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Today marks 5th month of sisters’ disappearance
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Posted on Oct 25 2011
Grandfather says they’re already very frustrated with DPS
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
Today marks the fifth month since sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk mysteriously disappeared in As Teo. The children’s grandfather, Elbert Quitugua, said that they’re already very frustrated with the Department of Public Safety.
Quitugua told Saipan Tribune yesterday that since DPS closed down the Command Center in Kagman a few months ago, they haven’t heard from the department for any updates in the investigation.
“We haven’t heard from them. Nothing at all,” Quitugua said.
He said the family will hear separate Masses today, Tuesday, in San Antonio and Kagman at 6pm.
Ten-year-old Faloma and 9-year-old Maleina were reportedly last seen near a bus stop pavilion in As Teo on May 25.
Last Tuesday, Oct. 17, FBI special agent Tom Simon told Saipan Tribune that the FBI’s investigation into the Luhks’ disappearance is ongoing. “The FBI continues to encourage the public to come forward with information that may move us closer to a solution,” Simon said.
A day after Simon gave the statement, DPS Commissioner Ramon C. Mafnas issued a separate statement that DPS and the FBI continue to seek the public’s help for crucial information relating to the disappearance of the Luhk sisters.
In an email, Mafnas said that DPS and the FBI share the Luhk family’s deep desire to bring this matter to a closure. “We humbly ask for the community’s patience and cooperation,” he added.
In August, FBI special agents reportedly seized for evidence gathering the car of a firefighter who refused to undergo a lie detector test in connection with the investigation into the disappearance of the Luhk sisters. Sources said the former DPS firefighter sold his 2003 Toyota Camry before leaving Saipan on Aug. 6.
Federal agents, sources disclosed, immediately seized the car from the new owner but then subsequently returned it.
Sources said yesterday that the firefighter is now reunited with his wife and children in Washington. The wife is related to the Luhk sisters, the sources added.
