Fear Mounts as Doctor Still Missing
Linda Goldston and Mary Anne Ostrom
San Jose Mercury News
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West Oakland, California (US):
The phone rings several times a day at Dr. Zehra Attari's west Oakland office.
Most callers are the parents of the missing San Jose physician's young patients, seeking a referral for their children's sore throats and colds in Attari's absence.Other times, there is silence for a few seconds and then a hang-up.
Ever since Attari vanished Nov. 7 after leaving the office to attend a medical conference in Alameda, those calls have come in at least once a day, sometimes more, and Connie Maldonado, Attari's medical assistant, is terrified every time.
There is no way to know if the calls are related to her boss's disappearance, but Maldonado is sure of one thing: Nothing about the case of the missing 55-year-old pediatrician makes sense.Friends and relatives are trying to remain optimistic that Attari will be found alive. But it's been 17 days with no word, no sign of Zehra Attari or the gray Honda Accord she was driving. Fear is eating at everyone who knows her.``The mystery is that no one knows,'' Attari's husband, Tasadduq, said. ``Sometimes it makes me so nervous. It has been tough for the whole family.''The family continues to search for Attari, making the drive from her home in San Jose to Oakland almost daily.
Her oldest daughter, Dr. Ruby Ali, is so stressed she's taken a leave from her medical residency at the University of California-Davis Medical Center, and her younger daughter, Huma, is unable to concentrate on her studies at UC-Berkeley.
Nov 24, 2005
Linda Goldston and Mary Anne Ostrom
San Jose Mercury News
__________________
West Oakland, California (US):
The phone rings several times a day at Dr. Zehra Attari's west Oakland office.
Most callers are the parents of the missing San Jose physician's young patients, seeking a referral for their children's sore throats and colds in Attari's absence.Other times, there is silence for a few seconds and then a hang-up.
Ever since Attari vanished Nov. 7 after leaving the office to attend a medical conference in Alameda, those calls have come in at least once a day, sometimes more, and Connie Maldonado, Attari's medical assistant, is terrified every time.
There is no way to know if the calls are related to her boss's disappearance, but Maldonado is sure of one thing: Nothing about the case of the missing 55-year-old pediatrician makes sense.Friends and relatives are trying to remain optimistic that Attari will be found alive. But it's been 17 days with no word, no sign of Zehra Attari or the gray Honda Accord she was driving. Fear is eating at everyone who knows her.``The mystery is that no one knows,'' Attari's husband, Tasadduq, said. ``Sometimes it makes me so nervous. It has been tough for the whole family.''The family continues to search for Attari, making the drive from her home in San Jose to Oakland almost daily.
Her oldest daughter, Dr. Ruby Ali, is so stressed she's taken a leave from her medical residency at the University of California-Davis Medical Center, and her younger daughter, Huma, is unable to concentrate on her studies at UC-Berkeley.
Nov 24, 2005
