Unsolved Double-Disappearance: Lila Buerattan and Moses Lall

Last Seen Alive

Studio 222

Society & Culture, True Crime

4.2 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2023

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When an exotic bird aviary is found mysteriously abandoned in South Florida, investigators launch a search for its devoted owners, who never would’ve willingly left their animals. Detectives navigate the secretive world of exotic birdkeeping and uncover a host of suspicious characters and circumstances in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

If you know anything at all about the disappearances of Lila Buerattan and Moses Lall, please call the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at 561-688-3000.

See photos from this episode and check out the sources we used to research it here:

https://lastseenalivepodcast.com/2023/04/10/unsolved-double-disappearance-lila-buerattan-and-moses-lall/

Transcript

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0:00.0	When an exotic bird aviary is found mysteriously abandoned in South Florida,
0:05.5	investigators launch a search for its devoted owners who never would have willingly left their animals.
0:10.6	Detectives navigate the secretive world of exotic birdkeeping and uncover a host of suspicious characters and circumstances in this episode of Last Seen Alive.
0:35.9	Music in this episode of Last Seen Alive. Thanks for listening to Last Seen Alive.
0:38.7	I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day and true crime storyteller by night.
0:44.5	As always, I'm your co-host, Scott, but I have a little confession.
0:48.7	I did hear a little bit about this episode while you were researching it, and the little bit I did has me very intrigued.
0:56.5	Okay. First of all, how dare you? Second of all, you're right. This is a crazy episode. There's a lot
1:03.5	going on here. So let's just get into it. Alila Wati Baratan and Baguaniala Law, who went by
1:10.3	Lila and Moses, were last seen alive in June of 1994.
1:15.1	They were 35 and 31 years old at the time and lived in the unincorporated community of Loxahatchie,
1:21.0	which is just outside West Palm Beach in southern Florida.
1:24.5	They had settled in the area not for its proximity to gorgeous beaches or busy nightlife,
1:28.9	but rather for the tropical climate. Some might have found the heat and humidity overwhelming and
1:34.3	sought refuge in air-conditioned quarters, but for Lila and Moses, the year-round heat was perfect for
1:39.4	their work, which they were totally immersed in. Speaking of their work, it was a family business, one that had
1:45.8	begun more than 2,000 miles away in the small South American Caribbean nation of Guyana.
1:51.9	Both Lila and Moses, who were aunt and nephew to each other, respectively, had been born in
1:56.6	Guyana, where their family had been immersed in the exotic bird trade since the 1970s.
2:01.9	The family business began there in the capital city of Georgetown, and first consisted of the
2:06.7	laws paying local trappers for tropical birds that they'd captured from nearby jungles.
2:11.4	According to an article by Kevin Davis for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, most of those birds
	...

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