Saipan - Faloma Luhk, 10, & Meleina Luhk, 9, Americans, As Teo, 26 May 2011

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Relatives believe two girls abducted

The CNMI community was jolted yesterday with news of two girls who went missing Wednesday morning as they waited for a school bus near their residence in As Teo.

A Commonwealth-wide Amber Alert was issued for Faloma Luhk, 10, and Meleina Luhk, 9, who relatives believe may have been abducted as they waited for their bus to Kagman Elementary School.

More: http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=109818&cat=1

***I apologize for the onslaught of articles below. But this case is now nearly a month old, and the girls have yet to be found.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

UPDATE: Residents join search for missing Saipan girls

The search to find two missing girls on Saipan has gotten a boost in manpower as residents are teaming with the local and federal agencies on the island to return the girls home safely, officials said.

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110527/NEWS01/110527005




Saipan search expands

The search for two missing sisters in Saipan has extended across the entire island, as authorities and volunteers have begun spreading out into other villages.

[snip]

The girls' mother is living on Guam because of a better job opportunity. She has since returned to Saipan for the search, according to the girls' grandfather and co-guardian, Elbert Quitugua.

[snip]

He said no dogs have been brought in to join the search, but there are talks that it could be in the works. Tarkong couldn't confirm yesterday if or when dogs will join the search.

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110529/NEWS01/105290307



US Navy and Air Force join search for missing girls on Saipan

A helicopter from the U.S. Navy and a C-130 plane from the U.S. Air Force joined the search yesterday in Saipan in the Northern Marianas for sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk, who have been missing since mid week.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=60877

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

'I wish I'm the suspect'

Ruhtik Luhk, the father of missing sisters Faloma and Maleina, finally broke his silence yesterday, telling Saipan Tribune he wishes he is the suspect in his daughters' disappearance because that would mean he had been reunited with his daughters.

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=109995&cat=1



FBI offers $10K cash reward

With still no trace of the whereabouts of missing sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk, the FBI offered yesterday a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the girls' safe return or information that would lead to the successful prosecution of anyone responsible for their disappearance.

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=110110&cat=1



CNMI landfill searched for signs of missing girls

The police and FBI in the Northern Marianas have begun sifting through a landfill as part of their search for two sisters who went missing two weeks ago.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=61093



Trash collectors did not see Luhk sisters at bus stop

Garbage collectors did not see sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk at a bus stop in As Teo on May 25, the day when they went missing, but disclosed that they twice spotted a pickup truck in the area just days before the girls' disappearance.

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=110181&cat=1

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

FBI: Girls were kidnapped: Sisters have been missing for almost three weeks

FBI agents and local authorities finished searching Saipan's landfill yesterday, so an investigation into the abduction of two young girls will move on to other leads.

Faloma and Maleina Luhk, ages 10 and 9, will have been missing for three weeks as of tomorrow. They were last seen at an As Teo bus stop on May 25.

More: http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110614/NEWS01/106140301/FBI-Girls-were-kidnapped-Sisters-been-missing-almost-three-weeks?odyssey=nav|head



FBI: Saipan girls missing for 3 weeks not with father in Micronesia; search effort continues

Volunteers and law enforcement personnel have canvassed jungles of Saipan and combed through dirt and trash in search of two young sisters, who authorities believe were most likely abducted while waiting for the school bus three weeks ago. Meanwhile the reward fund has grown to about $33,000.

More: http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/v...e86598e96443394b0/HI--Missing-Sisters-Saipan/

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Man wanted for questioning in Saipan case

As the search for two missing Saipan sisters enters its fourth week, law enforcement officials today will begin scouring targeted areas of the island with a rescue dog from Hawaii civil defense.

[snip]

Officials want to talk to a man, described as a 30-year-old Pacific islander with a large birthmark on the right side of his face. The man was seen driving around the neighborhood where the girls disappeared on May 6, almost three weeks before the girls disappeared.

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110616/NEWS01/106160324

Men with birthmarks interviewed in Saipan

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have interviewed several men with birthmarks on their faces, but none of them remember being in Saipan's As Teo neighborhood on May 6 -- the same area where two young girls later went missing on May 25.

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110618/NEWS01/106180303



Interviews fail to produce leads

The FBI is still knocking on doors and working to track down leads in the case of two missing Saipan sisters -- but nearly a month after the girls' disappearance officials are scrambling for new information.

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110620/NEWS01/106200307

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

CNMI search for missing girls to resume

Hawaii State Civil Defense’s tracking expert dog, Pohaku, will today resume his mission to search for two sisters missing in the Northern Marianas for nearly a month.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=61290


Hopes fade for Northern Marianas girls

In the Northern Marianas, the FBI says investigators are running out of leads in the case of two sisters who disappeared nearly a month ago.

http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201106/3247874.htm?desktop

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110529/NEWS01/110529002/Saipan-search-expands

 

[soyesterday]

How horrible
I hope they are found safe and soon!!!!!
Poor things......they are beautiful.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Find Our Saipan Girls

http://findoursaipangirls.wordpress.com/about/

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

For those that don't know much about Saipan...

Saipan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean.

The CNMI joined the United States in November 1986 (which is why the FBI, and US Air Force and Coast Guard are involved).

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

$50K offered for aid in Saipan case

The reward for information about the disappearance of two Saipan sisters reached $50,000 yesterday, even as leads in the case have all but dried up.

International investment and asset-management company Bridge Capital added $16,500 to the $33,500 already offered for information on the safe return of 10-year-old Faloma and 9-year-old Maleina Luhk.

More: http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110621/NEWS01/106210310/-50K-offered-aid-Saipan-case

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

May 25, 6:10am: Sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk are reportedly last seen by witnesses sitting on a drainage cement slab across a bus stop pavilion in As Teo.

May 25, 6:30am: 10-year-old Faloma and 9-year-old Maleina reportedly fail to get on a school bus on their way to Kagman Elementary School.

May 25, 5:30pm: Elbert B. Quitugua and wife, Jane, report to DPS that their granddaughters Faloma and Maleina are missing.

May 26: Jermain Quitugua, the girls' mother, arrives from Guam.

May 27: 70 local and federal law enforcers supported by over 90 civilian volunteers comb Saipan to search for the two girls.


Much more: http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=110448&cat=1

 

[Carla Lashelle]

I would think it should be easy enough to search an Island 12 miles long. We have parks here bigger than the whole island.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

I would think it should be easy enough to search an Island 12 miles long. We have parks here bigger than the whole island.

I don't think that's quite the point.

Even 1 mile is hard to search when you have no idea where to look.

 

[LadyL]

I'm fearing the worst - that they have been trafficked & are in another country. Well, I guess death is worse but it sure won't feel that way to them. I hope wherever they are, that they still have each other for comfort ... and I hope for a miracle for these girls and their family, that they are rescued.

 

[Carla Lashelle]

I don't think that's quite the point.

Even 1 mile is hard to search when you have no idea where to look.

Actually it is the point. I would think being on a relatively small island would make deciding where to look somewhat easier. Compared to searches in the US that could cover an area hundreds or thousands of miles square.

One place to consider looking would be in the underground tunnels and bunkers left over from world war II.

 

[fedfan4life]

Actually it is the point. I would think being on a relatively small island would make deciding where to look somewhat easier. Compared to searches in the US that could cover an area hundreds or thousands of miles square.

One place to consider looking would be in the underground tunnels and bunkers left over from world war II.

Except that an island is surrounded by water, unfortunately...

 

[elepher50]

Saipan is about 12.5 miles long and 5.5 miles wide and has a total
land area of 46.5 square miles which is about the size of San
Francisco.

http://www.cnmi-guide.com/info/

Poplulation around 45,000 to 48,000. It has an international airport and a ferry also operates between Saipan and Tinian, its smaller neighboring island 5 miles to the south.

Hopefully the recent increase in reward money will provide some leads as to where the girls are as there doesn't seem to be anywhere to go providing the airport and ferry has been checked for any departures on that day (if there are cameras). IMO the girls are probably still on the island and a good portion of the island has already been searched based on the recent newspaper articles.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

They have had not only local law enforcement and volunteer searches, but also involvement from the FBI, Child Abduction Response Team, US Navy, and US Air Force, as well as landfill searches, and a $50,000 reward.

If it were easier to find them because Saipan is "only 12 miles long", they would have found them by now.


The Northern Mariana Islands actually have an online sex offender registry, too. http://cnmi.nsopw.gov/ But I cannot find an address to use as a reference.

 

[elepher50]

The Northern Mariana Islands actually have an online sex offender registry, too. http://cnmi.nsopw.gov/ But I cannot find an address to use as a reference.

SBM: I now see what you mean - am trying to find an address as a starting point - will keep searching.

 

[elepher50]

Will have to work this one backwards by the looks of it. The girls were headed to the Kagman Elementary School.

http://isadrive.blogspot.com/