My Sister, Nicole Vienneau, Has Gone Missing in Syria

Matthew...if you're still looking for ways to get media coverage in the States, could the journalist William Powers perhaps help you with this?

NationalJournal.com appears to be a mostly politics-centered blog, but I wouldn't doubt that Mr. Powers may know people in the industry who may take an interest in publishing the story in the American media.

I found those links online,you might like to look into it.

http://www.fullerton.edu/arts/music/faculty_staff/powers.htm


http://profiles.friendster.com/25744485#moreabout_1_5

if it is possible,can you please post the arabic registration form(guest list) for cairo hotel, it is possible that an arabic native speaker ,translate the surnames or names diffrently.
we could easily be looking for powell instead of powers...

That's a really interesting suggestion. A quick google search for "William and Kathryn Powell + Syria" (and all the other combinations like Bill and Kathy, Will and Cathy, etc) brings back numerous interesting possibilities.

sounds like a German name to me: Matthias Fuchs (means Fox in german)
((())) Rasu

Also for the Lu family, it is very common for Chinese or Taiwanese immigrants to give themselves "nicknames" with American spellings, however these nicknames would not be included on any legal documents. Is it not possible to find them through their passport numbers?

Really it disturbs me to imagine your pain and i pray for a positive outcome.
In the worst case scenario , which you have said sadly is how things seem to be, i would like to ask one question ( and i sincerely hope that this is not the case ).
If someone wanted to hide a body quickly they might choose water and i wondered if the famous river Orontes ( i think ) had been searched in the city of Hama.
I live in Syria, but don't know if the Police in there search would automatically put Police divers into operation. Sorry to think of such a thing, but its just a suggestion.
Our hearts with you.

Why didn't I remember this before? It has happened to me several times in Arab countries - including Syria. For some reason they always take my middle name as either my first name or last name. I think they get confused by the passport layout and how our names are different. (Arabs commonly use their fathers name as their last name and the family name less often).

So you might want to consider these names you are looking for might be a middle name somehow. It has happened to me in both directions. My middle name used as my first name and as my last name.

One more thing, you might want to consider when they wrote down a name that they might have seen an english letter that looks similar somehow to an arabic letter and they wrote the arabic instead. What I mean is, they might read the english ...for eample the letter Z and in their mind they might have thought of the 'k' in Arabic and wrote down a K in english. Does this make sense?

Same with numbers. They might see the number Zero in english and think 5 in arabic and write down five in English because that is how they read it in their head. It happens if one is not paying attention.

So you might want to have someone consider the possible combos and make an alternate list of names and numbers.

I have some close friends abroad who have family in salamiyah. I will get in contact with them so they can get the local gossip from back home. They will definitely tell me anything they have heard.

Also, I think you should consider making the reward more for her being returned alive than dead (although offer some for that too).

there is a reward now of 1,000,000 SYP (20,000 USD) how much more do you think it should be for her being returned alive?

Assuming that the last name has been transliterated correctly, Faxon seems like to good bet for the last name of "Mardis", as it is a fairly popular surname in the U.S. (closely related to Faxen or Foxon or Foxen). The first name is a complete mystery though... I think the above suggestions are good ones - what are the most likely "errors" that might have been made by the person writing the first name?

I am one of the many people (I am sure) who do check your journal often, and I hope you find your answers soon.

Matt,
I was also thinking that this individual could be: Markus Jackson. The F and J can sometimes be similar in arabic (with the dot being either above or below the line). A hurried writer might make that mistake or not pay attention to his writing.

You have a "Jijian Robert Nicoud" listed on the Citadel list as being from Switzerland.

There is a "Ghislaine Robert-Nicoud" in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and I'm wondering if Jijian = Ghislaine (since it is pronounced "Jeezlan").

I can't find an email contact for her. Maybe someone else will have some luck.

That would actually make sense. The letter jeem (soft j) is often pronounced with a hard G in say Egypt for example (but usually the soft j in syria). I could see someone not overly great with english just intermixing the G and J easily although I don't know why they wouldn't just copy it from the passport as it is. Are these lists from passports or are they just the person listening and writing?

I myself will alternate with the pronounciation of jeem as a soft j or a hard g just depending on my mood. As I said however, that is more of an Egyptian thing. Of course this is the Cairo hotel right? Any connection with them to Egypt... are the people working there or owning it egyptian?

You have a "Jijian Robert Nicoud" listed on the Citadel list as being from Switzerland.

There is a "Ghislaine Robert-Nicoud" in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and I'm wondering if Jijian = Ghislaine (since it is pronounced "Jeezlan").

I can't find an email contact for her. Maybe someone else will have some luck.

I think the first name is Vivian-if you look at the photo of that page, there is the name "Eva" further up-the "v" looks like a "j". Another example is the name listed as "Flajta"-I think it's actually "Flavia". I've already searched on Facebook without success-also myspace, but I didn't think to hyphenate the surname. I'll give that a try.

I think you are right - now that I look at the name "Eva" above, I'm also convinced the name is Vivian (or possible Vivien). Robert-Nicoud is a fairly popular Swiss surname - and if you look closely it does look like the writer recorded the hyphen.

So there is a good chance the person is "Vivian Robert-Nicoud" or "Vivien Robert-Nicoud". I looked in the Swiss phone book and there is no listed number under those names.

all non arab entering syria need a visa, no one is getting visa without syrian embassy or immigration authorities getting a photocopy of their passports. so the best you can do looking for those guests at hotels is to contcact syrian embassies in their countries.

Matt, I think you should post a Digg button on top of this page to generate more awareness. So many visitors, this thing could go viral. I know it made the front page of Digg a while ago, but perhaps we can do it again.

Has any one thought to check out refugee camps in Syria and surrounding area?

It is strange that no one saw Nicole after she left the hotel. So maybe something happened and she never left the hotel of her own free will. It would be interesting to know if any of the staff has any illegal ties to human trafficking /sex trade or people involved in it. Or even a criminal record. I am curious if anyone has quit working there since Nicole has disappeared.

Anyways ...just a few ideas.
C

Hey Matt,
Good suggestion for others to suggest Nicole's story to America's Most Wanted and The Fifth Estate. I did that... then also made a similiar suggestion to CBC News Sunday here: http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/contact.html.

I know you are desparate to get into the US media, but continued expanded Canadian media can't hurt, as a lot of Americans and ex-pats do watch CBC. I'm hopeful that the folks at CBC News Sunday will simply get curious if they get endless story suggestions on Nicole, and will just have to find out more. I dunno, but it's worth a try.

My heart goes out to you at the six month mark, and your posting about how hard it was for you to see pictures of Nicole. ***Hugs*** I somehow remain hopeful that you will learn what happened.

Roberta