Man Questioned over Missing US Researcher

Police in Chesterfield, Virginia, USA have searched the car and appartment of a man connected with missing Research Director Leyla Namiranian, but not yet made an arrest. Earlier, officers found two of her cell phones on different roads nearby.

41-year-old Namiranian, Director of Marketing and Consumer Research for US firm Altria Client Services, disappeared in April without notifying friends or colleagues. At the time her ex-husband Babak Namiranian said Leyla told her brother she had met someone online and planned to meet him.

Police this week would not comment on whether the man questioned was likely to be the same person, and would not release his name or say if an arrest was likely, but said he has 'not been co-operative' and confirmed that he and Namiranian were 'not strangers' and had known each other for a while. Lt. Randy Horowitz told news network CBS 6 the man had been identified as 'a person of interest' soon after the disappearance, and searched his apartment - they continue to hold his car pending results of forensic tests on it and on clothing.

Of the phones, police said one was found in the roadway, and another lying in a ditch adjacent to another road a few miles distant. Some information was retrieved from the phones but there is no indication that calls were made after the time of her disappearance.

The case is still officially a missing person's case because Namiranian has not been found.

Altria was formerly Philip Morris Companies Inc. and is online at www.altria.com .