Chicago Area Local News

DES PLAINES, Ill. (CBS) ― Anu Solanki was found alive and well Friday night when she flew back to Chicago from Los Angeles.

When the missing Wheeling woman arrived at the airport, she was met by investigators who took her to a Skokie police department and questioned her for about two hours.

Solanki told investigators she disappeared to escape from a dissatisfying marriage, officials from the Cook County sheriff's office said Saturday.

Solanki, 24, was the subject of a four-day search after she vanished on Christmas Eve. But on Friday, the Cook County sheriff's office discovered repeated calls between Solanki and a male friend, Karan Jani, 23, and ultimately found that she had voluntarily left with him. Solanki returned to the Chicago area on Friday.

In an interview with authorities on Saturday, Solanki said Jani had driven to the Chicago area from Los Angeles on Monday, Dec. 24. After speaking with Solanki several times that morning, Jani met her at Dam No. 1 forest preserve in Wheeling after she finished work at the nearby Westin Hotel, according to sheriff's office spokesman Bill Cunningham.

Solanki's husband, Dignesh Solanki, said she had told him she planned to stop at the riverside forest preserve to properly dispose of a broken Hindu religious statue that had been used at their May wedding.

She told investigators that she did, in fact, dispose of the statue, then got into Jani's car and began heading west toward California, Cunningham said. They ended up in Los Angeles, where Jani was trying to help Solanki find a roommate, Cunningham said.

After seeing a report about Solanki on the Internet and telling her, she decided to return to Chicago. She reached out to one of her brothers and flew back late Thursday or early Friday, Cunningham said.

Solanki's own car was found running near the forest preserve on Monday. When asked to explain why, Solanki said the car belonged to her husband and she wanted to make a clean break from the marriage. She said she knew if she left the car he would look for her and find it and be able to take the car back, Cunningham said.

The four-day search for Solanki involved several police departments. Chief Richard Waszak of the Cook County Forest Preserves said they had a minimum of 40 people working around the clock during the investigation. The search at times included divers, sniffer dogs, a sonar unit and a helicopter.

The cost of the search was estimated conservatively at $250,000, Waszak said.

In seclusion Saturday at an undisclosed location, her older brother Dhiren Patel said his sister is doing well under the circumstances.

"There is a lot of family issues, so we're going to take care of it," he said. "All of our family supports her. It's going to take a little time to calm down the situation, but everything is going to work out good."

Patel wouldn't say if his sister explained why she decided to leave without telling her husband or family.

"Right now, she didn't describe too much," Patel said. 

He also wasn't taking sides.

"I'm looking at both sides," Patel said. "I've got to see what's going on at both sides." 

Patel thanked authorities for working round the clock to try and find his sister when it wasn't clear what had happened and he said he'll be working now to try and lift his sister from the troubled place that caused her to cause so much heartache.

"My only concern is hopefully is family get everything back to normal," he said."That is my concern right now. "

Cunningham said Anu Solanki expressed regret and embarrassment for what transpired. It was not her intent to make it appear like she fell in the water, as rescue crews had believed.

She told sheriff's investigators was very dissatisfied with the marriage and regretted getting married. But when asked whether the relationship had been abusive, she said it was not, according to Cunningham. 

Sam Barlow lives next door to Solanki and her husband and said the whole situation is strange.

"They were a quiet couple," Barlow said. "However, a couple of times they had problems." 

Police say Jani and Solanki had met about a year earlier and had been corresponding on the phone and Internet ever since. But Solanki's husband didn't know of his wife's contact with Jani.

Jani, a recent graduate of the University of Southern California, was introduced to Solanki by a mutual friend about a year ago, Cunningham said. Both have maintained that their relationship was close, but platonic, he said.

Sheriff's investigators said Solanki's husband and family were unaware of the relationship with the other man.

But one of Karan Jani's roommates in California said Friday he was "very confused and shocked" by reports that Jani may have run off with Solanki.

The roommate, who asked the Sun-Times that his name not be used, said he and Jani's other friends had never heard him speak of Solanki or express an interest in any other woman.

"He's kind of friendly, but he's basically shy in his personal life," the roommate said. "He never discussed anything about this girl to me. Everyone is surprised."

The roommate said he did not know Jani, 23, to have any other girlfriends or even casual relationships with women.

The pair lived with two other men in an apartment near the University of Southern California. The roommate said Jani lived with them during his last semester of graduate school and then moved out to find a job in eastern Pennsylvania. Unsuccessful in his job search, he returned to southern California and the apartment, said the roommate, who noted Jani always paid his rent.

Before coming to the United States for graduate school, Jani lived in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 3.5 million in the western Indian state of Gujarat known for its textile and pharmaceutical industries. He went to college in India.

The roommate last saw Jani on Dec. 21 before the roommate left to visit a relative. Two days later, the roommate tried Jani on his cell phone but said he didn't pick up.

"I don't know where he is right now," the roommate said. "He's not picking up his phone."

The Sun-Times also tried calling Jani's phone, but a message said the number was not a working number.

It had not been determined whether Solanki will face criminal charges; the Cook County state's attorney's office will review the investigation and decide next week, Cunningham said. Solanki has not made any false statements and has been cooperative, he said. A decision also hasn't been made about whether police will try and recoup any of the more than $250,000 expended on the search.

In past instances, people who have faked their disappearance have faced felony charges. In February 2004, investment banker Zubair Ghias dumped his sport-utility vehicle in the Englewood neighborhood with a note claiming he was kidnapped. Then he called his home and claimed he was kidnapped by foreign terrorists who forced him onto a plane to Morocco.

The FBI said Ghias later admitted his story was a hoax stemming from a quarrel with his wife, and pleaded guilty to felony disorderly conduct.

CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli, Rafael Romoand the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

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