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Back The Missing American Save as PDF
Chapters (109)
  1. Part One
  2. ONE
  3. One day earlier
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. PART TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  81. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  82. SEVENTY-NINE
  83. EIGHTY
  84. EIGHTY-ONE
  85. EIGHTY-TWO
  86. EIGHTY-THREE
  87. EIGHTY-FOUR
  88. EIGHTY-FIVE
  89. EIGHTY-SIX
  90. EIGHTY-SEVEN
  91. EIGHTY-EIGHT
  92. EIGHTY-NINE
  93. NINETY
  94. NINETY-ONE
  95. NINETY-TWO
  96. NINETY-THREE
  97. NINETY-FOUR
  98. NINETY-FIVE
  99. NINETY-SIX
  100. NINETY-SEVEN
  101. NINETY-EIGHT
  102. NINETY-NINE
  103. GLOSSARY
  104. Acknowledgments
  105. Continue reading
  106. Part One
  107. ONE
  108. TWO
  109. THREE

FORTY-FOUR

FORTY-FOUR

May 21, Washington, DC

Cas was sipping black coffee in his apartment with his feet up. The liquor relaxed him, but he was still worried, riddled with anxiety like a corpse full of buckshot. Several weeks now, and still no word from Gordon. For some time, Cas had thought there could be a logical and simple explanation for his friend’s silence, but the situation was now ominous.

On his laptop, Cas looked back at his May 10th article in the Washington Observer.

Out of Africa

An American delves into the lucrative African underworld of Internet scammers

By Casper Guttenberg

Part Two

Modern online romance scams, which often originate from countries like Ghana and Nigeria, are premeditated crimes that steal millions—potentially billions—of dollars from vulnerable people all over the US, Canada, and Europe. Rarely caught or prosecuted, the scammers sit safely at computers while hunting for prey on social networks.

It is rare that American, Canadian, or European victims (some prefer the term “survivors”) of these scams travel to these countries to confront the conmen in person. G.T., whom we met in Part One, decided to do just that. Traveling to Accra, Ghana’s capital, G.T. embarked on a mission to find out who, using the fabricated name “Helena,” had duped him of some $4,000.

But G.T. found little help from the Ghanaian police authorities, themselves often mired in corruption, and he was compelled to seek other paths. Working with a local Ghanaian investigative reporter, Sana Sana, G.T. discovered that Internet scamming (commonly called sakawa in local parlance) has infiltrated multiple strata in Ghanaian life, up to and including the high echelons. Along the way, G.T. has met a diverse, if not always pleasant, cast of characters including a voodoo priest and the wife of a top police official.

He startled as his phone buzzed on the side table. It was Derek calling from Ghana, and Cas hoped and prayed he had good news.

“Hi, Derek. How are you doing?”

“Not that well.”

Cas’s heart sank. “What’s going on?”

“The detectives are telling me that on the night Dad disappeared, an eyewitness reported what looked like a body being dumped over a bridge into the Volta River.”

Cas’s immediate reaction was to push back. “Yeah, but that could have been anything. We don’t even know the reliability of this person. Eyewitness accounts are notoriously untrustworthy.”

“Seven weeks, Cas—seven weeks since my father was last seen.”

“I don’t deny that it’s troubling,” Cas agreed.

“I read the second part of your Observer piece, by the way,” Derek said. “You know, now that I’m in Ghana, I’m seeing the articles differently than I did back home when I read the first part. I think I owe you an apology about the way I spoke to you about it back then.”