Amina Kandil Missing Person Case

Jan 28, 2026

Jan 28, 2026

Amina

Kandil

22

22

Female

In the late summer of 2014, a heart-wrenching story began to unfold in James City County, Virginia, involving a 10-year-old girl named Amina Kandil. Amina, a young female with brown hair and blue eyes, and her 8-year-old brother, Belel, were reported missing on August 29, 2014. At the time of her disappearance, Amina was approximately 5'2" tall and weighed around 82 pounds. The children's parents had shared custody, and their father, Ahmed Abdallah Taha Kandil, picked them up from their mother's home, stating he was taking them for a visit with his sister out of town before the new school year began. This departure, however, marked the beginning of a long and desperate search, as they never returned. The last confirmed sighting of Amina and her brother was on August 30, 2014, with their father, boarding a flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The trip was not a simple domestic visit as their mother had been led to believe. Instead, Ahmed Kandil, a naturalized U.S. citizen with dual Egyptian citizenship, flew with his two children to Boryspil, Ukraine, and then to Ataturk, Turkey. This act transformed a custody arrangement into a case of international parental kidnapping. In the weeks that followed, the children's mother was granted immediate sole and legal custody on September 5, 2014, by the Circuit Court of Williamsburg and James City County. Subsequently, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Ahmed Kandil on November 21, 2014, for international parental kidnapping. The investigation revealed that the children might be residing in the Alexandria, Cairo, or Giza areas of Egypt, or possibly in the Hatay region of Turkey. The situation is complicated by the fact that Egypt does not recognize parental kidnapping as a crime, making international legal efforts challenging. The search for Amina and her brother, Belel, has been ongoing for years, drawing the dedicated efforts of the FBI's Norfolk Field Office, the James City County Police Department, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. These organizations have repeatedly asked for the public's help in locating the children, releasing age-progressed photos to show what Amina and Belel might look like as they've grown into young adults. Their mother, Rebecca, has remained steadfast in her search, expressing her unending love and hope of one day being reunited with her children. The case is a painful example of international parental abduction, where a parent flees with their children across international borders, creating a complex and prolonged investigation that has left a family fractured and desperately seeking answers. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Amina and Belel Kandil is urged to contact the FBI.

Aug 28, 2014

Williamsburg

Virginia

06/25/2026