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bronxiteforever

(9,287 posts)
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 06:55 PM Nov 2018

Sisters found dead in Hudson River preferred suicide over returning to Saudi Arabia: Police

Source: ABC News

By AARON KATERSKY MORGAN WINSOR
Nov 2, 2018, 4:48 PM ET

Tala and Rotana Farea, the sisters from Saudi Arabia whose bodies were found taped together in New York City's Hudson River last week, were said to have preferred suicide over returning to their home country, according to police.

Dermot Shea, chief of detectives for the New York City Police Department, said "sources" in Virginia, where the Farea sisters had previously been living, informed investigators that the two women had been in the United States for two to three years and would "rather inflict harm on themselves and commit suicide than return to Saudi Arabia."

Detectives believe the women may have applied for asylum in the United States after alleging that they were victims of abuse, Shea said.



Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/sisters-found-dead-hudson-river-preferred-suicide-returning/story?id=58928983



Haunting and so sad. Death by drowning rather than return. Peace to them.
33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Sisters found dead in Hudson River preferred suicide over returning to Saudi Arabia: Police (Original Post) bronxiteforever Nov 2018 OP
I'm not buying this suicide story, yet C_U_L8R Nov 2018 #1
i'm skeptical too. barbtries Nov 2018 #2
That practice is so fucked up and evil!!!!! sdfernando Nov 2018 #30
True that is a possibility but I think the witness bronxiteforever Nov 2018 #4
I think this was an actual suicide ansible Nov 2018 #5
Nor Am I erpowers Nov 2018 #8
No 22 year old woman wants her 16 year old sister to die. No way. lostnfound Nov 2018 #15
Neither am I. highplainsdem Nov 2018 #17
Concur! laserhaas Nov 2018 #18
Me either. Heard about this right after the Khoshoggi killing and thought this was more... brush Nov 2018 #19
Thank you - Delphinus Nov 2018 #29
It might be true that they preferred suicide to SA, but it does not follow that this means they RockRaven Nov 2018 #3
even if that's true, it doesn't mean this was suicide JI7 Nov 2018 #6
Per the police update, they had initially ran away from their parents' home in late 2017... Princess Turandot Nov 2018 #7
Thank you for the update. bronxiteforever Nov 2018 #9
Damn sad............... Hotler Nov 2018 #10
Poor girls! They had their whole lives ahead of them. smirkymonkey Nov 2018 #11
If we do assume the suicide story ... mr_lebowski Nov 2018 #20
the report I saw said ginnyinWI Nov 2018 #26
Huh ... well, that is at least physically possible ... mr_lebowski Nov 2018 #28
+1 Crutchez_CuiBono Nov 2018 #32
Supposedly in San Diego a woman was naked and hanged herself BigmanPigman Nov 2018 #12
Personal experience makes me believe the story GulfCoast66 Nov 2018 #13
They were facing one another, and their ankles and waists duct taped obamanut2012 Nov 2018 #14
Where you getting that from? THat's not in the article ... mr_lebowski Nov 2018 #21
In every sigle article and report I ahve seen.read obamanut2012 Nov 2018 #25
Bullshit. Where are the traffic cams? How did they get there? lostnfound Nov 2018 #16
A couple decades ago two teenage girls tied themselves Raine Nov 2018 #22
Good grief. Crutchez_CuiBono Nov 2018 #33
Suicide, my ass. Nt raccoon Nov 2018 #23
Release the immigration file. Nt. bronxiteforever Nov 2018 #24
WTF!- found taped together? they better catch the SA murder team of doom Sunlei Nov 2018 #27
Bullshit suicide story ...murdered by the f'ing Saudi government. Demsrule86 Nov 2018 #31

C_U_L8R

(45,000 posts)
1. I'm not buying this suicide story, yet
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 07:04 PM
Nov 2018

Given The Kingdom's penchant to assassinate dissidents, who knows. How do you duct tape your own bodies together?

sdfernando

(4,931 posts)
30. That practice is so fucked up and evil!!!!!
Sat Nov 3, 2018, 04:25 PM
Nov 2018

There is no "honor" in killing someone!

I'm skeptical that it was suicide. I hope the true cause is determined (even if it was suicide).

RIP Sweet Sisters.

bronxiteforever

(9,287 posts)
4. True that is a possibility but I think the witness
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 07:12 PM
Nov 2018

Who came forward is the key. I am sure NYPD will track down surveillance footage on that night.

More likely, the sisters were denied asylum by our federal government and they burned through the credit cards because they were going to kill themselves. This case both illustrates the trumpian immigration system ( how many other suicides are there) and the fact that in the Kingdom woman and girls are always second class.

 

ansible

(1,718 posts)
5. I think this was an actual suicide
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 08:01 PM
Nov 2018

It's easy to take living here for granted, my family emigrated here from Australia and I really, really don't want to go back there either.

erpowers

(9,350 posts)
8. Nor Am I
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 08:27 PM
Nov 2018

We are being asked to believe that these two girls were able to tape themselves together and then jump into a river. That does not seem realistic.

lostnfound

(16,177 posts)
15. No 22 year old woman wants her 16 year old sister to die. No way.
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 11:20 PM
Nov 2018

This is a lie. Something is being covered up.

brush

(53,771 posts)
19. Me either. Heard about this right after the Khoshoggi killing and thought this was more...
Sat Nov 3, 2018, 12:48 AM
Nov 2018

of the same. It was reported at the time that the cause of death was unknown.

Hope this isn't another cover-up of Saudi killings.

RockRaven

(14,962 posts)
3. It might be true that they preferred suicide to SA, but it does not follow that this means they
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 07:07 PM
Nov 2018

committed suicide.

Given SA's willingness to assassinate people in foreign countries, no stone should remain unturned in investigating their deaths FULLY.

JI7

(89,247 posts)
6. even if that's true, it doesn't mean this was suicide
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 08:15 PM
Nov 2018

maybe that horrible thing they were getting away from found them here.

Princess Turandot

(4,787 posts)
7. Per the police update, they had initially ran away from their parents' home in late 2017...
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 08:20 PM
Nov 2018

The parents reported them missing, but when they were subsequently located in 12/17, they told the Virginia authorities that they had been abused by family members (father, brother, mother). Shea didn't elaborate on the details of the abuse. Because of that, they were placed in a shelter in Va. where they remained until 8/18, when they disappeared. (The shelter reported them missing at that time.)

They had made their way to NYC by early September. They stayed here in several hotels, paying with a credit card. The police also got reports of them paying for other things with cash. Then significantly, they apparently began to run out of resources, about a week before they died.

On the morning of the day they were found dead, a man saw them in another part of Riverside Park, around 158th Street. He came in and spoke to the police about them two days ago. He said that they were sitting apart, and were audibly chanting something, as if praying, each one holding her head down in her hands.

As of right now, the medical examiner has not yet determined their cause of death. The girls were completely dressed, and had no injuries such as they might have gotten in a struggle. I assume they're now waiting on various lab results. The NYC medical examiners department/forensics laboratory is about as good as it gets, so if there's something there to find, they'll find it.

As to Saudi Arabia, maybe they just didn't want to return there because it's a disgustingly repressive place for women to live, especially after they were living in Northern Virginia for several years. There appears to be nothing going on here that would have caused the Saudis to send assassins after the two of them in NYC.

But given the Trump admin's policies on granting asylum and Muslim immigrants etc., if they had indeed applied for asylum, they may have decided that option was hopeless. Add that to no money, and no place to go as they saw it, they sadly might have opted for a drastic ending.

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
11. Poor girls! They had their whole lives ahead of them.
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 08:56 PM
Nov 2018

This sounds very fishy. Taping themselves together and throwing themselves in the river sounds very complicated. I am doubting the suicide angle.

 

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)
20. If we do assume the suicide story ...
Sat Nov 3, 2018, 03:05 AM
Nov 2018

It seems possible they were just very basically attached by tape, in hopes that their bodies would be discovered together.

AFAIK, we don't know the 'details' on 'how taped together' they were ... i.e. was it just their wrists? Or were they 'back-to-back tape mummies from head to toe'?

 

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)
28. Huh ... well, that is at least physically possible ...
Sat Nov 3, 2018, 10:46 AM
Nov 2018

Sit on the ground, opposite each other, but knees together, you could pass the roll to each other and wrap your feet. Then you could stand up by grabbing one another's hands and pulling each other up. From there, facing each other standing up, it'd be fairly simple to wrap tape around your waists.

Then you could either jump/fall into, or roll into the river ...

Not saying 'that's what happened', in fact I really kinda doubt it ... assuming they were really bound this way and that this isn't just a rumor that got reported by a number of sources.

Hell, even if it was accurate, they could've been forced to do this at gunpoint or the like ... a smart assassin would make them do it themselves so as to avoid doing something that a forensic expert could ID as something 'impossible' for them to have done on their own.

But I do think the experts at NYPD crime lab will figure it out.

BigmanPigman

(51,585 posts)
12. Supposedly in San Diego a woman was naked and hanged herself
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 09:09 PM
Nov 2018

after tying herself up and then jumped over a second story railing after writing a letter in red paint after her boyfriend's son died accidentally a few days before that. This sounds as fishy as that "suicide".

If you are planning to kill yourself I can see blowing all your available money on nice hotels, room service, expensive activities, fine restaurants before you do so bit the spending sprees "shopping" for things they will never use or wear doesn't make sense either.

GulfCoast66

(11,949 posts)
13. Personal experience makes me believe the story
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 10:09 PM
Nov 2018

I can’t give many details because I do not want to Out myself.

But I had an encounter with a young girl from SA. Here for school. She was beautiful, scantily clad and drinking like she had something to forget. Or fear. Just a few hours around her and I can see her taking this action.

Why we have anything to do with this midieval country boggles my mind. I mean I know why, but still...

obamanut2012

(26,068 posts)
14. They were facing one another, and their ankles and waists duct taped
Fri Nov 2, 2018, 10:33 PM
Nov 2018

Not buying it. They were murdered in a horrible way -- they were alive when they were thrown in the river.

 

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)
21. Where you getting that from? THat's not in the article ...
Sat Nov 3, 2018, 03:11 AM
Nov 2018

Article said their bodies were loosely bound together with duct tape when found.

Raine

(30,540 posts)
22. A couple decades ago two teenage girls tied themselves
Sat Nov 3, 2018, 04:57 AM
Nov 2018

together and jumped off a cliff into the ocean near where I live, it happens.

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