On 13 August 2017, at approximately 8:00am, Gao Zhisheng's brother visited the human rights defender's home and notified local police when he was unable to find Gao Zhisheng. Local police failed to locate the human rights defender in the vicinity. Gao Zhisheng's wife, who fled to the United States in 2009 after repeated instances of harassment and abuse by Chinese authorities, has also reported being unable to reach her husband by phone. No news of Gao Zhisheng's whereabouts have been reported as of 16 August 2017. There were previous instances of the forced disappearance of Gao Zhisheng, who has been held alternatively under residential surveillance, incarceration, and incommunicado detention in black jails since 2006. In August 2014, Gao Zhisheng had spent eight years in and out of detention, during which time he was subjected to torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment. In June 2017, Gao Zhisheng's written memoirs of his detention and torture by Chinese authorities were published in Taiwan, where local defenders following Gao Zhisheng's case have expressed concern that his present disappearance may be an act of retaliation by Chinese authorities, in response to this publication.