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The Disappearance of Aeryn Gillern

Anyone familiar about this case? The guy was gay. They just made a film about this. Politicians are now involved in trying to find him.

From Wiki:

Aeryn Gillern was born on April 28, 1973 at Elmira, New York, the son of Kathryn Gilleran (born 1952). In June 1991 he graduated from Groton High School in Groton, New York. In 1997 Gillern graduated the Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology. From 1997 to 1998 Gillern attended the seminary at Graz-Seckau (Austria). In 1999, Gillern received a Master of Arts with honors in Theology and Christian Ministry from Franciscan University of Steubenville. In 2003 he was appointed by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna (Austria) committed as a research assistant.

In September 2007 he flew home to his mother, Kathryn Gilleran in Cortland, New York, to visit his family for ten days. His mother was planning to sell their house and move to Vienna to study with her son. On October 27, 2007 Kathy phoned her son and talked to him for the last time. He disappeared two days later.

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by Anonymousreply 102January 15, 2018 9:19 AM

Kathy Gillern's son Aeryn disappeared in Vienna on October 29, 2007. The Vienna police say they have done their best to find him, but have they?

A mother in Cortland, New York is still trying to find out what happened to her son, who disappeared nearly a year ago in Vienna, Austria, but she isn't getting much help from Viennese authorities.

At the time of his disappearance, Aeryn Gillern was 34 and employed as a research clerk by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), a UN specialized agency headquartered in Vienna, Austria. He had been living in Austria for the past six years. He was scholarly, well-liked by his coworkers, a deeply religious Catholic who had studied theology and earned a masters degree, and winner of the title "Mr. Gay Austria" in 2006. When Aeryn Gillern vanished on October 29, 2007, there were clothes left in the washer in his apartment and freshly baked Rice Krispies treats on the kitchen counter. When he didn't show up at work for two days, concerned a concerned neighbor and a coworker notified authorities. But the official investigation of Aeryn Gillern's disappearance has gone nowhere.

Areyn Gillern's last telephone contact was a cell-phone conversation with a female friend at about 7:30 pm on October 29, 2007. He is believed to have visited the Kaiserbruendl, a gay sauna in Vienna, later that evening. An employee at the spa told Mrs. Gillern that a group of tourists started a fight in the upscale sauna at around 10 pm on the night Aeryn disappeared. His clothes and personal belongings were left behind at the sauna, but Aeryn vanished, never to be seen again. A video camera belonging to the sauna has also disappeared. According to Mrs. Gillern, police reported to her a few days after Aeryn's disappearance that a bald-headed man had been seen floating in a canal. Later, the story changed. Police have also suggested that Aeryn was "despondent" after learning he was HIV-positive and committed "an act of spontaneous suicide." However, a lab report of the missing man's clothes showed that he was not HIV positive.

Kathy Gillern, a former Ithaca police officer, has urged the Vienna police to press the investigation in a more aggressive manner, but they have refused. Mrs. Gillern wonders whether this may be because the openly gay Gillern had a run-in with the Viennese police in January 2003 and may have made a complaint about it to Amnesty International. Austrian federal criminal investigations bureau spokeman Armin Halm says that the police have done all they can, and an American state department spokesman, Cy Ferenchak, stated that American authorities have no power to intervene in an investigation in a foreign country. A high-ranking official in the Vienna Police wrote in an email: “No shortfalls whatsoever were determined; all necessary measures were taken within the scope of what was legally possible. I have nothing more to say about this case. Our officers did their work; there are no shortfalls.”

The record thus far suggests that the Vienna police investigation was slipshod at best, and the cover-up of a hate crime at worst. The characterization of Aeryn Gillern as a suicide-prone, HIV-positive man who "spontaneously" threw himself into a canal sounds like an excuse not to pursue the investigation because the victim was gay. The homophobia is barely concealed, and the unwillingness to dig deeper into the case is suspicious. Officially, the investigation is proceeding, but nothing is being done. If Gillern went into a canal, on his own or with help, where is his body? What measures have the Vienna Police taken to locate the alleged corpse, including contacting the police of neighboring countries? Why is the disappearance of a properly documented foreign employee of a UN agency in Vienna being swept under the rug as if he were a foreign sex-tourist who got what he deserved? And why is the U.S. government, which intervenes in the affairs of foreign countries routinely, doing nothing to pressure Austrian authorities to probe deeper?

Anyone who cares about basic human rights should be outraged about how the Aeryn Gillern case has been treated by both Austrian and American authorities. I hope that Mrs. Gillern asks New York's senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, to exert pressure on the U.S. State Department to pursue this case vigorously.

by Anonymousreply 1November 3, 2013 4:54 AM

Sounds like an assassination of some kind.

by Anonymousreply 2November 3, 2013 5:01 AM

He was a bald diseased whore, so who cares.

by Anonymousreply 3November 3, 2013 5:08 AM

R3 = Austrian twat.

by Anonymousreply 4November 3, 2013 5:28 AM

How could the UN say nothing?

by Anonymousreply 5November 3, 2013 5:29 AM

great documentary on him....he literally ran screaming out out of the sauna naked as a jaybird and vanished into the night.

by Anonymousreply 6September 27, 2014 7:35 AM

The bit that is most disturbing is the fact that the camera at the sauna has disappeared. Was someone following him? Also, why is it that the police keep changing their story, and they have done everything in their power to get rid of his mother for good? Why are they preventing her from having access to any information at all?

This is sinister, rather than strange.

by Anonymousreply 7September 27, 2014 7:48 AM

Drugs, obviously.

Probably tweaking, and after getting into a fight at the sauna he ran down to the canal and sailed in (which is easy to do in the 1st district of Vienna, since there's a promenade with no wall).

One of the other (maybe closeted) participants in the "disturbance" probably snatched the camera afterwards to avoid being drawn into a police investigation.

There was a case like this in NY several years ago -- no sauna involved, but the guy was last seen on New Year's Eve running towards the East River high as a kite. I don't think his body was recovered either.

by Anonymousreply 8September 27, 2014 10:38 AM

Just say no!

by Anonymousreply 9September 27, 2014 11:11 AM

R8, "drugs, obviously" doesn't explain away the weirdness of the rest of the case.

by Anonymousreply 10September 27, 2014 9:23 PM

The East river is an estuary. The body could go out to see. Not in Vienna.

by Anonymousreply 11September 27, 2014 9:27 PM

[quote]he literally ran screaming out out of the sauna naked as a jaybird and vanished into the night.

That's a normal Saturday night for me.

by Anonymousreply 12September 27, 2014 9:44 PM

How do we know she didn't kill him?

by Anonymousreply 13September 27, 2014 9:50 PM

" And why is the U.S. government, which intervenes in the affairs of foreign countries routinely, doing nothing to pressure Austrian authorities to probe deeper?"

Embassy employees don't do that. They are not detectives or babysitters for private citizens abroad.

by Anonymousreply 14September 27, 2014 9:57 PM

Jay birds aren't naked, they have feathers, which are the clothes of the bird world.

by Anonymousreply 15September 27, 2014 10:08 PM

any news?

by Anonymousreply 16November 13, 2014 5:58 AM

I bet he committed suicide because his mother spelled his name "Aeryn" on his birth certificate instead of "Aaron," and so he grew up having everyone think he was retarded.

by Anonymousreply 17November 13, 2014 6:21 AM

this story is terrifying

by Anonymousreply 18November 13, 2014 7:57 AM

Stop trying to make him happen.

by Anonymousreply 19November 13, 2014 12:29 PM

Documentary on The Disappearance of Aeryn Gillern debuted at Tribeca film festival

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by Anonymousreply 20November 13, 2014 12:32 PM

Video of him: coming out story

Typical druggie qween.

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by Anonymousreply 21November 13, 2014 12:34 PM

He had a great voice.

by Anonymousreply 22November 13, 2014 2:25 PM

Sloppy reporting. Rice Krispie treats are not baked.

by Anonymousreply 23November 13, 2014 3:25 PM

I love r23.

by Anonymousreply 24November 13, 2014 3:34 PM

If only he had been less slutty, he never would have gone to those baths and he might still be alive today.

by Anonymousreply 25November 13, 2014 11:22 PM

IMDB users say she's probably lying and playing the Nazi card. Perhaps you should chime in there.

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by Anonymousreply 26November 21, 2014 3:50 PM

is there any remote possibility he's still alive?

by Anonymousreply 27November 22, 2014 9:40 PM

Prolly not.

by Anonymousreply 28November 29, 2014 2:37 AM

I would be so happy if he turned up somewhere with some fantastical tale.

by Anonymousreply 29November 29, 2014 11:17 PM

Pretty cute for a bald guy.

by Anonymousreply 30November 29, 2014 11:48 PM

I think someone on the force killed him and they're covering up on behalf of him.

by Anonymousreply 31November 29, 2014 11:54 PM

Like many of us (though not all of us), I went through a period in my life when I was doing all kinds of things like this guy--going to sketchy bathhouses and using drugs and hooking up with complete strangers.

It strikes me this guy had some sort of fundamental disconnect in his identity--from what his mother has posted he was so obsessed with being immaculately dressed and turned out that he didn't like cats or kittens because he was afraid they'd get hair on his clothing. Yet there he was fucking in dirty bathhouses. And of course he was very gay and out, but obsessed with the Catholic church.

by Anonymousreply 32November 30, 2014 12:00 AM

His mother was moving to Vienna to study with him.

Mystery solved, he ran off into the night and now he's living a mom free life somewhere in Europe.

by Anonymousreply 33November 30, 2014 12:05 AM

The longer this bitch says away, the safer we'll all be.

by Anonymousreply 34January 30, 2015 10:56 AM

what do you mean R34?

by Anonymousreply 35January 30, 2015 7:24 PM

[quote] "The East river is an estuary. The body could go out to see. Not in Vienna."

The body could go out to see...what? SpellCheck?

by Anonymousreply 36January 30, 2015 8:03 PM

You bumped this thread just to say THAT, R34?

by Anonymousreply 37January 30, 2015 8:14 PM

This documentary just became available on Hulu...

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by Anonymousreply 38May 26, 2015 3:30 AM

when one is into the homosex you have to expect, nay tolerate such things

by Anonymousreply 39January 2, 2017 8:17 AM

Movie also on Amazon Prime

Didn't look like a dirty sauna but a very nice one.

Why is such a secret what happened at sauna. Maybe some kind of sex Arryn wanted no part of.

Why is a close friend's face blurred out for film?

by Anonymousreply 40May 30, 2017 2:15 AM

Nope, haven't seen him. Ask again in a few months.

by Anonymousreply 41May 30, 2017 2:25 AM

Gay and a graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville?!?!?! Almost, not quite, unfathomable.

The Franciscan University of Steubenville is the Catholic version of Bob Jones University or Liberty University ....

by Anonymousreply 42May 30, 2017 2:34 AM

Is the documentary worth watching?

by Anonymousreply 43May 30, 2017 2:37 AM

R39, you mean where the man go up into the man???......

by Anonymousreply 44May 30, 2017 2:41 AM

His brother Meauzis did it.

by Anonymousreply 45May 30, 2017 2:46 AM

[quote]Movie also on Amazon Prime

I just checked. It isn't on Prime - at least, not in the US.

by Anonymousreply 46May 30, 2017 2:52 AM

The Clintons had him killed. He was about to expose their pedophile ring. And he knew about Hillary and Huma

by Anonymousreply 47May 30, 2017 3:01 AM

You don't "bake" rice crispy treats.

by Anonymousreply 48May 30, 2017 3:03 AM

Can anyone find a link to the doc to see it for free?

by Anonymousreply 49May 30, 2017 3:15 AM

Who keeps bumping up this old thread about a tweaked-out queen who jumped or fell into a canal after a drugs-and-sex bender 10 years ago?

I'm starting to think it's his drama-loving mother who found this place, started the thread, and comes back periodically to bump it.

Look, lady, we're sorry your son is lost, we had nothing to do with it, and no one here can help you with anything but commiseration. (Or is that what you're actually looking for?)

by Anonymousreply 50May 30, 2017 6:36 AM

It's too bad, he definitely has big dick face.

by Anonymousreply 51May 30, 2017 6:55 AM

research assistant = file clerk

by Anonymousreply 52May 30, 2017 7:11 AM

I just watched it on Amazon Prime (I'm looking at my tv screen right now it is 2 on my watch next list) and I'm the one who bumped this thread because I had questions I thought you bitches could answer.

Why does a gay man(Mr Gay Austria at that) run naked from a sauna? Either drugs or trying to escape from someone trying to kill him? What was the argument with the tourists about?

Usually a suicide will leave a body unless the authorities have no desire to do the job.

I get the mother does seem to be in denial but there are so many questions unanswered. No video at sauna, cops changing stories and no witnesses (no one noticed a naked man running in the streets)).

by Anonymousreply 53May 30, 2017 7:18 AM

We've done threads on him before. He was quite attractive, but he was obviously a piece of work--I've known very attractive closeted gay men before who were deeply religious, and when they came out they practically exploded and went hogwild--it's sort of like how crazy the Amish kids get when they go on Rumspringa. They often get into huge trouble and do stupid things, because they've been keeping so much guarded for too long.

While his disappearance is mysterious, the fact that he went screaming out of a gay sauna while naked makes it seem pretty clear he was tripping on drugs.

by Anonymousreply 54May 30, 2017 7:28 AM

His fanciful name is not his mother's fault, r17. She named him plain old "Aaron M. Jackson" on his birth certificate.

by Anonymousreply 55May 30, 2017 7:37 AM

I don't think he just came out. When he told everyone he was gay they xalready knew it.

What are the perks of living in Austria? You can get drugs everywhere?

by Anonymousreply 56May 30, 2017 4:32 PM

I think he was tripping for sure...but where'd his body go?

by Anonymousreply 57January 6, 2018 7:51 AM

I've followed this story ever since it was on ID in the "Gone" series. His mother goes every year to the bath-house area to hold vigil. He was last seen running for his life, naked, toward the canal. I think he was going to be sacrificed. PS He worked for a US agency there, and that might play into it.

by Anonymousreply 58January 6, 2018 8:04 AM

Or else he was trying to escape from his Mom.

by Anonymousreply 59January 6, 2018 8:09 AM

R58, what do you by "he was going to be sacrificed"?

by Anonymousreply 60January 6, 2018 8:10 AM

He visited the Kaiserbruendl. Enough said. About 20% of people who go in there never come out (under their own steam, at least).

by Anonymousreply 61January 6, 2018 9:26 AM

It was probably a bunch of messy queens doing drugs, he freaked out and the others either killed him and covered it up or he died and they covered it up.

by Anonymousreply 62January 6, 2018 9:43 AM

but why would they kill him just because they were all high?

by Anonymousreply 63January 8, 2018 7:06 PM

Mary even the name is gay. He probably ran away to join the circus.

by Anonymousreply 64January 8, 2018 7:16 PM

Oh, fuck, who bumped this ancient thread again?

There's no mystery about this guy's disapperance. Classic meth/ bath salts/ whatever binge, leading to a freakout. He ran (naked, in winter) directly towards the canal and, duh, he fell or jumped in.

The only mystery is where his body ended up, but there are numerous locks and dams downstream from the Vienna downtown area, and I guess his body could have gotten trapped on some underwater object. Or it got washed way downstream and is now in Slovakia.

I'm sure his mother is genuinely devastated, but she's clearly milking his disasppearance for all the attention she can get.

by Anonymousreply 65January 8, 2018 7:24 PM

If he were just running away from someone, he would have run out and tried to find others to protect him. If he kept running, it was likely paranoia caused by drugs.

That said, it was pretty awful how the police handled it.

by Anonymousreply 66January 8, 2018 7:30 PM

Vampyr!

by Anonymousreply 67January 8, 2018 7:55 PM

Maybe he is with that Marine who got lost in the German woods?

by Anonymousreply 68January 8, 2018 9:07 PM

I was giving a bj in the steam room of a sauna in Vienna. When the air cleared, and I saw his face, I ran out screaming. But, I put on clothes before leaving the building.

by Anonymousreply 69January 8, 2018 9:34 PM

Criminey. Drugs. Maybe he was threatened with rape. You ugly fools probably never feared that. Obviously, he was afraid of something, and was running away from it. A group of ugly, horny, trolls explains it.

by Anonymousreply 70January 8, 2018 9:47 PM

Even if his death was his own fault the drugged up queens he was partying with might have hid/disposed of his body to keep from getting busted.

by Anonymousreply 71January 8, 2018 10:30 PM

There’s no evidence of drugs. I don’t necessarily doubt it, but I still think it was a gang rape attempt.

by Anonymousreply 72January 8, 2018 10:41 PM

If it started in a bathhouse/sex club then drugs are pretty much a given.

by Anonymousreply 73January 8, 2018 10:46 PM

R15 In 1920s and 30s America, J-bird was short for jailbird and when they were brought in from the bus, they went to the showers were given their kit and made to walk from one end of the prison to the other naked. Hence naked as a j-bird – or jaybird.

by Anonymousreply 74January 8, 2018 11:02 PM

It’s all a bit dodgy.

I went to kaiserbrundl when I was in Austria a dozen or more years ago. It was perfectly pleasant as saunas go. Clean and better than most - but not quite the authentic Victorian/Edwardian Turkish bath decor experience that the ads and reviews had promised - we’rectalking a lot of tacky painted finishes rather than real marble fixtures - it felt like a crap film set. I don’t remember the situation with doors getting in and out - but with most gay steamrooms everywhere there’s a foyer/reception area - and another internal door. It’s not like you can bolt in or out easily - they manage all the entrances and exits. They can stop undesirables getting in - and stop people leaving till they’ve paid their drinks tab or whatever.

The only way I can see a naked guy getting out would be if he caused a fuss and slipped by someone when the door was already open to let someone in or out - or if he bolted out of an emergency or fire exit. Which would normally be alarmed.

The whole issue with the cameras being inoperative at just this time is suss too - unless they were long-term broken and no one had bothered to repair them.

We’re there really many/any witnesses outside the Baths to say he was running around necked in the streets? If not, youve got to wonder if he ever really made it out.

Suspect there was an incident while he was inside - drugs and/or violent - and he was killed accidentally. Then the cover up began and his body was disposed of. It’s probably party drug central there - and they really wanted to avoid any unpleasantness over that - who knows who else was there and might get busted - or what profitable supply lines might be at risk.

Perhaps someone influential in the police force was involved or bought off? It seems a remarkably sloppy and couldn’t care less attitude in their part - tho it wouldn’t be the first time that attitude was brought to play in a crime that involved the gay scene - and its happened all over the world - not just in Austria.

So yeah - I reckon death by misadventure- then a discreet disposal of the body And the story that he ran away to take the focus off the sauna.

Just impossible to believe a naked guy running the downtown streets wouldn’t have been spotted by more people - even in the wee small hours! - and a corpse in the river surely would have turned up long ago...

Who knows what secrets that place may hold? V sinister.

by Anonymousreply 75January 9, 2018 1:44 AM

^^ sorry bout the typos! iPhone on public transport! Mea culpa!

by Anonymousreply 76January 9, 2018 1:46 AM

Occam's razor: Drugs and a freakout and a fall in the canal. The police issues and camera not working likely due to the need to protect someone else who was there that night. (Probably a VIP politician)

by Anonymousreply 77January 9, 2018 3:14 AM

R73, Saunas are different in Europe. Lots of normal Gays go there. Years ago, I heard in Hampsterdam that guys hit the Saunas after work. Then they went out with their friends afterwards, having gotten that out of the way.

by Anonymousreply 78January 9, 2018 3:31 AM

Apparently gay saunas = drugs and death everywhere.

by Anonymousreply 79January 9, 2018 7:32 AM

The mom should just kidnap and torture the sauna owner. He basically told her he knows what happened but "can't tell her."

by Anonymousreply 80January 10, 2018 4:43 AM

R80, that's what I don't get....it's clear that he knows, so can't the police force a confession?

by Anonymousreply 81January 10, 2018 7:56 AM

gotta be a body somewhere

by Anonymousreply 82January 11, 2018 3:47 AM

A handsome, young guy, alone, walking into a small town bar with a static clientele, can really be at risk. My home town had such a bar. There was a murder in the bar one night, and it kind of killed the business. It had been there for decades, but closed shortly after the murder.

I had earlier been hit in the face with a 2 x 4 in their parking lot, splitting my lip. I had just started a new job about 6 weeks earlier, where I had a security clearance, so it was unnerving. I’m surprised that didn’t yank my clearance, as I never told anyone what happened.

by Anonymousreply 83January 11, 2018 4:31 AM

Sorry, r83, but... what were you trying to get across?

by Anonymousreply 84January 11, 2018 7:21 AM

R84, maybe it's Aeryn, trying to give us a hint?

by Anonymousreply 85January 11, 2018 10:24 PM

r83, what the hell does that have to do with this case? Aeryn did not walk into a small town bar with a static clientele: he walked into a Vienna sauna.

by Anonymousreply 86January 11, 2018 10:30 PM

he walked into a Vienna sasuage?

by Anonymousreply 87January 13, 2018 6:51 AM

poor aeryn :(

by Anonymousreply 88January 14, 2018 12:48 AM

A very sad tale indeed . The not knowing and the permanent lack of resolution must be emotional torture .

Great post [R75]

I think you could be onto something there [R77]

by Anonymousreply 89January 14, 2018 1:38 AM

I say he was 'ejected' from the sauna, naked, because of something atrocious he did. I doubt he ran out naked and fell in the canal, I mean c'mon. Or he was murdered in the sauna, and the body was disposed of. Someone knows everything.

by Anonymousreply 90January 14, 2018 1:53 AM

Didn’t they no one noticied him running naked on a busy street? I don’t think so.

by Anonymousreply 91January 14, 2018 1:56 AM

Agreed [R91] it makes no sense .

I am inclined towards the theory that someone who was a VIP of some kind was present that night and "needed" to be protected from the fact they visited such saunas becoming wider knowledge .

by Anonymousreply 92January 14, 2018 1:58 AM

Did anyone say maybe he witnessed he shouldn’t have?

I assume the sauna was very nice not seedy at all.

by Anonymousreply 93January 14, 2018 2:02 AM

Yes R93, Euro saunas are lovely

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by Anonymousreply 94January 15, 2018 2:12 AM

IIRC they never really verified the story about him supposedly being seen outside naked running from the sauna

by Anonymousreply 95January 15, 2018 4:16 AM

[quote]Oh, fuck, who bumped this ancient thread again?

So you decided to write a 4-paragraph reply, r65?

by Anonymousreply 96January 15, 2018 5:55 AM

I wish someone would bump the thread about the jeweler to the stars adopted son being involved with a murder. Surely there has been an update by now.

I was reminded about the case on another thread about Franco Z that it is common for older gay men to adopt their young lovers.

by Anonymousreply 97January 15, 2018 6:46 AM

[quote]If it started in a bathhouse/sex club then drugs are pretty much a given.

No. I used to live in Germany in the 2ks and the guys are not fucked up on drugs or even on alcohol. And I would think that the same goes in the saunas in Austria. The real shocker for me was to cross the Channel and see how bad the English lads are fucked up on G, E, X or plain drunk in the saunas in London. There's a culture drug in the saunas in the UK and the bathhouses in the US that just doesn't exist in continental Europe.

by Anonymousreply 98January 15, 2018 8:13 AM

How long has this guy been missing?

by Anonymousreply 99January 15, 2018 8:15 AM

October 29 2007

by Anonymousreply 100January 15, 2018 8:39 AM

Is it strange for a gay man to major in Theology. ?

by Anonymousreply 101January 15, 2018 8:47 AM

Either meth or nasty meth queens did him in.

by Anonymousreply 102January 15, 2018 9:19 AM
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