New episodes of Unsolved Mysteries‘ third volume arrived on Netflix today, with the true crime series digging into three cold cases that are still yet to be solved.
The final episode of the show, Abducted by a Parent, looks into two cases in which a parent has disappeared with their child, and includes the suspected kidnapping of Belel and Amina Kandil by their father Ahmed.
Born in Egypt before becoming a naturalised US citizen, Ahmed Kandil is believed to have abducted the two children he shared with his estranged wife Rebecca Downey in 2014, and despite the FBI issuing an arrest warrant for Kandil, Downey has still been unable to track down her kids.
Here’s everything you need to know about Kandil and where he is now.
Who is Ahmed Kandil?
Ahmed Kandil is a man in his 50s who is currently wanted by the FBI on suspicion of abducting his two children, Belel and Amina Kandil.
Originally from Cairo in Egypt, naturalised US citizen Kandil was previously married to Rebecca Downey with whom he had two children, Amina (born 2003) and Belel (born 2006). The couple lived together in Boston, however after Kandil lost his job in finance during the 2008 financial crisis, their relationship deteriorated and Downey chose to separate from him, with the estranged pair sharing custody of their children.
As Downey alleges in the documentary, Kandil became more religiously conservative after their split and wanted to raise their children according to his beliefs. In 2014, she claimed he was planning on taking their children on a trip to Toronto, Canada to visit relatives, and they left the country on 28th August. She believed they would be back on 1st September.
However, Downey could not get in touch with Kandil or her children towards the end of their trip, and discovered that Kandil had emptied his house in the US.
In November 2014, the FBI issued an arrest warrant for Ahmed Kandil, wanted on suspicion of international parental kidnapping. Through its investigation, it learnt that he and his children had flown from JFK airport to Ukraine and then to Turkey. A court soon granted Downey immediate sole and legal custody of the children.
The FBI believes that Kandil could be living in the Alexandria, Cairo or Giza areas of Egypt, or possible the Hatay region of Turkey.
Where is Ahmed Kandil now?
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In Unsolved Mysteries, Rebecca Downey claims that she last heard from Kandil on 30th September 2015. She allegedly received a surprise email from the region of Reyhanli in Turkey, with the subject: “Kids Are OK.”
The email reportedly said that the children are living on a small farm, where “they got all kinds of animals and it’s keeping them busy”.
In the email, believed to be from Ahmed, it read that Downey left Ahmed “no other choice”, fearing she would take full custody of the children following the divorce. “So once they’re old enough and can distinguish right from wrong, they will contact you. And at the right age, they can decide where they want to live,” it continued.
In 2016, Kandil applied for an Egyptian ID card using his father’s address and while the FBI has chased down a number of leads over the years, it is yet to find Kandil and his and Downey’s two children.
If you have a tip you would like to submit to the case, you can do so at unsolved.com/tips. Unsolved Mysteries season 3 is available to stream on Netflix. Find out what else to watch with our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Documentaries hub.
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