Speaking of the owners of the Burger Barn -- I dug up a few things on them on the Web...
One listing for the Burger Barn in Spring TX lists "Ibrahim B." (which I later found out stood for "Banat") as the owner. Another says "Mannao Alaween". It's so difficult to find "posting dates" for some of these listings, though.
The following is what the owner named "Ibrahim" wrote on a yelp.com site about the Burger Barn:
"About This Business Provided by the business:
Specialties:
The burger . which is home made as fresh meat . never froze , the 1/2 bound is our stander burger as 3.99
History:
Established in 1985. I am new owner . I get this business 04-01-2010 was some problems bu we fix it now it is owned a family that why every thing is home made
Meet the Business Owner: ibrahim b."
There were a couple of entries on "*************.net" from people who have had dealings with the owners (and not "positive" dealings, really)...
One former employee said:
"If it does any well at all with this info I used to work there as a delivery driver...got hired a little bit after Ali's disapperance.. I went up there for a check..it never went through and bounced .. a week or two after that I went up there to inform him of it and ask for more and the shut it down. Hadn't worked there for long 2-3weeks at the most. The "owner" Abraham [sic - should be "Ibrahim"] struck me as odd. They at the time had a camera overlooking the parking lot/resturaunt area of which they should be required to hand over to police. BTW I as well hadn't found him to report him for the lost wages to Better Business or Texasworksource and the number I had was the one for the resturaunt so I have no idea how to get in touch with him...just know the guy seemed odd."
Another from a parent of a teen employed there:
"I worked at Burger Barn with my whole family and quit because of an assault on my 20 year old daughter when she tried to pick up her check. These people are dangerous. I tried to tell the police but the[y] ignored it."
(I don't like the sound of that LAST one, at ALL...)
On KHOU (Houston TV channel) comments by web readers:
springmother said on May 11, 2010 at 10:10 AM
"Someone needs to check out the owner of Burger Barn where she worked. I went in one day and I noticed that the owner was very close to all the kids that worked there, "actually too close" and I noticed that he had so many kids running the place even cooking while he was just outside playing with some of the kids that worked there and as a mother that did not seem right to me. Also, the place has really gone down and especially since this new owner took over. Never again did I order from Burger Barn."
gnrdude said on May 6, 2010 at 12:22 PM
"saelmore Has a Point, I Lived in Burnham Woods for about 7 yrs I always thought the ppl at Burger Barn were Kind of Wierd... & yeah I think they need to be investigated BY DHS or the FBI as well. However If somebody has info Don't waste your Time with Calling LRCF they wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. Ofcourse I Don't Have much Confidence in PCT. 4 constables at this point they Don't Seem To be Taking this Girls Dissapearance Seriously at all..."
This last entry is perhaps the most worrisome:
saelmore said on May 6, 2010 at 9:16 AM
"Check out the owners of Burger Barn where she worked.
My daughter was asaulted in January for going to pick up her check by the owner Hatem. He sold the store to a friend and they where against women complaining about the money. Check it out I have a case in Harris county court because the police ticketed her brother for pulling the guy off of her. The police have my report and hopefully the will help this girl. People should be able to work and get paid without feeling they will be harmed."
I found that there is also another company owned by this Ibrahim Banat (there's another man with the same name but he is a professor at a university in Ulster, so I made a "judgement call" that it probably wasn't the same guy):
WAQIAH ENTERPRISE INC
6223 Richmond Ave Ste 211
Houston, TX 77057
Contact: IBRAHIM BANAT
Phone: Not Available
Edit This Listing
Directory Heading
Incorporated: 01/2010; This business has not yet been classified.
Tags:
medical alarm, medical alarms, medical alarm system, medical alarm systems, medical alarm service, medical alarm services, personal medical alarm, personal medical alarms
Officers of the Waqiah company are listed:
Director: Ibrahim
S. Banat (Listed as located in Houston)
with other three officers all located in Spring TX:
Director: Muhammad Banat
Director: Muhammad Hassan Jawad
Director:
Another Ibrahim Banat (no "S.")
Waqiah Enterprise Inc filed as a Domestic For-Profit Corporation on Thursday, January 14, 2010 in the state of Texas and is currently active. Ibrahim S. Banat serves as the registered agent for this organization.
(The above can be found at:
http://sophia.oxxfordinfo.com/data/281/443/0001562861.html)
I also found an address for an Ibrahim Banat in Cleveland,TX listed on baronsmedia.com.
And here's an odd thing: The following company is listed on Google as being on the
www.businesscompanylist.com with the qualifier "
a Mannae Alaween company":
>> Cordenas Optical Inc
Business -> Apparel -> Finished Products
Cordenas Optical Inc : company nameCompany Cordenas Optical Inc
Cordenas Optical Inc : company addressAddress 809 NW 37th Ave Miami FL, 33125-3881
Cordenas Optical Inc : company countryCountry United States
Cordenas Optical Inc : company phone/tel Phone 3056498689
BUT, apparently the page's mention of Alaween no longer exists on that page -- just on the Google LISTING of the page...
So, apparently, these (owners/prior owners?) associated with the BB haven't really "disappeared" -- they seem to still be in the Houston area or thereabouts.
I makes me wonder when I read that the police have "searched the BB owners' house 2 or 3 times":
WHICH owners, exactly, are they talking about?
There are at least the following 6 people -- all of whom could be considered "owners" or "managers" of the Burger Barn at some point or otherwise related as officers of another Banat holding in the Houston area (remember, Ibrahim Banat -- by his own Yelp.com listing statement -- says he only took over the BB as of the 1st of April 2010):
1) Mannae Alaween
2) Ibrahim Banat
3) Ibrahim
S. Banat
4) Muhammad Banat
5) Muhammad Hassan Jawad
6) The elusive owner "Hatem" ("Hadim"?) mentioned by the *************.net poster.
I would be willing to BET that all 6 of these have different residences and that the police did NOT search
all 6 of them "2 or 3 times"...