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Yemeni teen missing from Purdue summer program

By Barb Berggoetz
barb.berggoetz@indystar.com
August 12, 2004

Police are searching for an 18-year-old Middle Eastern student reported missing from a five-week Purdue University summer program.

The Yemeni student, Anwar Saleh Ahmed Al-Awdi, was last seen on the West Lafayette campus at 9 p.m. Friday. He was leaving with a family acquaintance and another person.

Purdue officials are worried that he has not returned but say they have no reason to suspect he is involved in anything illegal.

"There's no indication of anything like foul play -- that there's anything in particular going on at all," said Joseph Bennett, vice president for university relations. "The biggest concern is his safety, locating him and getting him back on track."

Although Al-Awdi had been informed he was expected back on campus by 11 p.m. Sunday, Bennett said, he may not have understood because of language difficulties or cultural differences. The students are free to travel when they're not involved with the program.

Al-Awdi is among 18 recent high school graduates from the Middle East who have been visiting Purdue since July 17 as part of the U.S. 2004 Summer Institute on American Life and Youth Leadership.

"Students selected for the program are outstanding academically -- potential leaders of their country," said Bennett. "They're top-echelon people."

Purdue police, who were notified Monday of Al-Awdi's absence from campus, are investigating and have sent an advisory to police in Indiana and Michigan. Bennett said the FBI and the U.S. State Department have been notified, as well as Al-Awdi's family.

A State Department representative said this is a rare incident for exchange programs it sponsors and that the department is working with local authorities and Purdue to assure Al-Awdi's safety.

The institute, based at Purdue, is sponsored by the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative and its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

A grant for the institute was awarded to the Indiana Center for Cultural Exchange, a partnership among Indiana University, Purdue and the University of Notre Dame.

While at Purdue, students have taken classes on government, economics and culture. They also have visited government offices, attended concerts and met athletes and religious leaders. The students are to visit Chicago and Washington, D.C., before leaving the United States on Aug. 22.

Purdue officials hope someone will recognize Al-Awdi and call police. Al-Awdi is 5 feet tall with a thin build.

He left campus with Mausuar Yousef Yahya, a friend of the family from Detroit, and another man identified only as Yaha. They were to go to an address in Hamtramck, Mich., but police were not able to reach anyone at that location in the Detroit suburb.

http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/169638-2238-009.html