Eleven years after the disappearance of 22-year-old German Michelle, her unsolved case is returning to the spotlight after new evidence was discovered in Jeffrey Epstein’s files.
Michelle left her mother’s house in September 2015, taking a suitcase and her passport with her. Her family was not immediately concerned, as the young woman traveled abroad frequently, and her dream was to become a model. However, she never returned home.
The case has been thrust back into the spotlight after a joint investigation by German network ZDF, Der Spiegel magazine and investigative group Paper Trail Media. The journalists reviewed millions of documents released by the US Department of Justice and uncovered new details about the weeks and years before Michelle’s disappearance.
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At the center of the revelations is Daniel Siad, a Swedish citizen of Algerian origin and model manager, who had had contact with Michelle several years before her disappearance.
The two met in 2012 in Dubai, where Michelle was working as a waitress. Siad introduced her to a model manager, and the young woman saw this as an opportunity to pursue a career in the fashion industry.
In the years that followed, Michelle did photo shoots, participated in modeling activities, and traveled to various countries, including China, Britain, and South America.
According to the investigation, Siad had sent Jeffrey Epstein pictures of Michelle and discussed with him the possibility of getting her a plane ticket.
In a 2014 message, when Michelle was 21, Siad allegedly described her as a “wonderful person” and wrote to Epstein: “You’ll love her.”
However, there is no evidence to date that Michelle ever met Epstein or knew that her photos were sent to the American financier. Also, no evidence has been found directly linking Siad to her disappearance.
According to the ZDF investigation, Daniel Siad’s name appears around 1,840 times in emails, messages and phone records included in Epstein’s files.
Contacts between Siad and Epstein are suspected to have begun at least in 2009.
One of the documents that has caught the attention of investigators is an email from 2014, in which Siad compared his activity to that of a “fisherman”, saying that sometimes he managed to find good “fish”, while at other times he did not.
In the same communication, according to the investigation, he mentioned young girls from Scandinavia, including minors aged 16 and 17, as well as a 15-year-old girl from France.
Despite new discoveries, Michelle’s fate still remains unknown and her disappearance has not been solved.
Daniel Siad, one of the people at the center of the new investigation and a figure who may have provided information about the period before the 22-year-old’s disappearance, was found dead on July 20, 2026, in his Paris home. He was 69 years old.
His death still leaves unanswered the question of what happened to Michelle after she left home in 2015.