Syria - Jacqueline Vienneau, 33, Hama, 31 March 2007 - Canadian

[arielilane]

I hope that Nicole will find her way home soon.

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

 

[arielilane]

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

 

[arielilane]

Thinking about Nicole.

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

 

[arielilane]

Thinking about Nicole.

 

[Snoopster]

Thanks for keeping this thread alive arielilane!

I had checked in on this case from time to time over the past couple of years on Nicole's brother's blog, even before I joined Websleuths this year.

It's interesting to note that this month Matt (Nicole's brother) mentioned on his livejournal (link in post above) that the arrest of Joran van der Sloot caused him to pause and think more about whether one of the guests at the Cairo Hotel, where Nicole was staying, could have been involved in her disappearance. His belief is that that wasn't the case. He said he finds it difficult to believe that a foreign traveler in Syria would risk a capital offence in that country, considering their very harsh treatment of criminals. (Matt did look at the guest list to ensure that Joran's name wasn't on it, though, to ease his mind.)

I'm guessing that if any Websleuths were willing to dig in, more work could be done on sleuthing the hotel guest list.

Matt maintains an excellent blog and website with large volumes of information on it. You will all see how much hard work has been put into this case. Wouldn't it be great if we could help this family with some closure on this case. They are so dedicated to finding out what happened to Nicole.

 

[Snoopster]

Here is a link to a much earlier post by arielilane which contains a link to the list of guests staying at the hotel at the time of Nicole's disappearance.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2374829&postcount=26

 

[arielilane]

Thanks for keeping this thread alive arielilane!

I had checked in on this case from time to time over the past couple of years on Nicole's brother's blog, even before I joined Websleuths this year.

It's interesting to note that this month Matt (Nicole's brother) mentioned on his livejournal (link in post above) that the arrest of Joran van der Sloot caused him to pause and think more about whether one of the guests at the Cairo Hotel, where Nicole was staying, could have been involved in her disappearance. His belief is that that wasn't the case. He said he finds it difficult to believe that a foreign traveler in Syria would risk a capital offence in that country, considering their very harsh treatment of criminals. (Matt did look at the guest list to ensure that Joran's name wasn't on it, though, to ease his mind.)

I'm guessing that if any Websleuths were willing to dig in, more work could be done on sleuthing the hotel guest list.

Matt maintains an excellent blog and website with large volumes of information on it. You will all see how much hard work has been put into this case. Wouldn't it be great if we could help this family with some closure on this case. They are so dedicated to finding out what happened to Nicole.

Bolded by me: I agree!

 

[arielilane]

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

 

[arielilane]

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...N&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS376US377&ndsp=21&tbs=isch:1
Thinking about Nicole.

 

[arielilane]

I hope that the female traveller will contact Nicole's family.

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

 

[arielilane]

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

Hoping for a safe return home for Nicole.

 

[arielilane]

Jacqueline Nicole Vienneau where are you?

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

 

[arielilane]

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

We need to bring Nicole home soon.

 

[arielilane]

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/39588.html?page=19#comments

Thinking about Nicole.

 

[arielilane]

What could have happened?

 

[Wondergirl]

I was thinking of Nicole and her family today, and wondering where she could be, and if her family will ever even be able to find out what happened to her. So sad.

 

[Wondergirl]

This excerpt from the Vienneau website is eery:

An old friend of Nicole's made an interesting connection - over the past few years several severed feet have been found washed up on the shore in British Columbia. It was noticed that the shoes were New Balance shoes, just like Nicole's. An extremely unlikely connection, and a quick search showed that the shoes were size 12 men's, but I appreciate that people are keeping our search in mind as they go about their regular life and once in a while something jumps out at them that might be related.

http://vienneau.livejournal.com/

 

[Wondergirl]

Canadian families say Foreign Affairs left them in limbo

By Douglas Quan, Postmedia News October 8, 2010​

​

The family of Nicole Vienneau can sympathize.

Three years ago, the Vancouver woman, then 32, vanished while travelling in Syria. Her family became concerned when she hadn’t checked in, and alerted Canadian officials on April 19, 2007.

On May 3, the family learned that she had been staying at a hotel north of Damascus. The information came from strangers who pitched in to search for her after her brother, Matthew, set up a blog from Toronto appealing to travellers for help.

That was an embarrassment for the embassy, Vienneau’s mother, Kathryn Murray, said.

Family members said the embassy was helpful when they travelled to Syria, providing assistance with transportation, arranging meetings with Syrian officials, and hiring translators.

But they said embassy staff seemed to lack expertise in how Syrian police investigate cases and how the judicial system works. They got a better understanding once they hired a Syrian lawyer.

Family members said Ottawa was not as helpful as they would have hoped. They said they were enraged when forced to file an access-to-information request to obtain documents pertaining to the case and told that they needed Nicole’s consent to release any documents with her name in them.

They were also frustrated to learn that Ottawa had failed to forward them a list of Syrian-based media contacts that had been supplied by the Canadian embassy. The family had been looking for outlets to publicize the disappearance.

“I’d like it if they followed up more aggressively so that they wouldn’t have to be poked into doing stuff,” Vienneau’s brother said. “It would be helpful knowing we have someone on our side.”​

He said someone who had been in a similar situation once told him that he couldn’t rely on the government: “You have to do this yourself.”
He said this is the advice he would now offer, too.​

Emergencies abroad — what you should know​

• In death cases, consular officials say they can assist families to obtain documents, including death certificates, autopsy reports and police reports. If the death was the result of murder, the investigation is solely the responsibility of local authorities.

• Having the remains of a Canadian returned home requires the assistance of funeral homes in Canada and in the country where the death occurred. Consular officials say they can help with arrangements and the return of personal effects.

• Emergency financial assistance is available through the Department of Justice.

• In missing-persons cases, consular officials say they can get assistance from local officials to help find that person, but Canada cannot co-ordinate or pay for search-and-rescue efforts.

• For more information, go to www.voyage.gc.ca http://www.voyage.gc.ca.
• The Emergency Operations Centre can be reached at 1-800-267-6788.​

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/canada/FOREIGN+AFFAIRS+LIMBO/3646719/story.html#ixzz1243upUVF​

​

 

[arielilane]

It's bad enough to have your daughter missing, and then to have no help, nothing, but brickwalls...

Here's a link to an earlier article regarding the access-to-information request.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/779610--privacy-zealots-compound-a-family-s-torment?bn=1

 

[arielilane]

Thank you, Wondergirl, for posting the most recent article. I would have missed it.