Aeryn Michael John Gillern disappeared in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

on the evening of Monday, October 29, 2007. At the time, Gillern was working for

UNIDO The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in e ...

Biography

Aeryn Gillern was born on April 28, 1973, in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...

, the son of Kathryn Gilleran (born 1952). In June 1991 he graduated from Groton High School in Groton, New York. In 1997, Gillern graduated the Franciscan University of

Steubenville Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The city's name is deri ...

(

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. From 1997 to 1998, Gillern attended the seminary at

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Seckau Seckau ( sl, Sekava ) is a Marktgemeinde in the state of Styria, Austria. It is situated near Knittelfeld. It is known for the Benedictine Order, Benedictine Seckau Abbey, once the seat of the Diocese, bishopric Graz-Seckau. See also *Diocese of ...

(

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

). In 1999, Gillern received a Master of Arts with honors in Theology and Christian Ministry from Franciscan University of Steubenville. In 2003 he was appointed by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (

) in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(Austria) as a research assistant. In 2006, he was named ''Mr. Gay Austria''. In September 2007, he flew home to his mother, Kathryn Gilleran, in

Cortland, New York Cortland is a city and the county seat of Cortland County, New York. Known as the Crown City, Cortland is in New York's Southern Tier region. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 17,556. The city of Cortland, near the county's western ...

, to visit his family for ten days. His mother was planning to sell their house and move to Vienna to be with her son. On October 27, 2007, Kathy phoned her son and talked to him for the last time. He disappeared two days later.

Disappearance

His mother received a call on Halloween 2007 that Aeryn was missing. It was believed by Austrian police that he was last seen running naked from the

Kaiserbründl Kaiserbründl-Sauna in the Central-Bad Central Bathhouse Vienna (opened in 1889 as Central-Bad Wien, Zentralbad Wien, and also known as Kaiserbründl) is a bathing establishment in Vienna, Austria. History The Centralbad (today: Kaiserbründl ...

sauna in Weihburggasse after an assumed physical altercation where one person allegedly went to the hospital although his last confirmed location was a sauna on Stephansplatz after work. Police have asserted that he may have been suicidal and jumped to his death in the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, a hypothesis Gillern's acquaintances do not believe; others, including his mother, argue that the investigation into his disappearance was hampered by police bias against Gillern's sexuality. The Austrian police changed their statement multiple times, as well as denying the presence of any witnesses, despite a phone call they had received from a couple only a day after Gillern was declared missing. The Austrian police initially refused to investigate the case, saying it was not its duty to investigate the disappearance of non-citizens, and refused to interview Aeryn's mother or any of Aeryn's friends after the investigation was finally launched under pressure from the United Nations and the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

Aftermath

Each year since 2008, Gillern's mother has held a vigil every October 29 outside the Kaiserbründl to commemorate the disappearance of her son. The 2011 documentary ''Gone: The Disappearance of Aeryn Gillern'', which debuted at that year's

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

, is dedicated to his mother's search for the truth behind her son's disappearance.

References

External links

Abgängig mitten im ersten Bezirk

New documentation: Aeryn Gillern – July 6, 2012 ORF – Peter Resetarits

Parlamentarische Anfrage
by

Ulrike Lunacek Ulrike Lunacek (] born 26 May 1957) is an Austrian politician who served as State Secretary for Cultural Affairs in the Second Kurz government, government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in 2020. She is a member of the Austrian Green party The Gree ...

Homepage about the movie ''Gone''

What Happened to Aeryn Gillern?

Homepage Joseph Gepp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillern, Aeryn 2000s missing person cases Austria–United States relations 2000s in Vienna 2007 crimes in Austria 2007 in LGBT history Crime in Vienna LGBT history in Austria American gay men Missing person cases in Austria October 2007 events in Europe People from Elmira, New York 20th-century American LGBT people 21st-century American LGBT people