Maereg Tesfaye Tafesse

Mereg Tesfai Tefese was born to Ethiopian mother Legawork Assefa on January 2, 1994, in Osnabrück, Germany.

He grew up in Ethiopia, attending high school there.

Mereg came to the U.S. in 2012 on a student visa, enrolling at prestigious Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.

He was successful in college and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Mechanical Engineering on May 14, 2016.

After his graduation, Marek spent some time living with his uncle in Dallas and then moved around quite a bit, and did not follow a traditional path finding employment utilizing his engineering degree.

His friend Zuhair Zras told Mission Local, which did a long article on Marek's disappearance, "...he's always been consistent in the sense that he didn't just want to get a job and do the whole capitalism thing.

He said he'd want to join the Christian anarchists group in Los Angeles." And that's what he did.

He moved to Los Angeles and volunteered at the L.A. Catholic Worker Organization from September 2016 to the following year, September 2017.

This group, as described by Mission Local, quote, "...operates hospice care for the dying, a hospitality house for the homeless, publishes a bimonthly newspaper, and generally opposes warmaking and systemic injustice." Members lived together in a commune setting, with volunteer work covering room and board and bringing in a stipend of $15 to $25 a week.

Tefese worked in the soup kitchen, end quote.

After a year in L.A., Marek moved to Olympia, Washington, and stayed at an unknown address there.

Then he stayed for a short time in Portland, Oregon, before moving to Seattle in October of 2017.

In December of 2017, his family came from Ethiopia and visited with Marek.

He was volunteering there at the Left Bank bookstore on Pike Street.

Mission Local says this bookstore, quote, "...specializes in anti-authoritarian, anarchist, independent, radical, and small-press titles," end quote.

He also volunteered at the Green Tortoise Hostel in return for shelter.

He wanted to stay in Seattle, and his family returned home in January of 2018.

Then, on March 3rd, Merag emailed his mother, announcing that he was leaving the United States.

Adrian Lambert, a worker at the bookstore, later reported that he received a text message from Merag the day before he left Seattle, informing Adrian that Merag was relocating to Sacramento, but might return to Seattle the following summer.

Legowork never heard from her son again after this email.

Mission Local reported that about a week before Mareg left the shelter, he called his uncle, Atla Betchu Asefa, his closest family member in the U.S. who lived in Dallas.

Mareg told his uncle that he would call him next week, and they discussed the possibility of visiting in person in April or May of that year.

But Mareg never called.

The email to his mom, the text to Adrian, and the call to his uncle are the last known communications from him.

After not hearing from her son for several months, Legowork decided she had to go look for him.