"Confirmed: disappeared." CIUDAD DE MEXICO, MX. October 1, 2007
Dana wanted to go to Patagonia with her parents, but made the decision too late, and it was not possible to include her in the tour. She found a ticket to Cancun round trip for only 120 dollars and decided to travel to the Mexican Caribbean, with the marvelous beaches, but never imagining the nightmare that awaited her and her family.
The first call was received by her parents on April 7.
A young man telephoned the Rishpy's apartment in New York; The number was recorded in Dana's diary. Dania, the mother answered. It was a brief exchange, seemingly trivial.
. "I am Mati, I met your daughter She left her backpack with me and I got to go."
He did not say where or when they met, or his full name or where he had to go. Her parents did not ask. "Leave it in the hotel lobby reception. Please make a note so she knows where to find her things when she returns. " For Rishpy the call was irrelevant. Her daughter, a young highly predictable, and sensible girl, surely she had left for some sight seeing at the ruins, perhaps to Chichen Itza, and would return in the afternoon. Nothing to worry about.
Dana, of Israeli and German nationality, had traveled to Cancun on March 26 from Los Angeles. She was the youngest of the family. She was born more than 10 years after her three older siblings and grew up as the baby adored by her parents. She traveled with them They were tireless adventurers They had traveled through various corners of the world. And now both retired Dror was an El Al pilot for over 35 years, Dania, a travel agent, enjoyed knowing exotic places. Twice a year, they stayed in a house on the island of Menorca and in their apartment in New York City.
It was not the first time that Dana was traveling alone. At the conclusion of her military service, compulsory in Israel, Dana visited Thailand. And now, after her trip to San Francisco, where she was looking for a computer animation school, arrived in Mexico eager to meet other people and enjoy the sun and the beach. Initially she wanted to go to South America, but her parents advised against it.
. "It seemed that it might be dangerous for a young woman traveling alone."
She, then found a cheap ticket to Cancun and, as if destiny was on track, her parents gave her permission to travel. ""We had been there 30 years ago, and the image of a secure paradise stayed in our memory."
Dana, a swirl of energy, wanted to take a rest from her numerous activities of sports and artistic projects. In Israel, the whole world knew her. For four years, she dubbed voices for children's programs on Israeli TV.
Specifically, she was the voice of Sakura Kinomoto, the heroine of the popular Japanese series "Cardcaptor Sakura". Israeli children from 7 to 15 were fascinated by this character. There is even a Web site for Sakura and a regular group of fans.
She was also trained and won first place in a 100 meter race. She then moved her footsteps to learn animation techniques hoping to work in Pixar/ Walt Disney films as a producer. She also began a promising career as a singer.
With an inexhaustible imagination, a few months before leaving Israel she wrote a rock song with her friend Boaz Peleg. They made a home video filmed in the garden of her home, which is posted on YouTube (www.youtube.com / watch? v = I0hPuEpm9uE). This was not only popular, because nearly a thousand Israelis saw her video in a week. But it prompted a call from a producer who invited her to compose more songs, to launch her career.
In a paradox of destiny, more than 300,000 people have viewed her video after her disappearance. In her video,Dana is wearing a black shirt with the words "Alive" (alive). Determined and beautiful, with an overwhelming personality, she sings to the young men to leave her in peace, that they should enable her to breathe. Aludía a Ofer, Yoni, Tomer, Eyal, Dor, Ronnie y Chagai. Aludía to Ofer, Yoni, Tomer, Eyal, Dor, Ronnie and Chagai. In words that now fly like dried leaves, the seductive Dana sang her desire for freedom, she did not want to be tied to anyone. She wanted to be a new girl to dance and live without any load: "I am just a girl, and there are many others, if love appeared, I would recognize it... Let me in peace."
Tired of superficial relations, Dana appeared to anticipate that, far from Israel, on the other side of the world, a man in the wrong place, would leave her breathless and lifeless ... Despite her brimming desire to live.
Cancun, a date with destiny
Dania and Dror, parents of Dana, left Israel to Patagonia at the end of January 2007.
Despite being 70 and 63 years, respectively, they would go to backpack for two weeks in the area of El Calafate, walking with a team of experts on the trail in Perito Moreno, enjoying breathtaking views of lakes, glacial formations and landslides . "Certainly we are more adventurous than any of our four children. Dana decided too late that she wanted to come with us, and it was not possible to include her. The group was closed. "
The night before leaving, the last to be shared with Dana, her home was ablaze with activity. Israeli journalists were there to interview Dror Rishpy. He enjoyed being celebrity for a day, and never imagined that as a paradox of destiny, upon his return to Israel, again found the press at home. This time, for reasons unexpected, devastating.
The newly released film "The Last King of Scotland.", was shown in Israel that January. Dror Rishpy had been the personal pilot of Idi Amin from 1965 to 1967. Following the independence of the African country, Israel gave intelligence and military assistance to Uganda. Journalists sought to review the past.
Dror, who had not seen the film, said that, before Amin became the macabre and evil tyrannical dictator, Idi Amin was like a child who liked to be amused and laugh. Daily, he asked to fly over the savanna frightening lions and elephants, which ran terrified at the sound of the plane and the wind that originated in it's wake. The then chief of the Armed Forces of Uganda once wanted to fly beside a buffalo to see it bombed by plane from the air. When, after much discussion, he became convinced that they could crash, he gave a gun to his son to shoot and kill the animal. He then shot him, and embracing their prey, traveled on satisfied.
"To Dana these stories were always entertaining. Being girlish seemed to be fascinating, and she has always been a little child, "confesses Dania, who, unlike Dror, still talks about her in the present tense. "She was 25 years old, but seemed, 16. We loved her tenderness and innocence: collection of stuffed animals and Care Bears, she enjoyed children's movies and liked to play at being my baby. She hugged me all the time. We are so close. I do not know if I can survive without her. "
While they went to Patagonia, Dana would travel to the United States. Dror and Dania found themselves mid-March in New York City. They would enjoy a couple of weeks together, attending concerts, listening to operas, visiting art exhibitions.
Dana departed from Tel Aviv to New York in February. She had already completed a course in animation at the Open University of Israel in Ramat Hasharon, Kfar Hayarok, and was skilled in managing the software Photoshop and Freehand She wanted to find a school to improve her animation techniques in the United States.
First, she stayed a couple of weeks in New York, learning photography in the studio of Ron Habib, a friend of the family. He has documented scenes of war in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan for Time magazine. From there, she left for San Francisco, where she found a couple of Animation Schools. One of which, after taking advice from their parents, she applied to. Finally she visited with some cousins of her mother in Los Angeles. "She discovered that part of the family, and stayed there a couple of weeks," said Dania.
Dania and Dror expected Dana to return to New York, speaking on a daily basis with her. She equivocated whether she wanted to stay in Los Angeles or travel to the warm climate of South America. It was then that she found the $ 120 ticket to Cancun. "Anything was better than the cold," she said. She did not know that she was wrong. (Source: Silvia Cherem / Reforma)
Matthew called Dana's mother on the the 7th of April and he said said more than what is being stated here. He asked her mother when was the last time she heard from Dana she said about five days ago when she was in was in isla mujeres. He said well that was probably more like ten days ago because she came to tulum eight days ago. He told her he she left her bags with him and he did not know where she was now. Dania has said Dana was very responsible and that she emailed her family every 2-3 days. So in Dania's mind only five days had passed but Matthew corrected her and said it has been ten days. At that point according to Dania and Dana relationship that right there should have been enough for Dana's family to act to contact the tourist office in tulum or the police at that point. There has been alot of of Monday morning quarterbacking about Matthew's action what about the family's intial inaction at this crucial moment. Matthew had just met Dana and did not know her so he was not expecting the worst when she did not show up. He was hoping she would show up but didn't days he began to worry. No one else was in his shoes so it is easy to judge his actions as an observer. In all honesty he did not trust the Mexican police and I think that is an honest concern for any american in his place. I don't think that is far fetched or an unreasonable positon.
ReplyDelete