38°
Liam Biran, a wine steward from Marlboro, NJ, who aspired to be a sommelier, was 32 when he headed to Israel to visit his grandparents the second week of April 2019.
In his last LinkedIn post, Biran wrote that he was "tracking vineyards in Israel. From golan Heights to desert shores. Networked, photographed, and discussed options for export."
Biran -- who had duel American and Israeli passports -- had planned to return to the States from Paris on May 16, family members said.
He never made the scheduled flight.
After they appealed for help to the US consulate in Milan, Italian authorities said they learned that Biran flew into Rome from Athens, Greece, on May 9.
They next found a May 10 credit card payment for $10 through a train ticket vending machine at Torino Porta Susa, which is roughly 430 miles north of the capital city.
That was the last trace of him.
Authorities believe Biran headed to wine country in the Aosta Valley, which borders France and Switzerland at Italy's northernmost point, and bunked at several hostels, befriending fellow travelers along the way.
Various reports have surfaced over the years of possible discoveries -- of a tent, a t shirt, a book in Hebrew and other possible personal affects -- but none of it panned out.
The FBI generated age-progressed drawings of what Biran might look like now, at 36.
He is 5-foot-8 and weighed 160 pounds, with a muscular build, brown hair and brown eyes when he went missing.
Biran also had a gap between his two front teeth.
He'd previously lived in New York City, where he'd worked at restaurants on the Bowery and in Washington Heights, and in New Orleans, where he found work at the classic French Quarter landmark, Arnaud's.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Middletown and receive free news updates.
