Florian Bourch
Real Name: Florian Meyer Bourch
Aliases: David Florian
Wanted For: Questioning in Smuggling, Abduction and possible murder
Missing Since: December 1988
Case[]
Details: Florian Bourch is a German national and captain of the eighty-two foot freighter called the Freedon. It vanished in December 1988 on a trip from Miami to Haiti with young journalist student Lisa Bishop on board. Lisa was planning to write a story about the economic contrasts between the United States and Haiti. Lisa met Florian at a club, the Metroplex in Atlanta, Georgia, that was owned by her boyfriend Paul Cornwell. Florian told Lisa about the trip, asked if she wanted to go and she accepted.
The ship set sail from Miami bound for Haiti at around 2:30PM on December 17, 1988, but never arrived in Haiti. When the Bishops did not receive a Christmas card from Lisa, they became concerned. Family members of Lisa and other crew members contacted the United States Coast Guard. A search was performed but no trace was found.
In April 1989, two weeks after it was reported missing in a Miami newspaper, an underwater salvager named Bob Nyberg recognized he had seen the ship in Georgetown Harbor on Grand Cayman Island--over 500 miles from Haiti. It is unknown where the ship went afterward, but it gave the Bishops hope that Lisa was still alive.
In May of 1989, Paul Cornwell and Bob Nyberg went to Grand Cayman. They found that around the time of Bob's sighting, Bourch was seen alive in the company of an unidentified man. When Paul returned to Miami, a woman told him that the man seen with Florian could have been named Phillippe from Haiti, who had chartered the Freedon. No trace of Lisa was ever found. Before Bob and Paul could investigate further, Florian was gone again. There has been heavy speculation that Bourch and possibly Phillippe could be involved in smuggling; Florian Bourch is still wanted for questioning in Lisa's whereabouts. His whereabouts are unknown.
Extra Notes: This case was first aired on October 17, 1990.
Results: Wanted
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