be found.

I shared the search flier on my Facebook earlier this week, saying I was going and how much it meant to have searches for him. I know this sounds trivial, but not one of my friends even liked the post. It made me really sad.
 
Emerald1328 said:
It’s going to be a nice day here in Des Moines for the search - 50 degrees and sunny! Unfortunately I can’t go now :( I’ve got influenza, my first illness in like two years, which is so frustrating.

I did hear back from the PI when I emailed asking if searchers could leave early and she said absolutely - any little bit helps. So if anyone is in the DSM area today and has a little bit of time today, they’ll take anything they can get!

Abdi, I hope they find a clue as to your whereabouts today. If you’ve left on your own, that’s ok. You can tell someone so they can let your family know you’re safe. If you’re no longer with us, I hope you can be found.

I shared the search flier on my Facebook earlier this week, saying I was going and how much it meant to have searches for him. I know this sounds trivial, but not one of my friends even liked the post. It made me really sad.
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So sorry to hear that you're not feeling well, Emerald1328... Hoping you're feeling better soon.

Are there any updates yet from this afternoon's search for Abdi? (Wanted to join, but had to work...)
 
FEB 29, 2020
‘I’m not going to give up until we have answers’: Search continues for missing Des Moines teen
[...]

Kinney, who was hired by Sharif's family, divided the crowd into two groups and sent them out to scour wooded and residential areas where they didn’t get to during the earlier last search. Specifically, around Veteran’s Affairs of Central Iowa and behind the old Target building on Euclid Avenue.

Volunteers were told to look for suspicious items, including clothing that might resemble the last outfit Sharif was seen wearing: a red Target shirt, khaki pants and a dark coat.

[...]

Investigators are still looking for possible leads, but as of Saturday, there were no updates on Sharif’s whereabouts, according to Kinney.

[...]

Investigators gained access to Abdi’s iCloud account Wednesday and are looking for anything that might yield evidence.

“We are continuing to follow leads as they come in and examine digital evidence,” said Sgt. Paul Parizek, a Des Moines police spokesman.
 
Emerald1328 said:
Hopefully they will still take volunteers if they can’t stay the whole time. I will have to leave by 3 whether or not it’s done. I sent an email to the address on the flier so we’ll see what they say!

My husband was shocked I wanted to go haha. I have some pretty good social anxiety and HATE going places by myself where I don’t know anyone (to the point where if I’m meeting friends for drinks or dinner somewhere, I will not go in and wait for them by myself - it’s so annoying!). I don’t feel that way when I think about going to the search by myself and having to interact with strangers. It’s just too important.
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If you ever want to go again... Let me know! You can join 2 or 3 of us ladies that go together!
 
PommyMommy said:
FEB 29, 2020
‘I’m not going to give up until we have answers’: Search continues for missing Des Moines teen
[...]

Kinney, who was hired by Sharif's family, divided the crowd into two groups and sent them out to scour wooded and residential areas where they didn’t get to during the earlier last search.
.
.
.

Investigators gained access to Abdi’s iCloud account Wednesday and are looking for anything that might yield evidence.

“We are continuing to follow leads as they come in and examine digital evidence,” said Sgt. Paul Parizek, a Des Moines police spokesman.
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Snipped and BBM above. I’m not very techie, but whatever is on the cloud will be from your last back up, correct? And I think you can select which items/apps to have or not have backed up on the cloud?
 
So I was at both searches and during the last search PI Stephanie stated that Abdi wasn’t scheduled to work that day. He was visiting coworkers. He told his mom he had to work and for her to pick him up at 9:30pm. She said he did get dressed as if he was going to work because he was pretending to go to work. He was hanging out at the mall because there was no school that day. I think there is a lot of misinformation on this case. Also, Ako gave an update “Update: nothing found in the search today. No leads and the dogs did not find anything. The dog kept looking by the water but nothing. We must not give up. We must continue to look. The struggle is real and we can and must win. Much love. Please continue to share. ” just an fyi
 
XoXoGirl said:
So I was at both searches and during the last search PI Stephanie stated that Abdi wasn’t scheduled to work that day. He was visiting coworkers. He told his mom he had to work and for her to pick him up at 9:30pm. She said he did get dressed as if he was going to work because he was pretending to go to work. He was hanging out at the mall because there was no school that day. I think there is a lot of misinformation on this case. Also, Ako gave an update “Update: nothing found in the search today. No leads and the dogs did not find anything. The dog kept looking by the water but nothing. We must not give up. We must continue to look. The struggle is real and we can and must win. Much love. Please continue to share. ” just an fyi
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Thank you for being such an advocate for Abdi and his return.

I have a few questions and as you may see in my questions in my prior post, too much cold medicine and steroids can get this gal confused.

The article below said that Target employees told his mom that he left when his shift ended. So is the PI saying that he didn’t have to work that day all? Basically, did he work at Target for any time period that day?
 
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