The Disappearance of Ackmez Aumeer: More than Twenty-Two Years Later, the Mystery Remains

The disappearance of Ackmez Aumeer, a 9-year-old boy from Pailles, Mauritius, in January 2003, remains unsolved to this day. It draws parallels to the Gregory case: a 4-year-old boy who went missing in 1984 in the Vosges region of France. Both cases share common elements: a young child vanished under mysterious circumstances, lengthy and complex investigations, and families engulfed in anguish and uncertainty.

Unlike Gregory Villemin, whose body was discovered near his home on October 16, 1984, Ackmez Aumeer's remains have never been found. As the years pass, hope diminishes, yet it persists even as the investigation stalls, as reported by the Central Police Headquarters last weekend.

In 2011, the Central CID reopened the case and considered collaborating with foreign experts, but the complete lack of material evidence has limited their options. Without new, compelling evidence, the case remains classified as a "Cold Case," meaning it is unresolved.

However, investigators refuse to give up. They are appealing for witnesses and invite anyone with useful information to come forward at the Central Police Headquarters, where their anonymity will be ensured. They maintain that a new lead could revive the investigation.

For the family, time has become their cruelest enemy: witnesses have disappeared, memories have faded, and information has been diluted.

The Day a Family’s Life Changed

On Saturday, January 25, 2003, in Camp Chapelon, nothing foretold the tragedy that was about to unfold. Ackmez, 9 years old, was playing in the yard with his little brother. The brother left for a few minutes to get bread and water from the house, and when he returned, Ackmez was gone. He went to his mother and said, "I can't find Bhai."

From that moment on, the lives of the Aumeer family were turned upside down. The police initiated a search operation. The neighborhood was thoroughly searched. A house was inspected after reports of children’s sounds, but nothing was found. The investigation faced a series of contradictory leads: abduction, settling of scores, or mistaken identity regarding the kidnapper's target. An uncle was interrogated but ultimately cleared.

Unsuccessful Leads Explored

Since 2003, the Aumeer case has seen many twists and turns, each time rekindling hope of finding the boy before fading again. For the family, these calls revive both the hope that Ackmez is still alive and the bitterness of seeing the investigation fail to identify the culprits.

At the Central Headquarters, from Day 1, several police units were called to work on the case. The file has passed through the hands of investigators from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of South Port-Louis, the Major Crimes Investigation Team (MCIT), as well as specialized Cold Case teams within the CCID. Those who have conducted the investigation, both past and present, claim to have explored many leads without concrete results.

Focus on Some Significant Leads

Investigators from the Major Crimes Investigation Team at one point directed their inquiries towards an individual who allegedly offered Ackmez a "Karambol" kite on the day of his disappearance. Investigators, under the leadership of the late police superintendent Prem Raddhoa, had obtained a lead from the neighborhood, where a resident of Camp Chapelon was identified as the one who made the offer. This lead was noteworthy at the time.

This individual claimed to have seen a van with masked people who allegedly took the boy, according to an investigator who scoured the area for clues. However, further probing into this lead yielded no concrete evidence, lamented a detective.

The detective wonders if the criminals behind the boy's disappearance misled investigators at the time and led them down false leads. "Did someone in that house become a police informant to divert the investigation?" he confided to Défi Plus.

The Cannabis Theft Angle

A former investigator from the MCIT discusses the theory of a settling of scores related to a cannabis (gandia) issue. At the time, Ackmez's father, a banana farmer, had once taken him along. Was the child spotted and identified by criminals seeking revenge against his father? They would have blamed him for being involved in the theft of cannabis crops, not far from a banana plantation.

The police followed the lead that Ackmez was kidnapped near his home by cannabis cultivators as an act of vengeance. However, digging deeper into this hypothesis revealed no concrete evidence. In 2004, an inmate named Antoine Chetty claimed to have information regarding the boy's disappearance. However, the checks yielded no results. Eight years later, a text message claimed Ackmez was "under control" and could be released. Then, in 2015, the child’s parents received a disturbing call. On the line, a male voice claimed to be Ackmez and said he was in the eastern part of the country. In 2023, the mother received a similar call in which an anonymous caller claimed to be her son. He told her, "I am living in a house in Poste-de-Flacq... I am in danger." The Police Intervention Group of Mauritius (GIPM) was deployed to the reported neighborhood, but with no results. Other searches were conducted in various regions following reports of Ackmez Aumeer being spotted in different locations, including Vacoas, Flacq, Baie-du-Cap, and Cité La Cure. However, these searches also proved fruitless.

Gregory: A Mystery That Persists

The Gregory case began on October 16, 1984, in the Vosges, when a four-year-old boy, Gregory Villemin, was abducted from his home in Lépanges-sur-Vologne and found dead later that evening in the Vologne River, just a few kilometers away. The investigation quickly became complicated: multiple leads were explored, ranging from familial abduction to settling of scores, as well as identity errors concerning the kidnapper's target. Several relatives, including an uncle, were interrogated and later exonerated, while anonymous calls continued to fuel mysteries and false leads.

In 2011, faced with the lack of concrete results and the complexity of the cases, the Central CID decided to reopen the investigation and consider collaboration with foreign experts. The goal was to re-examine old evidence and explore new scientific leads, including DNA and comparative analyses, in hopes of resolving a drama that remains one of the most notable and enigmatic cases in French criminal history.

The latest development occurred on October 24, 2025, when Jacqueline Jacob, Gregory's great-aunt, was indicted for "criminal conspiracy."