Reward of $25,000 Offered for Arrest and Conviction of Kidnappers

Three young boys were allegedly abducted on July 2, 2008, from Los Angeles, California. Zaven Silah, age 8, and his brother Alexander Silah, age 12, thought they were leaving for a vacation with their cousin, Greg Silah, age 10. They were picked up by their fathers, brothers George and John Silah, ostensibly to spend some time together at a timeshare at the Worldmark Resort in Big Bear, California. However, the boys and their fathers never checked into the resort, and the mothers of the children, Christine Jeanbart and Zanni Maguerien, have not heard from them since. Both sets of parents were divorced and shared custody.

This might be considered just another parental custody dispute except for the fact that the police believe the Silah brothers may have had ties to the Mafia, and possibly have fled the U.S. for their homeland of Syria with the children. According to a website built by the mothers, findthesilahchildren.com, George and John Silah had apparently incurred large debts and swindled as much as $5 million from members of the Armenian community. There are also indications that they were involved in illegal activities and that their lives had been threatened.

After the disappearance of their children, mothers Christine Jeanbart and Zanni Maguerien visited the home of their former husbands seeking answers. Instead, they found shredded immigration documents, ID's and passport photos, IOU's, gun cleaning tools, shell casings, and the manual for a Smith and Wesson revolver. The residence was in disarray and had apparently been vacated suddenly. George Silah, 46, and John Silah, 47, had been previously implicated in the smuggling of illegal aliens into the United States.

The mothers petitioned the Los Angeles Superior Court on July 23, 2008, and were awarded immediate sole custody of their sons. Additionally, all visitation privileges of the Silah brothers were revoked. The mothers have hired private investigator John Nazarian to help them retrieve their children. The story has since been widely publicized in the media and is now being featured on the website of "America's Most Wanted" (see http://www.amw.com/missing_children/brief.cfm?id=58178).

Meantime, the City Council of Los Angeles has passed a motion to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of George and John Silah. Felony arrest warrants have been issued for the two brothers, who are likely traveling under assumed identities. They may be in the company of George Silah's girlfriend, Gayane Dobadzhyan and her two brothers, who also disappeared about the same time. The Silah brothers are believed to be using a stolen, silver Infiniti G-35, with California license plate number 6DZS016.