‘Missing’ French Twin Found

By COLlive reporter

The acrobatic and entertaining “Twins From France” are known for providing good times to the public, but it seems like they ran into some trouble.

Yaakov Gourion, a 23 year-old Lubavitch bochur that is part of the duo, has not been in touch with his brother since Sunday night, raising concerns over his whereabouts.

The married brother Yisroel Gourion told COLlive.com that Yaakov “went to fix his Ford van in Boro Park and maybe the battery of his cell phone was dead or he was out of credit,” explaining a possible reason for the brother being incommunicado.

When hours passed and the cell phone remained unreachable, Yisroel filed a missing person’s report with the Police Department. Volunteer patrol groups Shomrim and Shmira got involved as well.

At 6:11 PM Eastern Time, Yisroel said the brother was seen at around 5 PM at Zion Auto Glass & Alarm at 1245 39th Street.

He said there was “no need to create panic” and that his brother is not “missing” anymore and that he awaits Yaakov’s return to Crown Heights.

Crown Heights Shomrim, on the other hand, stated: “Yaakov has been last seen in Boro Park around 1pm at a mechanic shop.”

Yisroel later said both reports were not verified.

A person who spoke to the eye-witness told COLlive the time was indeed 1 PM when Yaakov was seen in his 1993 Ford Econoline, license plate number EWV2533.

While one report said Yaakov left his Tefillin behind, Yisrael stated that his brother has indeed taken his pair of Tefillin with him.

A source in the NYPD said Yaakov has taken his passport and an amount cash COLlive was asked not to disclose.

Yisroel told COLlive that there was no dispute between the twin brothers.

Update: Tuesday 8:00 am
After a long night of searching, 23 year old Yaakov Gourion has been found safe and sound, thank G-d.

In a notice, Shomrim said that “as of 4:28am Yakov has been located and doing well B”H. We would like to thank all our volunteers and everyone who help find him.”

UPDATE 9:36 AM:

Yaakov Gourion spoke to COLlive.com and said “I wasn’t missing! My phone was closed.”

He said that at 8:00 AM Monday he was already doing rounds on 4th Avenue in Brooklyn to repair his mini-bus.

“We have a new Mitzvah Tank and someone wants to buy it,” he said. “There were a few things that needed fixing, like the air conditioner and spare tire, and it took a long time. Fixing the spare tire is complicated and I went from shop to shop to find out if they can do it. I had a lot of things to do.”

He said he missed their joint acrobatic show in Lakewood, NJ because “my brother is in charge of the schedule and he couldn’t tell me about it” (since his phone was not on).

Now that his phone is back on (on which he spoke to COLlive), Yaakov said that “people are calling me for nothing” and that “nothing happened. Now I’m embarrassed to go outside because everyone is going to ask me questions.”

Gourion added that he thought his brother did the right thing by worrying after not seeing him for hours. “Baruch Hashem he did that.”