Full Name: Dana Rishpy

Alternative Name: Danna, Dana Firemann

Case Status: Missing

Record ID#: 0231

*The names “Jane Doe”  and “John Doe” are English names used when the person’s true name is not known. If used above, the name refers to a person of unknown identity.

Date of Birth*: May 26, 1982
Birthplace: Israel
Age at the Time: 24
Age Group: 20s
Biological Sex: Female
Hair: Long, wavy brown hair
Eyes: Interpol lists them as Brown. FBI lists them as Blue. Most seem to go Blue-Green
Skin Complexion:
Shoe Size:
Ethnicity: Caucasian or White, Jewish
Nationality: Germany, Israel
Languages Spoken: English, Hebrew

*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

Physical Build:

Height:

Weight

Distinguishing Marks:

Medical Condition:
Physical Abnormality:
Dental Condition:
Scars & Other Marks:
Piercings:
Tattoos:

Other Descriptors: Israeli and German dual citizenship. Independent traveler, studying/working in animation in U.S.

Clothing

Possessions:

Date of the Disappearance*: March 31, 2007

Description: Dana Rishpy was a vibrant, confident 24-year-old Israeli-German woman full of creativity and adventure when she vanished in Tulum, Mexico, in March 2007. Now, nearly 19 years later in 2025, her case remains unsolved — one of the most frustrating missing-persons mysteries involving an international traveler. The FBI keeps circulating in podcasts, articles, and online forums, but Dana is still missing, with no body, no arrests, and no closure for her family.

---

Born on May 26, 1982, in Israel, Dana grew up in a wealthy, multicultural family in Haifa. Her parents, Dania (a former travel agent) and Dror (an El Al pilot who once flew for Ugandan dictator Idi Amin), raised four children, with Dana the youngest by a full decade. The family loved travel; in early 2007, her parents were backpacking in South America while Dana handled life on her own.

Dana herself was a dual German-Israeli citizen, familiar with travel and confident in being abroad having visited several countries over her lifetime, some as a solo traveler. She was comfortable being in the spotlight – striking since childhood for her blue-green eyes and lovely long hair. As a child she evem modeled for a popular Israeli brand of fruit, with her image in many stores across the country.  

An active young woman, many of Dana’s photos showcase travels with family and friends or participation in athletic or out-door activities.

According to her blog, Dana was also interested in animation and the arts, a hobby she was carrying with her into her career interests.

After completing mandatory Israeli military service, she worked dubbing anime into Hebrew ( voicing Nurse Joy in Pokémon, Sakura in Cardcaptor Sakura, Bu-Ling in Tokyo Mew Mew, Lilly in Shaman King, and even Tom & Jerry). She dreamed of a career in computer animation and visited California universities in early 2007 for graduate programs.

She hoped to either get into an animation career, but was equally comfortable being live on film. She and a friend produced a homemade music video that is still available on Youtube. The song was dedicated to ‘all the girls out there who are sick and tired of being nice to boys who just can’t take a hint‘. She also shared personal travel videos on other sites with her last video being March 21 (ten days before she disappeared) of her skiing in Lake Tahoe (Link).

---

*The events described below have been pieced together from a combination of news publications and the FBI database. The story was not covered by major western media and what exists often conflicts one source to another. If someone personally familiar with the details of the case believe we should issue a correction, we will immediately do so.

---

The Trip to Mexico

In late March 2007, Dana chose a solo trip to Mexico’s Riviera Maya instead of joining her parents in Patagonia (tickets to Patagonia were difficult to obtain by then) (Link). Her trip was scheduled to last at least a couple of weeks, and Dana spent her first few days like all adventurous young adults – touring the sites, making new friends amongst other tourists, and hanging out of an evening.

She arrived in Cancun around March 26-27, 2007 (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3), and emailed home on March 28 describing the friendly people she’d met and expressed her plan to spend the next few weeks touring the local sites, starting with a boating trip to Isla Mujeres. This was the last time her family would ever hear from Dana.

*Perelman in The Forward says she arrived earlier and emailed them on March 26. This does not seem to be significant, but it does conflict.

---

Missing in Tulum

Dana’s Hebrew-language diary, considered a reliable account of her travels, provides the last confirmed insight into her movements in Mexico. On March 30, she wrote that she had just returned from Isla Mujeres and was heading south to Tulum, roughly an hour from Cancun.

During the bus ride, she met a group of fellow travelers. Reports differ on exactly who they were: some accounts mention two Swiss tourists and an American, while others describe two French Canadians and additional companions. They warned her that Tulum was crowded and that finding a place to stay could be challenging.

One of the passengers, an American named “Mati”—later identified as Matthew Walshin (sometimes spelled Walshio), originally from California—offered to let her share his cabaña and show her around. Dana noted in her diary that she wasn’t romantically interested in him (“I don’t want anything to do with him, at least until he takes a bath and cuts his hair”), but she did appreciate having someone familiar with the area.

What is clear from her writing is that Dana was excited to explore Tulum. The region offers a rich blend of activities: Mayan Ruins, swimming in the Cenotes (an underground river system), and ocean activities (snorkeling). It also had a lively social scene—including the weekly party at the Mezzanine Hotel, near where Mati was staying. For Dana, Tulum promised a relaxed, culturally rich escape from the bustle of Cancun.

*Some articles say she moved to Tulum on March 31, but this appears to be incorrect (Link – see comments)

---

It is clear that the same night as her journal entry (Friday, March 30), Dana went out to a party. What happened afterward, however, is where the story becomes murky. The Jerusalem Post reports that Dana left her backpack with Mati before heading to a nearby nightclub. Their account says there is photo and video evidence of her at the club that evening, drinking and listening to a drum performance. Forward offers a different version and says the event was actually a weekly Friday night beach party held at the Mezzanine Hotel.

The final confirmed sighting places Dana at about 1:30 a.m. on March 31. She was seen getting ready to leave the party in the company of a young Caucasian male who appeared to be North American or possibly someone who had an apartment in the area (Link).

From this point onward, the stories provided by various sources conflict with one another. The Jerusalem Post suggests Dana left her bag with Mati, went to the party alone, and left with a man matching the general description above. Forward states that several witnesses said she actually left with Mati, who may have met up with her again later that night. For his part, Mati has claimed that Dana was alive the next morning and left to visit ruins with two French Canadians. An anonymous commenter on Your Free Press has made the same claim.

Considering the environment, which included a tourist town, a crowded weekly beach party, drinking, and memories formed during a fun vacation night, it is understandable that witnesses could confuse dates or mix up similar-looking visitors. Dana had noted clearly in her diary that she was not romantically interested in Mati, so it is also very possible she chose to spend time with someone else she found more appealing or simply easier to talk to.

The FBI has asked for the public’s help in identifying the man who was seen with Dana that night. They emphasize that he is not a suspect. Instead, they hope he can provide insight into Dana’s actions or behavior during the final hours in which she was confirmed to be alive. He is described as a thin-built Caucasian male who seems to be either Australian or North American.

---

Rumors about what happened that night have circulated for years, and many of them contradict one another.

One early claim suggested that Dana ran away with Mati to Honduras (Link). Several people said they had seen them together, and a hotel manager in Belize claimed that Dana and a man believed to be Mati stayed at the hotel before crossing into Honduras. This theory was later shown to be unreasonable. Witnesses in Tulum reported seeing Mati throughout the three weeks following Dana’s disappearance, and he was later confirmed to be in the United States. Despite this, the State Judicial Police initially accepted the rumor and used it to dismiss the early investigation.

Another rumor appeared in an anonymous comment on Your Free Press. According to the commenter, Dana may have been given Ecstasy or another illicit drug at the Mezzanine Hotel or nightclub where the night began. The commenter claimed she overdosed, went into convulsions, and was taken by unidentified individuals to Playa Esperanza, a nearby hotel. The rumor did not specify what happened after that point.

In March 2008, Mexican authorities arrested Hungarian tourist Zsolt Fejer on suspicion of drug trafficking and possible involvement in Dana’s disappearance. Your Free Press reported that Fejer allegedly told private investigators in 2007 that he had sold Ecstasy to Mati that night. Fejer also was said to have been seen with Dana and to have told investigators he picked up Mati, eight other people, and a long-haired girl for a trip to Playa Esperanza. As with many claims on Your Free Press, this was later disputed. A commenter claiming to be Fejer said he was innocent of both drug charges and any connection to Dana’s case, insisting the situation was a police setup. The identity of the commenter was never verified, but nothing came from the investigation and Fejer was released.

In 2011, Mexican police reportedly arrested Jorge Ruiz, a caretaker for Playa Esperanza. His arrest followed accusations made by a witness who had been detained on a rape charge. The witness claimed Ruiz had picked up Dana, Mati, and eight others in a van and driven them to a location called Maalix. The witness alleged that Dana was given drugs there and overdosed. Ruiz was questioned for several days and then released, continuing to insist that he had been falsely implicated (Link). Maalix is located in the opposite direction from Playa Esperanza, so this account conflicts with the earlier rumor. It also contradicts the claim that Fejer had been the person who transported the group.

According to reports at the time, the witness in Ruiz’s case then led police to human remains buried in Tulum that were suspected to be Dana’s. Some media outlets speculated about organ trafficking. The remains were sent for DNA testing, but nothing came of the investigation. Dana remains missing, and no one has been charged or sentenced in connection with her disappearance (Link).

The fact that police accused two different men of almost the same scenario only two years apart, both based on questionable witnesses and both ending without evidence, raises concerns. It is understandable why some observers believe both men may have been falsely accused.

Another anonymous commenter on Your Free Press offered yet another version of events. According to this account, Dana left the Mezzanine Hotel about an hour before the party ended and departed with the two French Canadians mentioned earlier. The commenter claimed that Mati, a different woman who was with him, and several others went to Playa Esperanza without Dana and slept there after the party. The commenter also stated that Dana was later seen that same evening on Mar Caribe, a street on the outskirts of Cancun.

This theory only seems plausible if Dana had rejected Mati’s offer to share his cabaña. However, given the late hour, it is difficult to believe she would have made the two-hour trip back to Cancun alone. She had enough money to book a room at the Mezzanine or at Playa Esperanza, both of which were comfortable and safe options. It is possible she simply forgot her backpack at Mati’s place, especially if she had been drinking, but returning to Cancun without her passport would have made getting a hotel extremely difficult. This version of events also does not align with Mati’s later statements that he saw her on March 31 after the party.

If this account were true, it is possible that Fejer, Ruiz, or anyone else who claimed to have transported “a long-haired girl” in a van that night may have confused Dana with the other woman who was with Mati.

Mati later told Dana’s parents that he saw Dana at around 11:30am on March 31. According to him, she said she planned to visit the Mayan ruins at the Zona Arqueológica de Tulum, possibly with the same French Canadians she had met earlier. Two sources (Link 1, Link 2) report that Dana told Mati she expected to return in about an hour and a half, which would have been around 1:00 p.m. When she did not return, Mati said he left a note asking her to meet him at a camping area the two of them had visited the previous day. Dana never appeared at either location.

If this account is accurate, it would imply that the many rumors about her at the party were unrelated to her disappearance, and the entire Ruiz and Fejer situation would have had no connection to her case.

The only certain thing about Dana’s disappearance appears to be that she went to a party in the company of a young Caucasian male, and there has been no confirmed sighting of her since 1:30am the following morning (March 31).

---

The Following Days

On April 7, which was eight days after the party and eleven days after their last contact with her, Dana’s parents received a phone call at their Manhattan apartment. The phone number was listed in Dana’s diary. When Dania, her mother, answered, she found herself speaking with Mati. He asked if they knew where Dana was, explaining that he still had her backpack from the night of the party and wanted to return it to her. He said he had not seen her since and had no way to reach her.

Dania thanked him and asked Mati to leave the bag at the lobby of his residence with a note for Dana. After hanging up, Dana’s parents attempted to contact her about picking up her bag from the hotel. When the family failed to get a response from her email, they eventually broke into the account on April 15 to see what was going on. It was then that they learned Dana had not read her messages nor used the account since approximately two weeks previously. They did see an email from Mati dated April 7 (the same day he called) stating that he was leaving her bag at the lobby per the parents’ request if she wanted to get it.

Concerned, the Rishpys contacted Mati again to ask for more details. He told them that the last time he had seen Dana was on Saturday, March 31, when she said she planned to visit the Mayan ruins on a short backpacking trip, possibly with the French Canadians she had met earlier. He said he had not heard from her since.

Many people view the backpack situation as the strongest point in Mati’s favor. He was the one who first alerted others that something seemed wrong, he voluntarily contacted her parents, and he made an effort to return her belongings. If he had wanted to hide something, he could simply have kept or destroyed the bag and disappeared. At the same time, the circumstances raise questions. It is unusual that he waited eleven days for Dana to return for a backpack that held her money, identification, both her Israeli and German passports, her clothing, nearly one thousand dollars in traveler’s checks, her plane tickets, and other essentials. If he had her email address, why wait so long to try contacting her? And why call her parents before sending her a message directly?

One source (Link) claims that Mati first emailed Dana on April 4 and that her parents, already worried, saw the message and contacted him. This version appears only once and has not been corroborated by other reports.

It is also worth noting that Dana’s parents themselves waited more than two weeks before involving the police. People sometimes point to Mati’s delay as suspicious, yet her parents hesitated even longer and would presumably have known her habits best. Clearly, something about Dana’s travel style made both Mati and her parents slow to assume that anything was wrong.

The last known communication between the Rishpys and Mati took place on April 21.

---

The Search

On April 23, Dana’s parents contacted the Mexican police. The following day, officers located Dana’s backpack with the lobby staff of the residence where Mati had said he left it. It had indeed been there since he dropped it off.

Although police launched an initial search, they were soon criticized for appearing more invested in closing the case quickly than in conducting a thorough investigation. Authorities rather hastily concluded that Dana and Mati had fled to Honduras, even though neither had any known motive to leave, Dana’s backpack remained untouched at the residence, Mati was seen in Tulum after she vanished, and neither had any known connection to Honduras.

Because they felt the police response was inadequate, the Rishpys began financing and directing much of the investigation themselves. They interviewed persons of interest, arranged for laboratory testing and DNA analysis, and collected evidence at their own expense. They also contacted volunteer search teams in Israel, who arrived quickly to assist.

Matthew Walshin

After Dana disappeared, Walshin rented an apartment from a friend known as Flor and moved there shortly afterward (it was the move from the hotel to the apartment that caused him to contact the Rishpys’ about Dana’s bag). According to anonymous commenters on Your Free Press, Walshin did not hide or behave suspiciously during the weeks that followed. His apartment and car were both easy for police to locate. Flor was later questioned by authorities, although nothing resulted from that interview (Link).

Investigators noted that Walshin left Tulum suddenly on April 26 and flew back to the United States, leaving his driver’s license behind. Given how quickly attention focused on him as a key person of interest, he may have wanted to leave before the situation escalated.

Your Free Press reported in 2007 that Walshin’s car had been found abandoned with a broken window and blood inside. An anonymous commenter later disputed this, saying Walshin had not purchased the car until more than three weeks after Dana went missing, that the car had been parked in front of his home rather than abandoned, and that police broke the window themselves. The blood reportedly found in the car was never confirmed to be human. Since the area included butcher shops, some suggested it may have been tracked in.

There were also conflicting online claims about Walshin’s past. Your Free Press stated he had a criminal history in Oregon involving sexual assault charges that resulted in a six-month sentence and five years of probation. Forward instead reported that the charge was for drugging and assaulting a woman in California. None of these claims were verified through official legal records during research for this article.

Much of the material published online about Walshin came from two competing groups: those convinced he was suspicious and eager to circulate unverified details, and anonymous posters who defended him without offering evidence. Both sides tended to frame events in biased ways, making it difficult to separate fact from rumor. This confusion unfortunately complicated the case even further.

“The basic problem on this case is we are talking about a crime against an Israeli citizen in another country, Mexico, with the main suspect being an American. . . . It is a triangle of countries.”

Itzhak Erez (Israeli consul in Mexico City) (Link)

When police failed to produce meaningful results, Dana’s family hired a private investigator. During an encounter between the investigator and Walshin, a fight broke out, which led to Walshin spending a night in jail. He was released the following day.

Walshin has never been formally named a suspect in Dana’s disappearance.

---

The Search Continues

In December 2007, following pressure from the media and the Israeli government, Mexican federal authorities reopened the investigation into Dana’s disappearance. Israel also launched its own inquiry, requesting assistance from both Mexican and American authorities.

Despite these efforts, nothing significant appears to have emerged from the investigations. Dana has not been found, and no one has been charged in connection with her disappearance. As Israeli consul Itzhak Erez noted,

“It’s an especially difficult case because there is no evidence, no body and, as a result, no crime according to Mexican law.”

 Itzhak Erez (consul at Israeli Embassy) (Link)

---

Since Dana vanished, her family has had the challenging task of following leads while sorting through numerous false or unverified rumors.

One of the more concerning reports came in 2009, when her family pursued a lead in Houston, Texas (Link). According to witness accounts, a family from Houston visiting the area near where Dana disappeared in April 2007 found a young woman unconscious and seemingly drugged along a road in Playa del Carmin, about an hour from the Mezzanine Hotel.

The tourist family reportedly consisted of parents, two older daughters, and two sons. Some details are uncertain: the youngest child may have had Down Syndrome, and the family may have been affiliated with the Church of Latter-Day Saints. They arrived on a cruise ship and left soon afterward. The family allegedly took the girl to a nearby restaurant and tried to help her by giving her a drink. Mexican police reportedly arrived but then handed the girl over to a man claiming to be her fiancé or boyfriend.

Later reports cast doubt on the family’s location, suggesting that the parents may have been in Utah on a mission rather than in Houston at the time (link). It is also unclear whether the Rishpys ever identified the family involved in this incident.

While unverified, this report is arguably one of the most alarming in the case. It raises the possibility that Dana may have been taken by someone connected to criminal networks, potentially involved in drugs or sex trafficking. The fact that police reportedly returned her to a man claiming to be her fiancé, rather than ensuring her safety, feeds speculation that earlier investigative shortcomings—such as the mistaken belief she had gone to Honduras and the repeated accusations against the same men—may have been more than simple errors. While nothing can be confirmed, the scenario is considered plausible given the circumstances in the region.

---

Multiple Victims?: No

Rumored or Actual Sightings:

• Unconscious woman in Playa del Carmen found by a tourist family and handed over by police to a man claiming to be her boyfriend – description consistent with Dana, but never confirmed.
• Unverified Honduras rumor reported in a Quintana Roo newspaper, later re-cited in English case overviews, stating that “the Israeli is alive, in Honduras” – no evidence it was really Dana.
• Generic, uncorroborated “I saw someone who looked like her” tips mentioned by the family – none developed into a concrete, documented sighting.

*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

Date the Body was Recovered:

Description: Unknown

Time of Death:

Cause of Death:

Recovered Remains (if partial):

Suspected Homicide?:

Multiple Victims?: No

DNA Tested (No Match):

*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

Description:

License Plate:

Description: The FBI has asked for the public’s help in identifying the man who was seen with Dana that night. They emphasize that he is not a suspect. Instead, they hope he can provide insight into Dana’s actions or behavior during the final hours in which she was confirmed to be alive. He is described as a thin-built Caucasian male who seems to be either Australian or North American.