Disappearance of Aeryn Gillern

Æ. Gillern as Austrian Mister Gay 2006

Aeryn M. J. Gillern disappeared in Vienna on the evening of Monday, October 29, 2007. At the time, Gillern was working for UNIDO.

Biography

Aeryn Gillern was born on April 28, 1973 in Elmira, New York, the son of Kathryn Gilleran (born 1952). In June 1991 he graduated from Groton High School in Groton, New York. In 1997 Gillern graduated the Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology. From 1997 to 1998 Gillern attended the seminary at Graz-Seckau (Austria). In 1999, Gillern received a Master of Arts with honors in Theology and Christian Ministry from Franciscan University of Steubenville. In 2003 he was appointed by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna (Austria) as a research assistant. In 2006, he was named Mr. Gay Austria.

In September 2007 he flew home to his mother, Kathryn Gilleran in Cortland, New York, to visit his family for ten days. His mother was planning to sell their house and move to Vienna to be with her son.[1] On October 27, 2007 Kathy phoned her son and talked to him for the last time. He disappeared two days later.

Disappearance

His mother received a call on Halloween 2007 that he was missing.[1] He was last seen running from the Kaiserbrundl after an assumed physical altercation although his last confirmed location was a sauna on Stephansplatz after work.[2] Police have asserted that he may have been suicidal and jumped to his death in the Danube,[3] a hypothesis Gillern's acquaintances do not believe in;[4] others, including Kathy Gillern, his mother, that the investigation into his disappearance was hampered by police bias against Gillern's sexuality.[5] The Austrian police initially refused to investigate the case, saying it was not its duty to investigate the disappearance of non-citizens, and refused to interview her or any of her son's friends after the investigation was finally launched under pressure from the United Nations and the Austrian Foreign Ministry.[3]

Each year since 2008, Gillern's mother has held a vigil every October 29 outside the Kaiserbrundl to commemorate the disappearance of her son. [6] The 2011 documentary Gone: The Disappearance of Aeryn Gillern, which debuted at that year's Tribeca Film Festival is dedicated to his mother's search for the truth behind her son's disappearance.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Montana, Rob (2011-10-14). "GONE: Documentary about retired Ithaca police officer's missing son showing in Syracuse, Rochester". Ithaca.com. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  2. ↑ de Sturler, Alice (2011-11-09). "UPDATED: Watch "Gone" and help find Aeryn Gillern". Defrosting Cold Cases. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  3. 1 2 3 Ralls, Steve (2011-10-25). "Inside the Mystery of a Son 'Gone' But Not Forgotten". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  4. ↑ http://www.falter.at/falter/2008/11/18/der-tag-an-dem-aeryn-verschwand/
  5. ↑ Ralls, Steve (2008-08-13). "Where's Aeryn? A Mother's Search for the Truth". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  6. ↑ Ralls, Steve (2011-10-25). "Inside the Mystery of a Son 'Gone' But Not Forgotten". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-04-05.

External links

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