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

[NervousNellie]

I don't think this has been posted yet (article published late yesterday by the Washington Post): Deaths of Fairfax sisters found along New York’s Hudson River remain a mystery - The Washington Post

From the article:

"Tala Farea was listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as of Aug. 24. Rotana Farea apparently once lived in Skyline Towers in Baileys Crossroads and in the Fairfax Corner area of the county, according to records. No family members or friends could be located Sunday."

"A New York police spokesman said Sunday that police were awaiting the results of autopsies on the sisters before determining whether the case was a homicide."

In addition, this article repeats the statement from the NY police chief that these women were not in the water long.

 

[TTF14]

I wonder how Rotana supported herself/what she did for a living.

I'm not getting a sex trafficking vibe at all here.

 

[Shlock Homes]

It's odd that the Arab news article mentions the mother and father heading to NYC, but the Washington Post insists that no family member or friend has been found. The arab news said it was their mother who identified the girls from the sketches.
How the older sister was able to support herself, could it be that she was a foreign student? And/or maybe her parents were well-off and paid for her stay in New York.

 

[Shlock Homes]

So I have to ask...they were bound face to face and yet it says that one was on top of the other in a cross formation. I wonder how tightly bound together they were at the waist, whether lightly or firmly, as to have no space between them...could the tide have loosened the tape from itself and their clothes that much to deposit them that way? Also, it doesn’t seem exactly comfortable to be bound that close together. If the psychology regarding undue discomfort or pain during suicide is true in this case, wouldn’t they avoid that level of discomfort during it all?

I can understand the binding (somewhat, if their arms/hands were under the tape) to make sure one or both couldn’t back out..if their hands were free they could have attempted to rip the tape off and escape. To have done it themselves their hands would have had to been left free, no? If someone else ‘helped’, maliciously or otherwise, hands would have likely been under the tape if they were standing straight with their arms at their sides unless they were hugging each other? Otherwise maybe it was a comfort thing to be so close to a person they truly loved as they breathed their last?

Personally I believe whoever did it had them unconscious. Otherwise they would have been struggling and screaming. Since the police didn't mention any tape covering their mouths, I'm guessing neither girl was screaming or even putting up a struggle.
As I mentioned before, the use of duct tape should hopefully yield some fingerprints, hair or clothing fibers that do not belong to the sisters. I'm expecting they're also doing toxicology tests to see if they had been drugged.
Why would the sisters duct tape themselves together to commit suicide? Why such an elaborate plan, when all they could have done was overdose on pills, which would be painless?

 

[foodsmart4]

I really hoping they get answers for these girls. I just am not buying the suicide angle here.

 

[SammieJean]

Personally I believe whoever did it had them unconscious. Otherwise they would have been struggling and screaming. Since the police didn't mention any tape covering their mouths, I'm guessing neither girl was screaming or even putting up a struggle.
As I mentioned before, the use of duct tape should hopefully yield some fingerprints, hair or clothing fibers that do not belong to the sisters. I'm expecting they're also doing toxicology tests to see if they had been drugged.
Why would the sisters duct tape themselves together to commit suicide? Why such an elaborate plan, when all they could have done was overdose on pills, which would be painless?

Exactly. There are easier, faster, simpler ways to have pulled this off.

Also, why wasn’t the sixteen year old in school? I understand they are from Saudi Arabia where education is vastly different...maybe she was ‘done’ with school? I don’t understand just letting her jet off to nyc either, if they knew about it which based on the report they did not. I’m surprised they let her stay in New York with zero consequences.

 

[TTF14]

Exactly. There are easier, faster, simpler ways to have pulled this off.

Also, why wasn’t the sixteen year old in school? I understand they are from Saudi Arabia where education is vastly different...maybe she was ‘done’ with school? I don’t understand just letting her jet off to nyc either, if they knew about it which based on the report they did not. I’m surprised they let her stay in New York with zero consequences.

There's so little information to go on, so we don't know that there were no consequences. Perhaps she was a habitual runaway.

 

[the seeker]

Having a really hard time with the whole suicide thing.

 

[musicaljoke]

One of our local Eritrean refugee families consists of a grandmother and her grandson. The grandfather died when, prior to their escape to Egypt, he and the grandmother had been duct taped together and thrown in a pit.

 

[SammieJean]

There's so little information to go on, so we don't know that there were no consequences. Perhaps she was a habitual runaway.

Touché.

 

[Kid Dropsy]

Still firmly in the "Suicides, bizarre" corner. Looks like most of us think nefarious deeds have to come externally, at another's hand.

Maybe; but suicide is more likely. We shall (perhaps) see.

 

[madamx]

It's odd that the Arab news article mentions the mother and father heading to NYC, but the Washington Post insists that no family member or friend has been found. The arab news said it was their mother who identified the girls from the sketches.
How the older sister was able to support herself, could it be that she was a foreign student? And/or maybe her parents were well-off and paid for her stay in New York.

My Opinion, I think the Arab News has much more correct info. They are actually like all papers when you leave America. Something Iam beginning to notice lately. . They Still Do Real Reporting!!!
The Washington post is here in America. And I have said this on different occasions nd threads before.
Reporting is No longer what it used to be. Nobody(or very few) do real research, nobody copyedits or fact checks or uses proper grammar. It's not like it used to be at all.

It's all about who gets the news the quickest out there and then every other site just copies and pastes it. It's sad the real essence of reporting is gone. Again My Opinion from what I have seen.

 

[TTF14]

My Opinion, I think the Arab News has much more correct info. They are actually like all papers when you leave America. Something Iam beginning to notice lately. . They Still Do Real Reporting!!!
The Washington post is here in America. And I have said this on different occasions nd threads before.
Reporting is No longer what it used to be. Nobody(or very few) do real research, nobody copyedits or fact checks or uses proper grammar. It's not like it used to be at all.

It's all about who gets the news the quickest out there and then every other site just copies and pastes it. It's sad the real essence of reporting is gone. Again My Opinion from what I have seen.

PREACH!

 

[Dr. Benway]

Reporting is No longer what it used to be. Nobody(or very few) do real research, nobody copyedits or fact checks or uses proper grammar. It's not like it used to be at all.

While papers face decreasing subscription numbers and have cut staff accordingly, the great national paper the New York Times, and perhaps the most readable paper after Guardian, the Washington Post, do in fact fact check, copy edit, and are grammatically inclined.

Reporting in real time is hard. Mistakes happen. It's not the Golden Age but it will do.

Remember: a free press is all that stands between us and those who mean us harm.

 

[wannabeasupersleuth]

I've been keeping up on this case on another forum, and I've read the articles that you all have posted in this thread. Suicide just doesn't add up, especially if they were bound together in a "cross formation." Makes zero sense how you would even do that to yourself, and tightly enough to where you don't come apart in the water. <modsnip - not victim friendly>

 

[bears10]

What is the source for them being in a cross formation? I saw earlier someone linked this NY post article but I didn't see that info in the article. Full disclosure - I am sick and my brain is really hazy so I might be missing it.

https://nypost.com/2018/10/24/two-duct-taped-bodies-found-at-upper-west-side-park-cops/

ETA - I found this link where it says that, but I hadn't read that before. I wonder how accurate this info is. jmo

▷Cops ID sisters found dead, bound with duct tape in Riverside Park ▷New York Daily News

 

[ghoster]

I had only read they were joined at the waist, not at the wrists, too, and certainly not cruciate.

Link?

 

[TTF14]

What does "in a cross formation" even mean?

 

[SammieJean]

What does "in a cross formation" even mean?

I would submit that they mean one was vertical and the other was horizontal across her sister. Which I don’t get how that happened if they were taped together!

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

What does "in a cross formation" even mean?

I envision perpendicular to each other? But the bodies may have "shifted" as they floated or fell into the water IMO. The binding seems important but it seems impossible to report they were bound perpendicular to each other without some awfully fancy and STRONG taping.