Disappearance of Luhk sisters marks 3rd year

Faloma

This weekend marks the third year of the mysterious disappearance of sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk in As Teo, with still no trace of the minors.

The families of the Luhk sisters will offer a special Mass at Santa Soledad Church in Kagman at 9:30am on Sunday, May 25, the same day in 2011 when the girls were last seen. “Up to now their disappearance is still a mystery. There are no conclusive findings,” said Elbert Quitugua, the grandfather of the Luhk sisters.

Quitugua told Saipan Tribune yesterday that they still believe that somehow there is someone in the community that has information about the girls’ disappearance. Quitugua said they are seeking help from the public if anyone has information that will assist in the investigation. “I’m just praying, the family is praying that someone who has information will finally come forward. We really need help. We’re begging that person to come forward,” he said. Quitugua said the last time he heard from the Department of Public Safety about the investigation was over a year ago.

Maleina

He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on the other hand, has been persistent in trying to find his granddaughters and has been contacting him now and then. Quitugua said the families are also deeply hurt by the passing last April 30 of his sister, former Marianas Visitors Bureau managing director Anicia Tomokane. Quitugua said Tomokane was close to the Luhk sisters and was very active in searching for the children. Saipan Tribune tried but failed to get an update of the investigation from DPS yesterday.

In an interview last year, DPS Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero disclosed that their No. 1 goal is to locate the missing sisters. He had said that DPS is still working closely with the FBI in trying to solve this case. Then 10-year-old Faloma and 9-year-old Maleina were last seen on May 25, 2011, near a bus stop pavilion in As Teo.

Their disappearance triggered the most extensive searches in CNMI history, with FBI agents and DPS officers combing a landfill, caves, jungles, beaches, villages, abandoned buildings, and other areas for several months.

Many civilian volunteers joined some of the searches. The U.S. military even conducted aerial searches. A tracking dog was also sent from Hawaii to join the searches. Alan Santos Aguon, a former DPS firefighter who refused to undergo a lie detector test in connection with the investigation, was tagged as “a person of interest” but he was never been charged. In 2012, he was reportedly arrested in Burien, Washington state for domestic violence.