Lilawattie Buerattan, 36, disappeared from the Loxahatchee, Florida, ranch she ran with her nephew Bhagwaniala Lall (known as Moses Lall) in June 1994. The pair bred exotic birds after U.S. import rules tightened in 1993; Buerattan was the primary caregiver and Lall handled the business. A feed delivery person raised the alarm on June 5 when he found the ranch gate unattended and left a drop of feed because no reserve was kept. When the feed remained untouched the next day, authorities were notified.

A bureaucratic error delayed entry until June 16, when investigators found hundreds of birds dead or dying of starvation and no sign of Buerattan, Lall, or two ranch hands, Daljeet Gobin and Roland Felix Eyoum. Investigators say the scene suggested the occupants had been suddenly interrupted. Eyoum turned up in New York on June 18 and reported Gobin’s account that two unidentified men forced Buerattan and Lall into a white van at gunpoint and took some birds. Gobin himself had been arrested in Georgia on June 7 driving Lall’s van while identifying as Lall; he was released and later vanished. Foul play is suspected and the disappearances remain unsolved.