SUGAR LAND, Texas – The search is on for the men behind a Sugar Land development company who have vanished.
Now local governments in Texas and across state lines are looking for answers.
When a tornado tore through Joplin, Missouri in May 2011, it cut a trail of destruction a mile wide. The city needed help and hired Wallace Bajjali of Sugar Land to help with its redevelopment.
Now, the company appears to have disappeared.
Joplin said former Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace and partner Costa Bajjali have resigned and left their offices there.
Now Joplin city leaders told the firm to keep its commitment or the city could take action on its contract.
The city of Amarillo voted to sever ties with Wallace Bajjali after finding out the company had moved out of its offices in Joplin. Amarillo had four contracts with the company for a redevelopment project.
"At times it's been a little confusing as to who's in charge at Wallace Bajjali," local government corporation president Richard Brown said. "It would be disingenuous to say they didn't help us get here. I'm confident we're as well protected as we need to be and these projects are going to go ahead."
No one answered the door at the Sugar Land home of David Wallace. The same is true at the offices of Wallace Bajjali in Sugar Land.
For now, no one is visible inside the company's Sugar Land office, although a source says visitors from other states have been by looking for the employees who worked there.