Chicago- Two of four teens awaiting trial on charges they videotaped themselves having sex with an unconscious Naperville girl in 2002 have disappeared, and authorities fear they may have fled the country, police said Monday.
Adrian Missbrenner, 19, of Burr Ridge and Burim Bezeri, 19, of Lyons were among the defendants ordered to remain in their homes except to attend school or visit their lawyers as a condition of bail following their arrests Dec. 12, 2002. But both have been missing for more than a week.
Bezeri was not at home when staff from the Cook County Probation Department's pretrial services section checked on him Aug. 27, said Tom Stanton, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney. Missbrenner was not home when pretrial services staff checked his home Sept. 6, Stanton said.
Stanton said the state's attorney was notified of Bezeri's absence a week later. Warrants for both men's arrest were issued Thursday by Judge Robert Smierciak, who is presiding over the case in the Bridgeview branch of Cook County Circuit Court.
Cook County sheriff's police detectives are investigating the case because Missbrenner's home, where the videotaping allegedly took place, is in an area that was unincorporated in 2002. It has since been annexed by Burr Ridge.
Sheriff's police and Lyons police also have visited Missbrenner's and Bezeri's homes but have not found the two. They have been unable to learn their whereabouts from family members, spokespeople for those departments said Monday.
Bezeri is rumored to have fled to Albania, where members of his family live, said Lyons Police Cmdr. Neil Sexton. Missbrenner also may have overseas ties, but the country is uncertain, said Sally Daly, a county sheriff's spokeswoman.
"We're looking into reports that they may have fled the country. Both have relatives overseas, but we have no concrete evidence such as airplane tickets that they have in fact left the country," Daly said. "We have spoken with local authorities and federal authorities to make sure they're aware [of the disappearances], so if they do attempt to leave, they can be intercepted."
Police in Lyons and Burr Ridge also are watching for signs of the missing men, officials of those departments said.
Prosecutors sought last month to increase Missbrenner's $100,000 bail and also to restrict his home confinement to 24 hours a day because of an April 8 drunken-driving arrest. But a judge declined the request pending a resolution of the drunken-driving case.
Missbrenner, Bezeri and co-defendants Sonny Smith, 19, and Christopher Robbins, 19, both of Brookfield, are scheduled to appear in court Thursday in the videotaping case. They are charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and child pornography.
