The Saudi sisters whose bodies were recently found on the bank of the Hudson River likely entered the water alive, according to police.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea shared more details from the investigation into the deaths of Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 22, at a press conference on Friday, developing a picture of what led to the the sisters to be found dead.
The Farea sisters were in New York City since Sept. 1, according to credit card records reviewed by police, and they were last seen together on or about Aug. 24 in Virginia.
They were last seen by their family on Nov. 30, 2017, Shea said.
“In December of ’17 they were located by authorities in Virginia. They were not returned to their home,” he said. “They were placed in a facility similar to, I would categorize it as someone that’s a victim of domestic violence might go to, and for privacy I won’t speak anymore to that facility.”
Credit card records also show stays in hotels and food delivery for two meals at a time, several times a day.
“There is strong possibility here that — I alluded to a credit card maxed out — that money was running out,” said Shea.
The Farea sisters had said they were abused, police said, but investigators could not yet say if that was the specific reason that the two did not want to return to Saudi Arabia.
Though Shea has not spoken to the state department, he believes the sisters did file for asylum in the United States.
Suicide suspected in Farea Sisters case
Officials say that there is no credible information that a crime took place, but they are continuing to investigate the Farea sisters’ deaths.
“This is a tragedy all the way around. As I said before, we want to get get justice for the victims, and we treat everything as a crime until we know otherwise,” Shea said. “At this point in time, everything we’ve seen thus far points to other than a crime taking place, but we’re not ruling anything out.”
A source who was not a family member told police that the Farea sisters would rather “inflict harm on themselves” or commit suicide than return to Saudi Arabia.
The Farea sisters were found on Oct. 24 on the bank of the Hudson River in the Upper West Side, their bodies duct taped together. Police initially asked for help identifying the women.
A witness told police that he was at Riverside Park around 7 that morning to exercise when he saw two girls about 30 feet apart, but whom he believed to be together, sitting at a playground.
The girls were “sitting with their hands in their heads, heads lowered, and making noises loudly that he described as praying,” Shea said. That playground, in the area of 158th to 163th streets, is “a very short distance from the Hudson River.”
The medical examiner has not yet ruled on a cause of death.
