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Where is Nieko Lisi?
That’s the question his family, friends and the New York State Police have agonized over for four months.
Lisi, 18, of Jasper, disappeared without a trace in early October, and his family fears he may be dead.
“I truly think something has happened to him,” his aunt, Rachael Davis, said. “I don’t believe that he is among us anymore.”
The circumstances surrounding Lisi’s disappearance are puzzling, and there are few solid theories to explain what may have happened, those close to him say.
“He was the type of person that didn’t want his family upset or worried, especially his grandmother and great-grandmother,” Davis said. “I don’t think he’d intentionally do this to us.”
Lisi was last seen by a family member Sept. 30 in Addison. An uncle saw him around 2 p.m. that day. Lisi was with a friend, 20-year-old Robbie Knight, who was from Romulus, Mich., but had grandparents who lived Jasper.
Lisi told his uncle he was going to Buffalo to meet up with friends. Lisi and Knight were using a truck Knight said was his grandfather’s – but it turned out Knight’s grandfather didn’t own the truck.
Twice that day, Lisi and Knight were captured on security cameras – once in Kanona and once in Rochester.
The next day, Knight showed up at his family home in Michigan. He arrived between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. that day. Knight told his family Lisi had dropped him off. None of Knight’s family members saw Lisi in Michigan.
That same day, Oct. 1, Lisi made contact with his grandmother around 5 p.m. He told her he couldn’t talk long and would call her back later. He never did, and no family member has heard from him since.
As the police became involved, the story turned more bizarre.
On Oct. 3, Lisi’s mother received his driver’s license in the mail. It had been found in front of the Hornell post office and mailed Oct. 1.
Two days later, on Oct. 5, police in Michigan questioned Knight about Lisi’s disappearance. During questioning, Knight suffered some sort of ailment and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. Four days later, he was released from the hospital, and the day after that, Oct. 10, Knight died at his parents’ home. His death was not a homicide, according to authorities.
Bath-based state police Inv. Marci Trimble is heading the investigation into Lisi’s disappearance. She said Lisi’s trail has gone completely cold.
The last report of anyone having seen Lisi was in early October when two people purportedly saw Lisi in the Franklin, Tenn., area, where Lisi had lived for a short time in 2009, Davis said.
Davis said she’s skeptical of the sighting. She said the purported witnesses said Lisi just showed up at their home unannounced. He reportedly hadn’t seen the purported witnesses in two years.
“How do you not ask what (he’s) doing there?” Davis said. “I find it hard to believe he was there.”
Davis also said Lisi left home in late September without packing any of his personal effects.
“If he was planning on leaving (for an extended period of time), he would have taken certain things,” Davis said.
Trimble said the cell phone Lisi had when he disappeared is no longer active, and there have been no banking transactions associated with Lisi. Also, Lisi did not own a car.
“In four months, for us and his friends not to hear from him, there’s no way (he’s OK),” Davis said. “How does an 18-year-old with no money, no job, survive for four months? He would have to be up to no good, and he would have been caught by now.”
Trimble said law enforcement agencies nationwide are on alert for Lisi. A check of his name in any police database will show he is missing from New York.
Trimble said the state police are seeking Lisi solely as a missing person, though his aunt said there is a warrant for his arrest for missing a court date. In August, Lisi was arrested on statutory rape charges, but the family believes those charges were dropped. The Leader was unable to confirm the status of the case.
“We just want to make sure he’s safe,” Trimble said.
Lisi’s family is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to his whereabouts. Davis said the family is hoping to hear Lisi’s voice sometime soon, but she said they will accept information from anyone letting them know Lisi is OK.
“If he doesn’t want to call, for whatever reason, he can have somebody else call us,” Davis said. “Just use the nickname I gave him as a child. No one outside the family knows it. If the caller knows the nickname, we’ll know Nieko gave it to them and he’s OK.”
A Facebook page has been set up to help find Lisi, and Lisi is listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Trimble at 776-6866, or the family at 698-4201, 661-0553, 359-2309, 458-5370 or 346-4123.
Where is Nieko Lisi?
That’s the question his family, friends and the New York State Police have agonized over for four months.
Lisi, 18, of Jasper, disappeared without a trace in early October, and his family fears he may be dead.
“I truly think something has happened to him,” his aunt, Rachael Davis, said. “I don’t believe that he is among us anymore.”
The circumstances surrounding Lisi’s disappearance are puzzling, and there are few solid theories to explain what may have happened, those close to him say.
“He was the type of person that didn’t want his family upset or worried, especially his grandmother and great-grandmother,” Davis said. “I don’t think he’d intentionally do this to us.”
Lisi was last seen by a family member Sept. 30 in Addison. An uncle saw him around 2 p.m. that day. Lisi was with a friend, 20-year-old Robbie Knight, who was from Romulus, Mich., but had grandparents who lived Jasper.
Lisi told his uncle he was going to Buffalo to meet up with friends. Lisi and Knight were using a truck Knight said was his grandfather’s – but it turned out Knight’s grandfather didn’t own the truck.
Twice that day, Lisi and Knight were captured on security cameras – once in Kanona and once in Rochester.
The next day, Knight showed up at his family home in Michigan. He arrived between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. that day. Knight told his family Lisi had dropped him off. None of Knight’s family members saw Lisi in Michigan.
That same day, Oct. 1, Lisi made contact with his grandmother around 5 p.m. He told her he couldn’t talk long and would call her back later. He never did, and no family member has heard from him since.
As the police became involved, the story turned more bizarre.
On Oct. 3, Lisi’s mother received his driver’s license in the mail. It had been found in front of the Hornell post office and mailed Oct. 1.
Two days later, on Oct. 5, police in Michigan questioned Knight about Lisi’s disappearance. During questioning, Knight suffered some sort of ailment and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. Four days later, he was released from the hospital, and the day after that, Oct. 10, Knight died at his parents’ home. His death was not a homicide, according to authorities.
Bath-based state police Inv. Marci Trimble is heading the investigation into Lisi’s disappearance. She said Lisi’s trail has gone completely cold.
The last report of anyone having seen Lisi was in early October when two people purportedly saw Lisi in the Franklin, Tenn., area, where Lisi had lived for a short time in 2009, Davis said.
Davis said she’s skeptical of the sighting. She said the purported witnesses said Lisi just showed up at their home unannounced. He reportedly hadn’t seen the purported witnesses in two years.
“How do you not ask what (he’s) doing there?” Davis said. “I find it hard to believe he was there.”
Davis also said Lisi left home in late September without packing any of his personal effects.
“If he was planning on leaving (for an extended period of time), he would have taken certain things,” Davis said.
Trimble said the cell phone Lisi had when he disappeared is no longer active, and there have been no banking transactions associated with Lisi. Also, Lisi did not own a car.
“In four months, for us and his friends not to hear from him, there’s no way (he’s OK),” Davis said. “How does an 18-year-old with no money, no job, survive for four months? He would have to be up to no good, and he would have been caught by now.”
Trimble said law enforcement agencies nationwide are on alert for Lisi. A check of his name in any police database will show he is missing from New York.
Trimble said the state police are seeking Lisi solely as a missing person, though his aunt said there is a warrant for his arrest for missing a court date. In August, Lisi was arrested on statutory rape charges, but the family believes those charges were dropped. The Leader was unable to confirm the status of the case.
“We just want to make sure he’s safe,” Trimble said.
Lisi’s family is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to his whereabouts. Davis said the family is hoping to hear Lisi’s voice sometime soon, but she said they will accept information from anyone letting them know Lisi is OK.
“If he doesn’t want to call, for whatever reason, he can have somebody else call us,” Davis said. “Just use the nickname I gave him as a child. No one outside the family knows it. If the caller knows the nickname, we’ll know Nieko gave it to them and he’s OK.”
A Facebook page has been set up to help find Lisi, and Lisi is listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Trimble at 776-6866, or the family at 698-4201, 661-0553, 359-2309, 458-5370 or 346-4123.
