WASHINGTON — New York police have identified two Virginia women found dead along the Hudson River on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Tala Farea, 16, and her older sister Rotana Farea, 22, went missing from their Fairfax home on Aug. 24, the New York Daily News reported. On Wednesday, the New York City Police Department made a public appeal for information, and released sketches of the women to help identify them.
Help us identify two young females who were found laying on rocks near the water on the Upper West Side wearing similar clothing, black tights, black jacket with fur trim. Someone must know them. Someone is missing them. If you know who they are. Call us 800-577-TIPS(8477) https://t.co/kz2mKBqpo4
— Chief Dermot F. Shea (@NYPDDetectives) October 25, 2018
The appeal for information came after a 911 caller reported the bodies of two women had washed onto shore in New York City’s Riverside Park near West 68th Street, NYC police said.
The victims were found unconscious and unresponsive, and there was no obvious signs of trauma, police said. They were pronounced dead on the scene.
The two had been duct-taped together, a police source said. The source suggested the women hadn’t been in the water for long.
A New York City Police Department spokesperson said the city medical examiner will determine what caused their deaths. An investigation into their disappearance and deaths is ongoing.
Officials are encouraging anyone with information about what happened to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted on the CrimeStoppers website, on Twitter or by texting TIP577 to 274637.
