Sign up now for TIME's WorldWatch email newsletter. His absence from public view has triggered speculation and wild stories.
Most stories stem from Serbia itself.
Economist Mladjan Dinkic called an urgent press conference to announce that an airplane loaded with gold was ready to take off for China, and that Milosevic was on it. The plane, a regular flight to Beijing, was held up at the Belgrade airport for more than two hours, but customs and the airport police later said that neither gold nor Milosevic was found. A reporter for the weekly magazine Vreme tried to visit the estate but was denied entrance by police guards. He did manage to talk to one of Milosevic's staff, a waiter who confirmed that Milosevic was at the estate between the elections on Sept. 24 and Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov's visit to Belgrade on Oct. 6. However, the waiter denied the existence of any underground facilities.