ALBANIA - Eglatina Kembaci, 18, Berat, Albania, December 1997

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MF-0006

Physical Description

• Race: Caucasian
• Gender: Female
• Age: 18
• Height: 168 cm
• Weight: Unknown
• Eye Color: Brown
• Hair Color: Brown
• Distinguishing Marks: Unknown

Clothing & Personal Items

• Clothing: Unknown
• Jewelry: Unknown
• Personal Items: Unknown

Forensic Identification

• Dentals: Unknown
• Fingerprints: Unknown
• DNA: Unknown

Circumstances of disappearance (article from Chi l'ha Visto) :

Eglantina Kembaci, a 19-year-old Albanian, left Berat on December 3, 1997 for Tirana, where she had to collect her passport. Since that day, she has never returned home. Three days later, she phoned her mother to tell her she was in Paris, explaining her sudden departure by saying that if she did not leave she would lose her ticket and also have problems with her fake passport. Until August 1999, she remained in contact with the family by calling, writing and also sending photographs. After that, no one heard from her again. She had learned French and taken a course to become a hairdresser. Before leaving Albania, she spoke to her family about an association which had offered her a job in France. But maybe she never went there. In fact, the letters in which he said he was in Paris actually came from Italy. Jean Girard, a friend of the Kembaci family for whom Eglantina had worked as an interpreter, searched in vain for her in the French capital. Then, by analyzing the photographs that the young girl had sent to her family, she discovered that they had been taken in Italy, in Turin. Here she met many people who would see her in the gardens of Piazza Cavour and who would remember seeing her in the company of a child. In the same city “Chi l’ha visto? » found the hotel where Eglantina Kembaci stayed from June 10 to August 16, 1999. The hotelier reported seeing her arrive and leave alone. According to Mr. Girard, someone could have forced the young girl to change her plans. His dream was in fact to work in Switzerland or France. The most likely hypothesis seems to be that it ended up in the hands of the Albanian mafia. In his last phone call, he said he met a young Albanian man who, according to the Kembaci family, has a bad reputation and who could not be found. Lorenzo Kembaci appealed to his sister: 'I would like her to know that she does not have to worry if something happens to her that she is ashamed of.'"We love her and just want her to come home. If she called me, I would pick her up wherever she was"

 

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Here's an other article describing Eglantine's disappearance circumstances


The mysterious story of the disappearance of the girl in '97 / Traveling with the boyfriend that the family never accepted

The show 'Pa Gjurmë' this Monday was engaged in the treatment of the story of Eglantina Kembaci in 1999, then 18 years old, today she is 40 years old.

The show 'Pa Gjurmë' this Monday was engaged in the treatment of the story of Eglantina Këmbac, in 1999, then 18 years old, today she is 40 years old.

The bad year for Albanians found a teenager of that time, Eglantina Kembaci, an 18-year-old who just withdrew her passport in Tirana, her wish was to leave for France. She decided to leave her hometown in Berat on December 3, 1997. Physically, she has been missing from the family since that day, while on December 7, three days after 1997, she calls and talks to her mother.

'Mom, I'm in France with Armando, he loves me and I love him.'

At that time, Eglantina had a relationship with a boy named Armando. A relationship that the parents were aware of, but that they never approved since the boy Eglantina was in love with was known as a problematic person. After her departure a year later, Eglantina kept in touch with her family by sending letters and photos often and communicating on the phone. According to her statements, she had started work in Paris and was living there.

It was mid-August 1999 when she made her last phone call to her mother:

'Mom, don't worry about me.'

From that moment Eglantina did give a sign of life again.

In Albania before she disappeared, Eglantina had completed a hairdressing course while employed as a French language translator for Jean Girard (Jean Zhard) since 1993 for nearly four years. The latter, after her disappearance, also did research on the fate of Eglantina, which from the photos sent to the family, the countries coincided with the Italian state and not with France. This raised other suspicions that its location was not Paris but Turin, Italy, near the flower garden of 'Piazza Cavour'. Many people were asked there, while many of them claimed that they had seen a girl similar to Eglantina from Albania in the company of another family. The search even reached the possible location for nearly two and a half months where she had stayed in the hotel in Turin, where she had taken the last photos sent to the family, from June 10 to August 16, 1999. From the receptionist who had seen her , she was registered with regular documents, and that she went out and returned alone to the hotel quite normally.