SOLVED NY - Tala Farea, 16, Rotana Farea, 22, Hudson River, 24 Oct 2018- COD released: suicide/drowning

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Cosmia said:
Well, that sure was a... 13.5-line sentence. That's a lot of words working overtime to say very little. But it's not like the Saudi government has given any reason to believe they wouldn't do due diligence for innocent lives...
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Agree. I wonder how many other SA women and families are here in the US beyond normal visa regulations and possibly even seeking asylum?
 
Sorry, just stumbled across this sad situation today and haven't had a chance to read all posts. I'm wondering if they were concerned about being 'recalled' to SA, once their 'disobedience' was noted. When Trudeau spoke out against Saudi Arabia this summer, after SA arrested the sister-in-law of a Canadian citizen, SA immediately 'recalled' all SA university students (14,000) in Canada...even those mid-way through their programs. Many didn't want to leave. Anyone who refused to leave Canada was in big trouble. Some people had family members arrested back in SA.
 
NBC 4 New York reports:

“‘We are out to get justice for those two girls,’ NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said at an unrelated news briefing Tuesday.

Shea made the comment when asked for an update on the investigation into the deaths of Rotana Farea, 22, and Tala Farea, 16, of Fairfax.

He noted the deaths had not been ruled homicides -- the medical examiner's office says the autopsies require further analysis -- and said NYPD detectives have been in Virginia following up on leads. Shea didn't elaborate further on those leads, but said the initial priority was to identify the women. That done, he says investigators are looking into whether there could be clues in Virginia that could help develop a timeline of where they were the last few months.”

'We Are Out to Get Justice for Those Two Girls': NYPD Detectives' Chief on Sisters Found Dead in Hudson
 
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inmyhumbleopinion said:
“‘We are out to get justice for those two girls,’ NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said at an unrelated news briefing Tuesday.

Shea made the comment when asked for an update on the investigation into the deaths of Rotana Farea, 22, and Tala Farea, 16, of Fairfax.

He noted the deaths had not been ruled homicides -- the medical examiner's office says the autopsies require further analysis -- and said NYPD detectives have been in Virginia following up on leads. Shea didn't elaborate further on those leads, but said the initial priority was to identify the women. That done, he says investigators are looking into whether there could be clues in Virginia that could help develop a timeline of where they were the last few months.”
'We Are Out to Get Justice for Those Two Girls': NYPD Detectives' Chief on Sisters Found Dead in Hudson
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BBM. This doesn't sound like a suicide investigation anymore.
 
New York Times reports:

“Tala and Rotana moved to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia with their mother in 2015, settling in Fairfax, a suburb of Washington D.C., police said.

Rotana was enrolled at George Mason University, but left in the spring. A George Mason spokesman called the news of her death ‘tragic,’ and said the university was cooperating with police.

Police said the sisters left their family home and were placed in a shelter after an earlier disappearance, in December 2017.

They were reported missing again Aug. 24.

[SBM]

‘We are out to get justice for those two girls and find out exactly what happened,’ [Chief of Detectives Dermot] Shea said. (BBM)

Authorities Probing Immigrant Saudi Sisters' Mystery Deaths
 
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Saudi Gazette reports:

“RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s Consulate in New York has entrusted a lawyer to follow up on the legal course over the death of two Saudi students whose bodies were found in Hudson River on Thursday, sources told Okaz [auther of the article].”

A little more info about the source (I had never heard of the publication before):

“About Us
Saudi Gazette, established in 1978, is one of the leading English newspapers of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Living upto its theme of “The Tone of Truth and Moderation”, it has carved a niche for itself in the Saudi media industry.

Saudi Gazette is also the first Saudi Arabian national newspaper to appoint Somayya Jabarti as the first woman editor in chief. She was promoted to this position following more than ten years of “hands on” experience at all levels in the industry.

She was one of the many members who joined the team led by media doyen Khaled Almaeena to revamp Saudi Gazette in 2012. She was his deputy at the time of her joining the newspaper.”

Saudi Gazette/About us
 
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And then DailyMail.com ...:

“The elder of the two sisters whose bodies washed up along the Hudson River was an engineering student at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, DailyMail.com can reveal.

[SBM]

DailyMail.com has learned Rotana, from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was an undergraduate at George Mason University from January 2016 until May of this year.

George Mason, a public university with 35,000 students has close ties to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Arabia Cultural Mission has gifted the college $63 million and has paid for the education of 270 of its 370 Saudi students.

Rather than live on campus like many of her classmates, Rotana traveled back to her home in Falls Church, Virginia where she lived with her mother, brother and Tala.

Rotana attended classes at the Volgenau School of Engineering and sources say she planned to major in bio-engineering when she returned this fall.

But the University told DailyMail.com that Rotana never returned in August to complete her education.

Problems arose for Rotana when she learned her whole family would have to return to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

A source at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC told DailyMail.com Rotana's sister Tala had won a full scholarship to study at Dar Al-Fikr, a top private school in Jeddah.

Tala had briefly studied in 2017 at Fairfax High School, close to George Mason University.”

Saudi found dead in NY Hudson River was at George Mason University, VA
 
So Rotana went to college in VA. A previously posted Arab News article quoted family members saying she was sent to college in NYC with her parents blessing. It's hard for me to keep the facts straight in this case.
 
I still think it’s possible that the sisters staged their suicides to look like homicides.

One might do that for religious reasons, fearing that if suicide was obvious, their family would be ashamed. Or one might be concerned that his/her loved ones would feel guilty.

If something like that did happen, I’m sure LE and ME will figure it out in time. They are just making sure proper due diligence is done before any announcement is made on the women’s COD and MOD, IMO.
 
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The day before their bodies were discovered, the mother got a phone call from the Saudi Embassy saying that her daughters had applied for asylum and that her US residency was in jeopardy.
 
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The brother may be a student, but I'm curious why the mother is in the US. It seems the eldest daughter was staying in luxurious accommodation at some point. I'd like to know who was paying for this as she's a student.

This is a very strange story, and after the events of last month, I just don't trust the Saudis at all.
 
inmyhumbleopinion said:
NBC 4 New York reports:

“‘We are out to get justice for those two girls,’ NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said at an unrelated news briefing Tuesday.

Shea made the comment when asked for an update on the investigation into the deaths of Rotana Farea, 22, and Tala Farea, 16, of Fairfax.

He noted the deaths had not been ruled homicides -- the medical examiner's office says the autopsies require further analysis -- and said NYPD detectives have been in Virginia following up on leads. Shea didn't elaborate further on those leads, but said the initial priority was to identify the women. That done, he says investigators are looking into whether there could be clues in Virginia that could help develop a timeline of where they were the last few months.”

'We Are Out to Get Justice for Those Two Girls': NYPD Detectives' Chief on Sisters Found Dead in Hudson
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Well, that's turned the case around.
 
JudgeJudi said:
The brother may be a student, but I'm curious why the mother is in the US. It seems the eldest daughter was staying in luxurious accommodation at some point. I'd like to know who was paying for this as she's a student.

This is a very strange story, and after the events of last month, I just don't trust the Saudis at all.
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Well according to one of the Arab News articles, family members said the Fareas are well off and paid for her schooling themselves, so I assume they paid for the apartment too. But I am not sure I am going to take the Arab News articles as gospel because it's either a translation issue or the articles seem to have some incorrect information.

It's still unclear to me if she lived in the apartment by herself or with her family. Some articles said she lived with family, some said she lived with her sister (whose middle name is the brothers first name or something??) so I have no idea what is what.

I also thought it was strange that the statement issued by the SA consulate said that the girls were accompanying their brother who was a student. If they came here in 2015, wasn't the brother in high school back then? I guess he could have been on scholarship for a private high school or something, but it just seems oddly worded to me ("accompanying their brother")
 
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