Circumstances of Disappearance

Sayegh was in the playground of the Albert Einstein Hebrew School in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 25, 1978 during the school's lunch hour. He was last seen entering an unidentified vehicle and has never been seen again.
Sayegh's parents received a telephone call from an unknown person later in the day which demanded $500,000 in ransom for their son's return. The person promised to call back in two days with information concerning the payment of the ransom; he never called back. He was never seen again and suspicion quickly turned toward a former employee of the boy's father, who was identified as a suspect by children who saw their classmate abducted, and then by others who identified his voice on the telephone call making the ransom demand.
The suspect was tried in Clark County District Court on charges of kidnapping and obtaining money under false pretense, but a jury acquitted him. He was sentenced to 15 years, however, on unrelated charges involving rape and fraud. After his acquittal on the kidnapping charge, the suspect said he believed the child was still alive and living in Israel.
In October of 2000, he was arrested after allegedly selling an undercover agent a handgun equipped with a silencer, rubber gloves and bullets. During an 18-month investigation, the suspect also allegedly offered to dispose of a body within distance of where he said the missing child was buried more than two decades ago.
The suspect allegedly said he could dispose of a body by welding it in a steel drum and dumping it in the same place where Cary Sayegh's body has remained undiscovered. He is known to have rented welding equipment days prior to the child's abduction in 1978.