Los Angeles Times, CA
Westchester Lutheran School rallies to help mother find missing Silah
brothers
Authorities believe that the father abducted the children; also
missing are their cousin and his father.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2008
Zarouhi Meguerian’s older son started first grade at Westchester
Lutheran School in 2002 and since then, she’s never missed the first
day of class.
On Sept. 8, Meguerian continued her ritual, visiting the classrooms of
sons Alex and Zaven Silah. But the industrial engineer walked alone,
holding hands with other mothers instead of her boys.
Authorities say Alex, 12, and Zaven, 8, were abducted in July by
Meguerian’s former husband, George Silah, 46, an Armenian Syrian. The
same day, Silah’s brother John left town with his 8-year-old son Greg.
Parental abductions are not unheard of in Los Angeles, where freeway
signs often advertise amber alerts for the missing. But the Silah
boys’ case has had a profound effect on students, teachers and parents
at Westchester Lutheran, a 58-year-old private school of 400 students
on busy Sepulveda Boulevard. The school has rallied around Meguerian
with fundraisers, Internet postings — and comfort.
Meguerian, 36, grew up in Philadelphia as a naturalized
U.S. citizen. She had an arranged marriage in Syria at age 16, then
returned to Philadelphia, Three years later, they had another wedding
ceremony in Philadelphia and her husband, who graduated from medical
school in Armenia but was not licensed to practice in the U.S., moved
here to live with her. His brother later joined them and married in
1996; the two men worked for chiropractors, Meguerian said.
In 2000, the Silahs moved to Los Angeles, and George and John started
a consulting business in Marina del Rey. John Silah and his wife,
Christine Jeanbart, divorced in 2003, and Meguerian and George Silah
divorced in 2006.
After the divorces, George and John Silah had limited custody of their
sons. This summer, they initially agreed to take the boys to George’s
time share at the WorldMark Resort in Big Bear for the July 4 weekend,
Meguerian said. George Silah was then supposed to take his sons to
South Florida, the start of a weeklong Disney cruise in the
Caribbean. John and Greg Silah were due to return July 6.
Soon after the boys left, their mothers say, they stopped answering
their cellphones. After fathers and sons failed to show up at the
resort or board the cruise July 5, police declared the boys missing.
On July 23, a Superior Court judge found that George and John Silah
had violated conditions of their custody orders and the district
attorney issued warrants for their arrest on three felony counts of
child abduction. Los Angeles police are working with agents at the
local FBI field office but have yet to find the group.
Meguerian has appeared on Fox News and MSNBC and was interviewed for
an episode of "America’s Most Wanted," set to air soon. Detectives
hope the publicity will help them find the missing boys.
Los Angeles police do not keep statistics on parental abductions, but
Det. Lonya Britton, who handles many of the cases, said that 98% of
the time, she can return a missing child within a week — if she finds
the child within 48 hours.
"Each day makes it harder and harder," Britton said of the Silah
boys. "That’s why we keep putting it out on TV, hoping somebody has
seen them."
George and John Silah’s parents, with whom the sons had shared a
rented house in Playa del Rey, moved back to Aleppo, Syria, shortly
before the men disappeared, Meguerian said. Britton said police have
checked the U.S. borders, flagged the fathers’ passports and
identification and found some evidence they may have gone overseas,
although there is no sign they fled to Syria.
Shortly after Alex and Zaven disappeared, Westchester Lutheran
Principal Sandra Masted sent e-mails and letters alerting parents and
the 300 families at Westchester Lutheran church, where her husband is
pastor. Masted also posted fliers with the boys’ photos in the school
office and invited Meguerian to speak to her sons’ classmates.
At the start of school, Meguerian watched other mothers at the school
snap pictures of children in the same new blue-and-white uniforms she
had at home, waiting for her sons. Near the back of what would have
been Zaven’s third-grade classroom, she found his wooden desk, stacked
with workbooks, school supplies and his paper name card.
Students filed into the room, including one of Zaven’s best friends,
Nico Villalobos, who wore a blue-and-white plastic bracelet reading
"Find Alex and Zaven Silah." Nico and other classmates spent a
Saturday afternoon with their parents selling the bracelets for $20
each outside a nearby supermarket. They raised $2,000 for the
Assn. for the Recovery of Children, a Redondo Beach-based nonprofit
that is trying to find Alex and Zaven.
Parents at the school also met with leaders of the local Rotary Club
and Chamber of Commerce about upcoming fundraisers at the school to
raise $20,000 for the two mothers and the nonprofit. As of this week,
they have raised about half the money. They also contacted the Los
Angeles City Council, which in August voted to offer a $25,000 reward
for information leading to the Silah boys’ return.
Westchester Lutheran will hold a children’s choir concert Thursday, a
Halloween dance party Oct. 24 and a rummage sale in November, to
benefit the ARC effort to find Alex and Zaven.
Chris Maeder, 45, a mechanical engineer who serves on the school
board, created a blog to help find the boys,
More than 6,000 people have viewed it
since July.
After Meguerian left her younger son’s classroom, she headed to the
church to speak with about 40 of her older son’s classmates.
Meguerian asked if any of them had access to Alex’s online accounts
and passwords. She explained that earlier this month, a student who
had helped Alex set up his MySpace page used a password to access the
account, alarming police. They spent a day tracking the girl down,
thinking she was Alex, Meguerian said.
None of the students said they knew Alex’s passwords.
"Are George and John using fake identities and stuff?" asked Tor
Larsen, 12, another of Alex’s best friends.
"Unfortunately, that is something we don’t know," Meguerian said.
Tor, who wore one of the blue-and-white bracelets, frowned and slumped
into the church pew. Well into the first morning of school, he and
Alex would normally have been in trouble for talking or falling out of
their seats laughing.
Instead, Tor was sitting quietly by himself.
Back in first grade, Tor explained, he and Alex were class "rejects"
who pooled their lunch money to buy soda, joined the same Boy Scout
troop and visited each other’s houses.
He last spoke with Alex a few days before he went missing. They made
plans to see Angelina Jolie in "Wanted," but Alex never followed
up. Tor left for summer camp and didn’t find out Alex was missing
until he returned.
He immediately sent Alex messages on YouTube and MySpace asking where
he was, without luck.
"One last question I have for you guys," Meguerian said as she
finished addressing the students, "Has anybody heard from Alex after
July 2?"
Tor looked around. Everybody was quiet.
"Nobody?"
Silence.
Meguerian sat in a pew as the children filed out of the church and
back to class. She was exhausted but glad to be at the school again.
Just being around the other parents and children gave her hope, she
said. She pictured herself walking her younger son back to class. She
could almost feel his hand in hers.
molly.hennessy-fiske @latimes.com