Full Name: Artur Carja

Alternative Name:

Case Status: Missing

Record ID#: 0282

*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*: August 12, 1995
Birthplace: Elbasan, Albania
Age at the Time: 9
Age Group: Child (6 to 9 Years Old)
Biological Sex: Male
Hair: Brunette or Reddish-Brown (Auburn) hair.
Eyes: Brown
Skin Complexion: Fair or Light
Shoe Size:
Ethnicity: Caucasian or White
Nationality: Albania
Languages Spoken: Albanian

*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:

• Beauty Mark or Mole, Scar

Medical Condition:
Physical Abnormality:
Dental Condition:
Scars & Other Marks: A scar from a burn on his left cheek. A mole on his left shoulder and beside his left eyebrow.
Piercings:
Tattoos:

Other Descriptors:

Clothing

Possessions:

Date of the Disappearance*: July 8, 2004

Description: It has been more than two decades after nine-year-old Artur Carja vanished from a bustling street market in the central Albanian city of Elbasan. Artur, born on August 12, 1995, was the second of five children in a modest family struggling to make ends meet. His father, Jakup Carja, frequently traveled to Greece as a seasonal migrant worker to earn money (Shqiptarja). To contribute, Artur and his older brother Blerim, then 12, spent their days selling plastic bags at the local market.

The boys’ routine was simple and consistent: They left home early in the morning, worked until noon when the heat became unbearable, returned for lunch, and then resumed selling until around 4:00 p.m. before heading back home.

July 7, 2004, began no differently. The brothers set out together, chatting briefly with their grandmother at the market during the morning. They met again for lunch as usual. Although they typically stuck together, Blerim finished selling his bags a little earlier and waited for Artur elsewhere in the market. When Artur failed to appear, Blerim headed home, expecting to find his younger brother there.

Artur never arrived. He was not at home, nor with any extended family members. Searches of the area turned up nothing. The nine-year-old, described as thin with brown or auburn hair and dark brown eyes, has not been seen since.

Blerim later recalled the day in statements to media, expressing the enduring pain of the separation. In January 2020, he publicly appealed for help once more, stating that the years felt both endless and painfully fresh. “Many years have passed, but it seems to me as if it happened only a few moments ago and that my brother will return home any moment,” Blerim said, according to reports.

Authorities and family members initially suspected human trafficking, a prevalent issue in the region at the time, with many children reportedly taken across the border to Greece (Balkaneu). A female witness claimed to have seen Artur with an unknown man who placed a bag of food in a vehicle’s trunk; some accounts suggested the boy was also spotted entering the vehicle (Balkaneu).

Unverified sightings emerged, including one in Thessaloniki, Greece, but none were confirmed (Shqiptarja). A child’s body (male, 10 y/o) was discovered on the Greece-Macedonia border which was originally thought to be Artur. But nothing seems to have come from that finding (Shqiptarja).

In 2005, Ahmet Bala (Former Chief of Police in Elbasan) reportedly told journalists he know Artur was still alive and where he was, but that an on-going investigation kept him from publishing the details. If true, it has been far too long since then for them not to have published that information.

In 2013, a man accused of sexually assaulting and murdering another child in the area was arrested and some suggested he may have been linked to Carja’s case. The suspect (Ardian Prrenjasi) was familiar with the family but has never been positively linked to the case (Sot.com).

*Some sources list the disappearance date as July 7, while others note July 9, though most Albanian media and family accounts align with July 7.

Multiple Victims?: No

Rumored or Actual Sightings:

*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?: No

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: Artur may have been seen near or in a vehicle driven by an unknown man.