The circumstances surrounding the deaths of two Saudi sisters, whose bodies were found last week on a bank of the Hudson River, remain mysterious. The New York police still mystifies the police, who are continuing their investigation.

The sisters, Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 22, were found stuck together at the feet and waist and facing each other, and there was no clear sign of trauma, police said. . They had been missing since August 24 after a previous disappearance in December 2017.

Police said that the sisters left Saudi Arabia to settle in the United States with their mother in 2015 and settled in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Their mother told the detectives that the day before the bodies were found, she had received a call from a Saudi Arabian embassy official ordering the family to leave the United States because her daughters had asked for it. political asylum, announced Tuesday the New York police.

Saudi Arabia's consulate general in New York said in a statement that his country had "appointed a lawyer to follow the case closely." The statement also said the sisters "were students accompanying their brother to Washington".

Detective chief New York Dermot Shea said his department sent investigators to Virginia to interview family members and other people who knew the sisters. The detectives focus on the period between their disappearance and the discovery of their body on October 24th.

The cause of death has not been determined.

"The work of the detectives has filled a lot of things," said Shea, "but we still have gaps to fill and we want to get a clear picture of what has happened in the past two months. "

Rotana Farea was enrolled at George Mason University in Fairfax but left in the spring. The university said to cooperate with investigators.

Police stated that the sisters had left the family home and had been placed in a shelter after their previous disappearance.

On Wednesday, the police published photos of the sisters and appealed to the public for information about them.

"We are looking for justice for these two girls and knowing exactly what happened," Shea said.

Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia have been at the center of concern after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist. Khashoggi was strangled to death and his body was dismembered shortly after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, the Turkish prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday.

More: Jamal Khashoggi strangled and his body dismembered, Turkish prosecutor says

Contribute: The Associated Press

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