The wife of a missing ex-FBI agent from Coral Springs has traveled to New York to ask Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to help search for her husband.
Bob Levinson, 64, disappeared from the Iranian island of Kish. He traveled there on March 8, 2007 and hasn't been seen since. His wife said she believes he never left.
"I have no information, and I have no ability to find out anything on my own over there," Christine Levinson told NBC 6 South Florida.
Ahmadinejad is to give a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.
"I am pleading with all the members of the UN to try and help me get Iran to investigate," she said.
The FBI has announced a $1 million reward has been offered for information leading to his safe recovery and return.
"Right now, I am trying to make people aware that my husband is still being held hostage," Levinson said. "We still don't know how to get him home."
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She said she has asked for a meeting with Ahmadinejad but hasn't heard back. There are also billboards in Times Square and in midtown Manhattan, near the United Nations, telling people about the reward.
"It's been five-and-a-half-years and over 2,000 days since Bob disappeared, and my goal is to try and remind everyone that he is still being held hostage, and we need to get him home," she said.
The case has increasingly frustrated investigators, who have relied unsuccessfully on evolving strategies of diplomacy and the public release of a proof-of-life video in hopes of finding Levinson.
Last year, the family in December released a video, received in November 2010 in an email from someone with an unknown address, showing a haggard Levinson pleading for help.
"We got the video. We tried to get in touch with them and haven't heard from them," she said.
She said she tried to contact them by email, which was all she had.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had announced that Levinson was alive and called on Iran to help, and U.S. officials met privately with members of the Iranian government to discuss the case.
Levinson's family said he was there investigating cigarette smuggling for a corporate client.
"For the family, it's and extremely difficult situation everyday," she said. "All I am looking for is to get Bob safe and sound to our family."
Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov.
