QUOTE
Jeffrey Ake's wife opens bankruptcy proceedings
She also puts her home up for sale.
LaPORTE (AP) - Facing mounting debt and with no news of her husband, the wife of kidnapped businessman Jeffrey Ake had started bankruptcy proceedings for the water bottling company he founded and ran until he was abducted in Iraq in April 2005.
Liliana Ake also has again put on the market the lakeside home she shares with the couple's four children.
“I can't afford (the house),” Ake said. “I have young children and a sick mother to take care of. I have some tough decisions to make.”
Her husband was last seen in an April 13, 2005, video that showed him being held at gunpoint by at least three people, two days after he disappeared in Iraq.
Ake remains optimistic she and her children will be reunited with her husband. Until that happens, though, she must provide for her family.
“I have a master's degree, and I am trying to figure out what I'm going to do next,” Ake said.
Bankruptcy filings from federal court in South Bend show her husband's company, Equipment Express, has more than $1.4 million in outstanding bills and about $302,000 in inventory.
The company operated at a $474,922 loss in 2004 and was significantly in the red in 2005 and 2006 as well, records state.
The business in nearby Rolling Prairie was dark and quiet Friday.
Ake said it will stay that way.
“Everything has been sold off,” she said. “It's closed for good.”
Jeffrey Ake was in Iraq to work at an Equipment Express facility there when he was abducted in Taji, near Baghdad.
Updates from the FBI on the search for her husband have ceased, said Ake, who expressed confidence that his well-being remains a priority for American officials.
“I don't have any new information, but I am sure the FBI is looking for him,” she said. “It is a difficult thing, to get any information in Iraq, especially with the sectarian violence there.”
A man with an Iraqi accent called Liliana shortly after the kidnapping and demanded $1 million for her husband's safe release, but discussions with the abductors stopped long ago.
Liliana appreciates the outpouring of support from the people of LaPorte.
“I just want to thank everyone who has prayed for him,” she said.
But she also has pressing, practical concerns.
“If you know somebody who needs a house, let them know,” she said. “It's a very nice house with a beautiful view of the lake.”
She also puts her home up for sale.
LaPORTE (AP) - Facing mounting debt and with no news of her husband, the wife of kidnapped businessman Jeffrey Ake had started bankruptcy proceedings for the water bottling company he founded and ran until he was abducted in Iraq in April 2005.
Liliana Ake also has again put on the market the lakeside home she shares with the couple's four children.
“I can't afford (the house),” Ake said. “I have young children and a sick mother to take care of. I have some tough decisions to make.”
Her husband was last seen in an April 13, 2005, video that showed him being held at gunpoint by at least three people, two days after he disappeared in Iraq.
Ake remains optimistic she and her children will be reunited with her husband. Until that happens, though, she must provide for her family.
“I have a master's degree, and I am trying to figure out what I'm going to do next,” Ake said.
Bankruptcy filings from federal court in South Bend show her husband's company, Equipment Express, has more than $1.4 million in outstanding bills and about $302,000 in inventory.
The company operated at a $474,922 loss in 2004 and was significantly in the red in 2005 and 2006 as well, records state.
The business in nearby Rolling Prairie was dark and quiet Friday.
Ake said it will stay that way.
“Everything has been sold off,” she said. “It's closed for good.”
Jeffrey Ake was in Iraq to work at an Equipment Express facility there when he was abducted in Taji, near Baghdad.
Updates from the FBI on the search for her husband have ceased, said Ake, who expressed confidence that his well-being remains a priority for American officials.
“I don't have any new information, but I am sure the FBI is looking for him,” she said. “It is a difficult thing, to get any information in Iraq, especially with the sectarian violence there.”
A man with an Iraqi accent called Liliana shortly after the kidnapping and demanded $1 million for her husband's safe release, but discussions with the abductors stopped long ago.
Liliana appreciates the outpouring of support from the people of LaPorte.
“I just want to thank everyone who has prayed for him,” she said.
But she also has pressing, practical concerns.
“If you know somebody who needs a house, let them know,” she said. “It's a very nice house with a beautiful view of the lake.”