Left: Cary circa, 1978
Right: Age Progressed to age 48
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: October 25, 1978
Missing From: Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: November 12, 1971
Age: 6 years old
Height and Weight: 4’2″ and 65 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian Male, Cary has a scar on the right side of his forehead near his hairline, he also has surgical scars on his feet near his little toes as he was born with three extra toes and had to get them surgically removed, he also had a gap in between his front upper teeth at the time of his disappearance
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A white t-shirt with the phrase “Las Vegas Quicksilvers” imprinted on the front, Brown pants, a pair of leather brown pants
NCMEC Number: 601891
Details of Disappearance
Cary Sayegh was abducted from Las Vegas, Nevada on October 25th 1978. He was playing in the playground of the Albert Einstein Hebrew School during lunch hour at the time of his disappearance. Carey was seen entering an unidentified vehicle and simply vanished without ever being seen again.
Approximately 3 hours after his abduction, his parents, Sol and Marilyn Sayegh, received a phone call from an unidentified male and he demanded a ransom payment for Carys safe return. He demanded a price of $350,000 and claimed he would call again in two days to instruct on how they would pay him. The family never got another call from Carys supposed abductor.
All of Carys relatives were ruled out as suspects in his disappearance in the onset of the investigation. Authorities suspect that Cary was taken by a former employee of his father and that this person also placed the ransom call to his parents.
Authorities named Jerald Howard Burgess as the prime suspect in Carys kidnapping. Witnesses identified him as the man who made the ransom call and he was identified as the man that Cary was seen getting into the car with by Carys classmates. Burgess did confirm he was at the school but only to drop off a lunch for his girlfriends child.
He would eventually be convicted of sexually assaulting a woman at Carys school. The attack took place a week before Carys abduction. Burgess gave authorities the location of one of the child’s shoes which was located on Mohave Road in Las Vegas. He claimed that he got the location while he allegedly acted as a “go-between” for Carys parents and the child’s abductors. He maintains his innocence in Carys case.
In 1982, James was charged with kidnapping Cary. Authorities believe that he took the boy and murdered him. He did state that Cary was alive and living in Israel after his trial but he did not have evidence to prove this claim. He was eventually acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence.
In October of 2000, James was arrested and charged with selling an illegal weapon. Since he is a convicted felon, he is not allowed to own a firearm or ammunition. When an 18 month investigation was undertaken into his criminal activities, he once offered to dispose of a body in the same location that he allegedly disposed of Carys body.
James made claims that he could weld a body into a steal drum and dispose of it. He allegedly confessed that he killed Cary after his abduction in 1978 and dumped his body in this way. He reportedly rented welding equipment in the days before Carys kidnapping. James has never been charged with Carys case since 1982, he remains the prime suspect in his case.
At the time of his disappearance, Cary was a first grader at the Albert Einstein Hebrew School. His father owned a successful carpet business and sold it in the 1990s and ended up having money troubles afterwards and fled from the United States to Israel in 1999. He eventually returned and paid his debts he owed. He was actually under indictment for conspiracy to bribe a public official at the time but he was freed of all charges after Carys abduction. His alleged co-conspirators were convicted.
Sol and Marilyn have since divorced and Sol remains in Las Vegas. In the 1990s, authorities received tips of Cary living in New York and Boston, Massachusetts. These are believed to be false tips, however. The investigation into his disappearance was reopened in 1999.
Carys abduction remains unsolved. Authorities believe that Cary was the victim of foul play and that he may have been murdered after he was kidnapped. He has never been located.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department 702-795-3111
Source Information
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children