‘The FBI can’t probe 1998 disappearance’

The FBI said yesterday they could not assist a family who has been seeking help in finding answers to the mysterious disappearance of Rosaline Santos Camacho in 1998.

FBI special agent Tom Simon told Saipan Tribune yesterday that they want to remain focused in their investigation and search for missing sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk.

“That’s our sole purpose for being here right now—to get these girls home safely,” said Simon, the FBI Honolulu’s media relations coordinator.

Rosaline was 33 when she was reported missing on Aug. 23, 1998, on Saipan. Her husband, Francisco San Nicolas Camacho, was then a police detective and is now retired.

Antonio and Albert Santos, brothers of Rosaline, told Saipan Tribune on Thursday that the family is hoping that the FBI will also step into the investigation of her disappearance. The family strongly believes there was a cover up in the investigation on Rosaline’s disappearance.

The FBI currently has 20 FBI special agents and support staff on Saipan, including members of the FBI Child Abduction Response Deployment Team, to join the search for 10-year-old Faloma Luhk and her sister, 9-year-old Maleina, who have been missing since May 25.

When asked for comment about the Santos family’s appeal to the FBI, Simon said the bureau “is not a missing persons agency, as the local police usually handle that.”

Simon said the FBI investigates, among other things, child abduction at the request of local law enforcement seeking help.

“That said, our condolences go out to the family for everything that they’ve been through. Our heart goes out to the family,” he said.

According to the Santos brothers, Rosaline had a fight with her husband, that’s why she left their house and stayed with her sister in Koblerville for a week.

On a Saturday night in August 1998, Rosaline borrowed the Toyota Camry of her sister and left the house in Koblerville.

Rosaline never returned home. The following morning between 8am and 9am, the car was found parked at the back of the Coral Ocean Point golf course.

Antonio Santos said that Rosaline’s slippers were found at the cliff line, about 50 feet away from the car.

Albert Santos said they were told that there were signs of struggle in the car, but when the family went to the scene, police did not allow them to see the vehicle.