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Caribbean-Latin America

NY Biker has vanished in Michoacan

2014-02-17

Fears are growing for an American who left a job in finance to motorbike through central and South America and has now vanished.

Harry Devert, 32, was last heard from two weeks ago when he texted his girlfriend on Whats App to say he was waiting for a military escort to travel through a dangerous area of Mexico.

He last messaged his girlfriend from the Michoacan state where vigilantes are battling the Knights Templar cartel.

He messaged on 25 January: 'Just got an hour and a half long escort out of some area it was too dangerous for me to be. Stopping for lunch and ... voila Internet. ... Gonna get back on the road soon.

Posted by:badanov

#11 The State Department can be amazingly unhelpful in such missing person's cases, even when the subject did not go out of his way to put himself at risk. I've a friend who has been waiting over five years for either some sort of follow-up or a death certificate for his brother, who was down south somewhere on a charity project when he disappeared. Without a death certificate the wife can neither get an insurance payout nor sign up for Social Security's widows'n'orphans help for their children, nor move on with her life should she so desire.

The locals don't want to admit there's a crime issue, and the State staffers don't want to be inconvenienced by what it pleases them to think of as "stupid civilians who shouldn't have been allowed to leave home".

Posted by: trailing wife 2014-02-17 17:09

#10 Ode to the unknown Darwin Award winner.

Posted by: ed in texas 2014-02-17 14:55

#9 His mother Ann Devert said he had also told her that he takes risks but I am not an idiot.

They can put that on his tombstone. If they ever find him...

Posted by: tu3031 2014-02-17 11:16

#8 Yea, I think the guy is talking to Elvis right about now.

Posted by: Pancho Sforza6225 2014-02-17 11:10

#7 "donde es starbucks?"

"Get off the Vespa gringo"

Posted by: Airandee 2014-02-17 09:31

#6 Mr. B - only did one KnR job and it ended well. I worked another missing case and I'm pretty sure he was offed and dumped in the ocean. Nasty business w/Russian OC in Thailand.

Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2014-02-17 08:18

#5 Yo Billy, even in the cinemas, when it ends well, it's bad.

Posted by: Besoeker 2014-02-17 08:06

#4 I've seen many case like this overseas and it rarely ends well. In my experience when things go bad in a bad place, it goes bad quickly and nobody is coming to the rescue. It boggles my mind how naive some people are. I guess I just see it more often.

Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2014-02-17 07:52

#3 Ambrose Bierce also disappeared in Mexico without a trace. He was trying to interview Pancho Villa.

Posted by: Deacon Blues 2014-02-17 07:03

Hence the term.... 'diverted.'

Posted by: Besoeker 2014-02-17 05:14

#1 ..was asking Mrs. Phester where she would like to go on vacation. CONUS only, thank you very much, was the response.

I find it amazing that some people still believe that being an American carries with it no-risk panache. Maybe sojourns like this could be used to provide a solution for our overabundance of Multicultural pod people. Start with a review of Berkeley tenure rolls..

Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-02-17 00:34

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