“Bizarre disappearance” of US nuclear plant operator — Carjacking, private jet, $100,000 in gold bars? (AUDIO)

Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 11:
h/t Anonymous tip

A missing nuclear plant operator who vanished after being charged with a DuPage County carjacking faces a March 5 trial date even though authorities say there’s evidence he fled the country.

Michael Buhrman, 32, was free on bail when he disappeared last September after purportedly telling a girlfriend he had collected $100,000 in gold bars and planned to secretly travel to Chile to avoid trial, court records show. [...]

His bizarre disappearance came just months after Buhrman was charged with carjacking a woman at gunpoint in west suburban Woodridge. [...]

Daily Herald, Jan. 10:

[... Detective Jody Porras] said U.S. Marshals determined a former co-worker of Buhrman’s went to South America last year and has not returned. [...]

Prosecutors sought to have Buhrman’s $20,000 bond revoked last year after developing information that he may have been plotting to flee to Chile with a large amount of gold. At the time, authorities said, Buhrman had access to a private jet.

Audio: [link to cbschicago.files.wordpress.com]

CBS broadcast about the disappearance here: [link to chicago.cbslocal.com]

[link to enenews.com]

Authorities: Masked senior nuclear reactor operator carjacks woman with loaded gun — Says he was just ‘thrill seeking’

Nuclear engineer pleads not guilty to DuPage carjacking
Daily Herald
By Josh Stockinger
June 4, 2012

A downstate man faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted of a carjacking last month in Woodridge [near Chicago, IL].

Michael Buhrman, 31, of Coal City, formally pleaded not guilty Monday to the May 9 carjacking in a Kohl’s parking lot

[...]

Authorities said Buhrman was armed with a loaded .45 caliber handgun and wearing a “realistic” Halloween mask that resembled an elderly man when he approached the female victim

[...]

Authorities: Nuclear engineer sought ‘thrill’ in DuPage hijacking
Daily Herald
By Josh Stockinger
May 11, 2012

A man who operates reactors at a nuclear power plant was “thrill seeking” when he put on a mask and hijacked a woman’s car at gunpoint, DuPage County authorities said Friday.

Michael Buhrman, a senior reactor operator at Dresden Nuclear Power Plant in Morris, was charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking.

[...]

Authorities said Buhrman later confessed the hijacking was a “stupid thing” to do and that he was only “thrill seeking.”

LINK: [link to enenews.com]