Abushaqra was last seen at the car dealership he owned in the 300 block of Main Street in Manchester, Connecticut on December 7, 2011. He called his wife at 8:24 p.m. and said he'd been at a work meeting and would be home by 9:00 p.m. so he could take her to the movies. He never arrived home and has never been heard from again. The next day, his Mercedes was found in the car dealership parking lot.

On the day of his disappearance, Abushaqra got into a dispute with some mechanics who were renting a garage from him. They had not paid the rent, and that night they met with Abushaqra to discuss this. Before he called his wife, Abushaqra called his brother and asked him to come to the dealership because "they're scaring me." The mechanics deny knowing anything about Abushaqra's disappearance, but they have refused to take polygraph tests.

Abushaqra left behind six children, including a one-year-old set of quadruplets. Authorities believe it's possible he left the country to escape prosecution; he and his father had fraud charges pending against him, and his father had already fled to Jordan. The circumstances of his disappearance are unclear.