Anu Solanki, [FOUND SAFE] Missing Wheeling, IL Woman

[rockford2]

No trace of missing 24 year old woman


WHEELING | Cops say she may have fallen into Des Plaines River while disposing of statue.


"But Solanki told a friend earlier Monday in a cell phone call that she feared several men were following her as she left work, her husband said, though she then called back to say they were no longer in sight."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/714497,CST-NWS-missing27.article

[FocusFactor]

Her car was found with the motor running.
She'd gone to the river on an errand to dispose of a religious statue in the river.

The Ganesh statue was supposed to be wrapped in red cloth and PLACED into the river. So...she wouldn't have tossed it in, she would have walked right to the bank and that can be steep and icy.

Probably an accidental drowning. Except- weird that she thought men were following her.

[rockford2]

Her car was found with the motor running.
She'd gone to the river on an errand to dispose of a religious statue in the river.

The Ganesh statue was supposed to be wrapped in red cloth and PLACED into the river. So...she wouldn't have tossed it in, she would have walked right to the bank and that can be steep and icy.

Probably an accidental drowning. Except- weird that she thought men were following her.

I thought so as well. But it hasn't been icy around here, just muddy. But it does sound as though she meant to place the religious statue into the water very quickly and jump back into her car.

[SavannahStar]

Did you also hear that they found a purse full of money in her car? Unclear as to whether that was an additional purse, not her personal purse, and whether or not it was money from where she worked. But apparently it wasn't a robbery, IF those four men were after her.

All very odd.

[rockford2]

Did you also hear that they found a purse full of money in her car? Unclear as to whether that was an additional purse, not her personal purse, and whether or not it was money from where she worked. But apparently it wasn't a robbery, IF those four men were after her.

All very odd.

NO!! I didn't hear about that. Still reeling in shock and anger over Benazir Bhutto's assassination.


Well that's odd. And did police interview her husband yet about the money? I wonder if she had gone to the bank first? I need to get with it today.

[Pauli]

http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedia/122707missing_cst_feed_20071227_02_39_53_420-282-400.imageContent
Anu Solanki (left) moved to the Chicago area after getting married. Rescue workers search the Des Plaines River near northwest suburban Wheeling after her car was found with its engine running in a forest preserve parking lot. (Courtesy/Rob Dicker/STNG)

[rockford2]

http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedia/122707missing_cst_feed_20071227_02_39_53_420-282-400.imageContent
Anu Solanki (left) moved to the Chicago area after getting married. Rescue workers search the Des Plaines River near northwest suburban Wheeling after her car was found with its engine running in a forest preserve parking lot. (Courtesy/Rob Dicker/STNG)

the story was the lead on the noon news. The family is gathered at home and are being interviewed. I pray she wasn't abducted. :1222423:

[FocusFactor]

Rockford, do you remember how windy it was on Monday?
Gusts that knocked out power, etc. Maybe she was just caught off balance and off guard. Plus, I think a riverbank would be steep and icy/muddy no matter what the wind conditions were.

The current there is pretty fast, although shallow and she may be caught on branches under water. The Fox River near me is iced over, I'm surprised the DP isn't.

[rockford2]

Rockford, do you remember how windy it was on Monday?
Gusts that knocked out power, etc. Maybe she was just caught off balance and off guard. Plus, I think a riverbank would be steep and icy/muddy no matter what the wind conditions were.

The current there is pretty fast, although shallow and she may be caught on branches under water. The Fox River near me is iced over, I'm surprised the DP isn't.

Yes....the wind was clocked at 70MPH in Chicago. Hubby says he thinks they would have found the body by now but you bring up a good point. He also said he thought he heard that her purse and computer were missing. Did you hear that?
i keep coming in at the tail end of the story.

[FocusFactor]

Yes, the Herald says there was another purse with money.
From the story (today):
Raising concern now is Anu Solanki's reported cell phone call to a friend around 2 p.m. Monday. She told her friend a group of men in a car were following her, and that they were the same men who watched her count money inside the Westin Hotel gift shop, where she works.

But Solanki called her friend back five minutes later and said the car was gone, her husband said.

Mayberry did not say how seriously police are investigating the possibility of foul play, or whether they are looking for the car Solanki said she saw on her way to dispose of the idol.

She could have run off, but she'd have needed the money and car, I think.
It would be quite ironic if she'd have slipped into the river while trying to place her statue there to avoid bad luck.

http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=102441

Another pic of Anu http://dailyherald.com/images/stories/30/normal/30666.jpg

[Grande]

Search For Missing Woman Concludes For Today

Bob Roberts Reporting

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Another day of searching along the Des Plaines River Thursday failed to turn up any sign of a missing 24-year-old woman.

Cook County Forest Preserve and Sheriff’s Police are trying to determine their next move in the search for 24-year-old Anu Solanki, a woman from unincorporated Maine Township, near Des Plaines, who disappeared Monday while disposing of a broken Hindu religious statue.

Forest Preserve Police spokesman Steve Mayberry said that 14 officers searched along the Des Plaines River for five and a half hours, starting from Dam 2 near Kensington Road in Mount Prospect to Dam 1, opposite Palwaukee Airport, where Solanki’s Honda Civic was found, still running, Monday afternoon.

Most of the officers searched the six miles of shoreline on foot with two trained dogs. A third dog and police officers traveled up and down the river by boat.

Mayberry said that so far, there is no sign of Solanki or of her missing cell phone, purse and laptop computer. He refused to say whether police now consider this a recovery operation.

Sheriff’s detectives spoke again with several family members, including Solanki’s husband, Dignesh, at the Skokie courthouse.

The family is aiding the search by distributing fliers, and Mayberry said the conversations were held “only for the purposes of gathering information for the missing persons investigation.”

He said that no one has been identified as a suspect or a person of interest in the case, and that no one is in custody on any charges related to the disappearance.

The couple were first married in 2006. The statue had been used in the Solankis’ second wedding ceremony, in Virginia, in May.

It was shipped to them recently and arrived broken. She had planned to place the statue of the Hindu god Ganesh into the river because she was told that was the “reverent” way to dispose of it.

She last spoke with relatives Monday afternoon, after she completed her work for the day in the gift shop of the Westin

Chicago North Shore Hotel, at 601 N. Milwaukee Av., in Wheeling, and was going to dispose of the statue. In one call, she said she believed that four men were following her. In a follow-up call, she said the men had disappeared and that she would be home soon. No one has heard from her since.

http://www.wbbm780.com/Search-For-Missing-Woman-Concludes-For-Today/1395499

[rockford2]

I have a bad feeling about this...

:1222423:

[SavannahStar]

She's very pretty.

Sad case. From how I heard the reporter on Greta describing the husband, I don't think he has anything to do with it. He is totally distraught.

[rockford2]

She's very pretty.

Sad case. From how I heard the reporter on Greta describing the husband, I don't think he has anything to do with it. He is totally distraught.

I agree. I think those guys following her might have hidden for awhile and maybe she thought they turned off.

[packy]

No news yet. It does not look good and I think you may have a point, Rockford, it's possible those guys she mentioned may have still been around.

There was a woman found stabbed in Lincoln Park but they have ruled out that it was her. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lincoln-park_webdec29,0,6218172.story?coll=chi_tab01_layou t

Yesterday I read that there was a body found in Lake Michigan and they couldn't tell if it was a male or female, but couldn't find any follow up today so far.

[rockford2]

No news yet. It does not look good and I think you may have a point, Rockford, it's possible those guys she mentioned may have still been around.

There was a woman found stabbed in Lincoln Park but they have ruled out that it was her. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lincoln-park_webdec29,0,6218172.story?coll=chi_tab01_layou t

Yesterday I read that there was a body found in Lake Michigan and they couldn't tell if it was a male or female, but couldn't find any follow up today so far.


Yes, I heard all of that as well. I've been paying closer attention to the news today.

When Stacy Peterson first was reported missing, I don't know why, but it reminded me of that young couple....back in the late 80's, who mysteriously disappeared, (they were from the suburbs of Chicago) and it was HUGE news.

Does anyone remember this? They turned up about a week or so later claiming they just wanted to disappear to 'find love." I was so hoping that maybe Stacy wanted to disappear for awhile to find out who she was. Not hoping to generate so much publicity though.

[FocusFactor]

I didn't think they would search today because of the snow, but just heard on noon news that the search has been suspended.
There will be a press conference this afternoon to discuss an "important new development".
Maybe she is safe (I hope so).

[rockford2]

I didn't think they would search today because of the snow, but just heard on noon news that the search has been suspended.
There will be a press conference this afternoon to discuss an "important new development".
Maybe she is safe (I hope so).


thank you for letting me know. Going to turn on the channel 9 news.

[FocusFactor]

She is alive.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-solanki_28_bothdec28,0,1486850.story?page=1&coll=chi_breaking_500

UPDATE: Police said today that they believe Anu Solanki, 24, missing since Monday, is alive and is with a 23-year-old man from California.

[FocusFactor]

Anu Solanki alive and well; left of her own accord sheriff says
By Ashok Selvam Updated: 12/28/2007 2:11 PM
http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=103040

The missing Des Plaines woman is alive, and apparently left on her own accord, authorities announced at a press conference a few minutes ago.

Cell phone records indicate that Anu Solanki, the 24-year-old who has been the subject of a search since the afternoon of Dec. 24, has gone away with another man, authorities said.

Authorities called a press conference for this afternoon to make the announcement.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart announced the news conference in conjuction with the Cook County Forest Preserve Police.


Solanki's running car was found near the Des Plaines River in Wheeling after she reportedly was intending to discard a broken idol in the river.

Dignesh Solanki on his wife, Anu Earlier, Cook County Forest Preserve Police Chief Richard Waszak had said clues were eluding authorities.

Several family members -- including Solanki's husband Dignesh, 27 -- visited the Skokie courthouse Thursday, but police stressed the visits were intended to supply additional background information.

Yellow police tape remained at the forest preserve near the area where Solanki's car was found abandoned at Milwaukee Avenue and Hintz Road. But Thursday morning's search shifted farther south along the Des Plaines River.

Searchers combed a six-mile stretch from the original search area near Chicago Executive Airport to the woods in Mount Prospect near Ivy Lane. Police used 14 officers, a boat and two dogs in the search.

Some family members began canvassing the businesses along Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling Thursday to distribute fliers with the missing woman's photo.

Because of two mysterious cell phone calls, family members fear something sinister may have happened. Anu Solanki made the calls around 1:45 p.m. Monday within a span of five minutes while making the two-mile drive from work to the forest preserve. She told a friend a car full of suspicious men was following her from work, then called the same friend five minutes later to say the car was no longer following her.

Dignesh Solanki has lived in the area for more than four years, but Anu moved to Des Plaines from Virginia just last May after a wedding ceremony in New Jersey. She's developed bonds over the last seven months, her husband said, and she enjoyed watching movies and getting together with friends.

[FocusFactor]

Using cell phone records, detectives learned that Solanki was in contact with Karan C. Jani many times on the day she disappeared. Police believe Solanki may have met Jani at the Dam 1 Woods after she left work that day. Phone records showed she placed a call to a female friend that day. Although Solanki said she was on her way to the woods to discard a religious idol in the river there, records showed she was near DeKalb.

Cook County authorities released a photo of Jani today and asked if anyone sees the couple to contact police. Authorities said they do not know where they have gone.

---
The above is from the Tribune link I posted upthread.
DeKalb is west of Chicago, so maybe they are traveling by car to California.

Geez.
I'm very glad she is safe, but I hate it when these dumb girls/women stage a disappearance and waste a lot of divers and searchers time. This is the reason so many missing person cases are not taken seriously.

[SavannahStar]

:shock:

I, too, am glad she's safe....but.......geez.

I feel VERY sorry for her husband.

I hate it when people do this stuff. :mad:

[FocusFactor]

According to the reports, Anu had known this Jani guy for a year and was in contact with him all this time. Husband did not know of the relationship. Unclear how they met, but Jani is a recent graduate of a southern CA school.

Police believe they are in a rental car and her cell phone is turned off.
Gone now for the 5th day, they are probably in CA by now.

(no link, I heard this on the radio a little while ago)

[rockford2]

why can't these people just say, "i can't take it" "Or I have fallen in love with somebody else" or whatever the reasons they leave.

I do remember that young couple who disappeared and boy were they in a LOT of trouble when they came back with tails between their legs. I just wish I could remember their names. It happened in the summer of '87' I'm pretty sure of.

[FocusFactor]

why can't these people just say, "i can't take it" "Or I have fallen in love with somebody else" or whatever the reasons they leave.

I do remember that young couple who disappeared and boy were they in a LOT of trouble when they came back with tails between their legs. I just wish I could remember their names. It happened in the summer of '87' I'm pretty sure of.

I don't remember it at all, but 1987 was the year I moved here. Google is impossible without more info.

I guess I can feel a little sorry for Anu, maybe loveless marriage, in love with another guy, but not toosorry. More sorry for the clueless husband. Those volunteers braved some freakin cold days searching for her.

I am glad it was resolved so quickly. They say they do not plan to charge her with any crime.

[rockford2]

I don't remember it at all, but 1987 was the year I moved here. Google is impossible without more info.

I guess I can feel a little sorry for Anu, maybe loveless marriage, in love with another guy, but not toosorry. More sorry for the clueless husband. Those volunteers braved some freakin cold days searching for her.

I am glad it was resolved so quickly. They say they do not plan to charge her with any crime.

maybe charge her with the $250,000 dollars it cost to conduct the search for her...

[Noahs ARK]

I think this is a disgrace! In this day & age, with so many women that go missing, how DARE she pull such a stunt??

The hell that these families & friends go thru - always hoping for the best, but expecting the worst and she takes advantage of this type of situation just because she didn't have the guts to be honest??

I hope she has to pay back every cent that was spent searching for her.

Karma, Baby - I'll say no more. :71541:

[FocusFactor]

I wish they could charge her for the cost of the search.
That would be fair.

[Pauli]

There are so many people that are really missing and could use someone searching for them instead of it being used on one who is not.

[rockford2]

I wish they could charge her for the cost of the search.
That would be fair.


They just might do that! The authorities still want to talk with her and in a live interview they said that they needed her to contact them ASAP. They (authorities) went on to say they spent $250,000 in the search for her. I believe they CAN charge her.

She planned this whole thing authorites say. There is no way they are going to let her get away with this without some kind of repercussion.

[Pauli]

I believe they made the runaway bride from GA pay some money back when she did the same thing....

[Sumanadevii]

I can't even begin to imagine the pain the husband must be in. My son's would be heartbroken and to find out in such a cruel way. I hope the woman is charged.

[rockford2]

http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/national/2007/12/26/Missing.Woman/


"at this time she has not been charged with anything," according to Cook County Sheriff's police spokesman, Steve Mayberry.

[Pauli]

Illinois woman expresses regret, embarrassment at prompting search
By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer


CHICAGO (AP) -- Anu Solanki wanted out of her marriage, so the 24-year-old met a male friend at a Chicago-area forest preserve on Christmas Eve, jumped into his car and headed down the highway for what she hoped would be a new life in southern California.

Only days later, she told investigators, did she learn from an online report that her disappearance had made headlines and prompted a costly search by authorities, who had feared that Solanki might have drowned in a river that runs through the forest preserve.

"She expressed regret and embarrassment," Cook County sheriff's office spokesman Bill Cunningham said Saturday, a day after Solanki flew back to Chicago from Los Angeles and spoke to investigators for several hours. "She claims she in no way meant to deceive people into thinking she fell into the Des Plaines River."

Authorities spent about $250,000 on their search, which included divers and a helicopter. Her family also handed out flyers with Solanki's picture.

"Obviously we're upset that so many individuals have had to work on this for so many days and that so many resources were spent on it," Cunningham said. "But she maintained she had no idea it would create the kind of reaction it did."
Police will meet with prosecutors soon to determine if Solanki broke any laws, but Cunningham declined to say what charges she could possibly face.

"The first thing you'd think of is making a false report. But she didn't make a false report," he said. "It's not a crime to deceive your husband and family."

The discovery of a Honda Civic Solanki drove to work the day she went missing heightened concerns for her welfare. The doors were open and the keys inside.

She told investigators she left the car because it belonged to her husband.

"She didn't want to have any of his possessions and wanted to completely break with him," Cunningham said. "She indicated that she was not a victim of abuse in their relationship. She just stated she regretted getting married and wanted out of the marriage."

A message left Saturday for Solanki's husband, Dignesh Solanki, was not returned.

The Solankis were born in India's Gujarat state, and were married Oct. 6, 2006. They held a second Hindu wedding on May 6 in New Jersey.

Cunningham said investigators inquired about whether their marriage was arranged, but it wasn't clear whether or not it was.

Anu Solanki, who spent Saturday night at a Chicago-area hotel, claimed that she and the 23-year-old man who drove her to California, Karan C. Jani, were close friends and not romantically involved, Cunningham said. They had known each other about a year.

It was Jani who first saw the report about the search for Solanki on a Web site Thursday; he then encouraged her to contact her family.

By the time authorities learned Friday that Solanki had been in touch with relatives they had already concluded by looking at cell-phone records that she was alive.

In their interview with Solanki Friday, authorities also learned the fate of a religious statue that featured in their investigation.

Dignesh Solanki had said during the week that his wife may have been placing a religious statue in the Des Plaines River on the day she went missing.

The statue of the deity Ganesh, revered as the Hindu god of good fortune and wisdom, played a role in the couple's Hindu marriage ceremony. It had broken and a religious leader told them that placing it in the water would ward off bad luck.

Before she got in her friend's car and headed to California, she did what she told her husband she would do in a quest for better luck: She placed it in the river.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IL_MISSING_SUBURBAN_WOMAN_ILOL-?SITE=ILALT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-12-29-16-44-08

[Tracian]

This makes me so angry. I am happy she is okay, but why the dramatics? Why not just say, 'hey, I am outta here?"

I just don't get it...to cause so much pain to those that are in your life, when some don't have the choice...

[Tracian]

I believe they made the runaway bride from GA pay some money back when she did the same thing....


IIRC that nutcase had to do community service, of course she went a step further, saying she was 'kidnapped'

Twisted. This makes me angry, so many truly missing, and resources wasted on freaks like this...just as bad when a woman cries 'rape' or 'abuse' just to get even with someone...it makes it all the harder for real victims.

Every time some idiot pulls a stunt like this, LE is hesitant to move to fast, and that could cost a life----maybe it already has.

[rockford2]

IIRC that nutcase had to do community service, of course she went a step further, saying she was 'kidnapped'

Twisted. This makes me angry, so many truly missing, and resources wasted on freaks like this...just as bad when a woman cries 'rape' or 'abuse' just to get even with someone...it makes it all the harder for real victims.

Every time some idiot pulls a stunt like this, LE is hesitant to move to fast, and that could cost a life----maybe it already has.

Just on the news. Trying to decide whether or not to charge her for the search services.

[Tracian]

Just on the news. Trying to decide whether or not to charge her for the search services.


They SHOULD...what she did was sick, cruel, and a waste of resources.

[Pauli]

They SHOULD...what she did was sick, cruel, and a waste of resources.

I agree.... the time and resources they spent searching for her could have been spent on someone who truly is missing

[Grande]

No criminal charges for missing wife Anu Solanki
But wife who fled may face civil case

10:46 PM CST, December 31, 2007

A woman who returned to the area after her disappearance last week set off a $250,000 search will not face criminal charges, authorities said Monday.

The Cook County sheriff's and state's attorney's offices reviewed the case of Anu Solanki, 24, and decided those charges are not appropriate, officials said.

A decision on whether Solanki will face civil charges, which would require her to pay back taxpayer money spent on the search for her, is still under review, said Andy Conklin, spokesman for the state's attorney's office.

Solanki, of unincorporated Des Plaines, returned to the Chicago area Friday, four days after her family found her car running with the door open near a dam on the Des Plaines River.

She told her husband, Dignesh, she was going to the river to dispose of a broken religious idol after getting off work as a cashier at a nearby hotel gift shop. He said he became worried when he couldn't reach her several hours later and, along with a friend, discovered her car.

Over the next several days, police divers spent hours in the river looking for her. Investigators combed the surrounding forest preserve using cadaver-sniffing dogs.

And several of Solanki's family members, including her parents and two siblings, drove from their home in Charlottesville, Va., to help pass out leaflets with her photo.

Solanki told investigators she was unhappy in her marriage, but her husband was not abusive or cruel, authorities said. She had begun the 30-hour drive to California with a friend, Karan C. Jani, 23, seeking a clean break, officials said. Jani saw news reports about her disappearance and emotional appeals from her family and encouraged her to turn around.

Solanki told authorities she never meant to deceive anyone or make people believe she had fallen into the river.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-solanki_01_bothjan01,0,5226998.story?coll=chi_news _custom_photos_util_2

[Tracian]

No criminal charges for missing wife Anu Solanki
But wife who fled may face civil case

10:46 PM CST, December 31, 2007

A woman who returned to the area after her disappearance last week set off a $250,000 search will not face criminal charges, authorities said Monday.

The Cook County sheriff's and state's attorney's offices reviewed the case of Anu Solanki, 24, and decided those charges are not appropriate, officials said.

A decision on whether Solanki will face civil charges, which would require her to pay back taxpayer money spent on the search for her, is still under review, said Andy Conklin, spokesman for the state's attorney's office.

Solanki, of unincorporated Des Plaines, returned to the Chicago area Friday, four days after her family found her car running with the door open near a dam on the Des Plaines River.

She told her husband, Dignesh, she was going to the river to dispose of a broken religious idol after getting off work as a cashier at a nearby hotel gift shop. He said he became worried when he couldn't reach her several hours later and, along with a friend, discovered her car.

Over the next several days, police divers spent hours in the river looking for her. Investigators combed the surrounding forest preserve using cadaver-sniffing dogs.

And several of Solanki's family members, including her parents and two siblings, drove from their home in Charlottesville, Va., to help pass out leaflets with her photo.

Solanki told investigators she was unhappy in her marriage, but her husband was not abusive or cruel, authorities said. She had begun the 30-hour drive to California with a friend, Karan C. Jani, 23, seeking a clean break, officials said. Jani saw news reports about her disappearance and emotional appeals from her family and encouraged her to turn around.

Solanki told authorities she never meant to deceive anyone or make people believe she had fallen into the river.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-solanki_01_bothjan01,0,5226998.story?coll=chi_news _custom_photos_util_2


Well, if they hit her in the pocket book, that will be something!!!