A bit confused

Just now I updated the case of the missing Luhk sisters from the Northern Mariana Islands: Faloma and Maleina. I added new age-progressions for them. In the process I noticed that the NCMEC now refers to Faloma as “Sa Luhk.” Nowhere else have I ever seen her called by that name. All the news accounts about the missing girls, as well as the official website about them, call her Faloma Luhk. But the name Faloma has utterly disappeared from her NCMEC poster.

I am not sure about this. I am thinking that perhaps her legal name is Sa Faloma Luhk, or perhaps Faloma Sa Luhk, and everyone called her Faloma. But until I get this figured out, assuming I ever do, the little girl is going to be called Faloma on my website.

[EDIT: The NCMEC is now calling her Faloma again. Shrug.]

And this week’s MP is….

Maleina Quitugua Luhk. Maleina was nine when she disappeared with her ten-year-old sister, Faloma, from the Northern Mariana Islands on May 25, 2011. I don’t have much on them; they were just gone. Authorities have said that a relative by marriage is considered a person of interest in the case. Maleina is short for her age and has a distinguishing birthmark on her cheek; it kind of looks like she smeared a bit of chocolate there.

Until I heard about those girls I didn’t even know the Northern Marianas, which are in the south Pacific, were part of the US. I think this may very well by the first MP of the week to come from a territory of the US, not a state.

NMI bones not missing girls

Although they have not been identified, authorities have determined that the bones are from a male around 70+ years old. Therefore, highly unlikely to be the missing Faloma or Maleina Luhk.

Northern Mariana Islands Part Deux

Per Jamie: Three articles about missing persons in the NMIs. Human bones have turned up, unearthed by a dog; they’re not sure whose they are yet, but there’s speculation that the bones are from one of the missing Luhk sisters. Apparently those in the know don’t think the victim has been dead all that long and if it is in fact Faloma or Maleina, she was kept alive for several weeks after the girls disappeared in late May.

There’s also an article about the 1998 disappearance of Rosaline Santos Camacho, mother of four and a police officer’s wife, from Saipan. Her car was found abandoned near a golf course and her shoes were on a cliffline nearby. According to Rosaline’s family, the police mishandled the investigation by not treating it as a crime, not processing the car or dusting it for prints or anything. I’m not sure whether “cliffline” means the top edge of a cliff or right at the bottom of a cliff. It was the top of a cliff, maybe Rosaline fell off into the ocean? Or the police assumed she had and that’s why they handled the disappearance so nonchalantly?

And there’s this article about seven people who’ve been missing from the NMIs going back to 1995. No pictures, unfortunately. All adults, between 24 and 79: Qi Run Li, John Garcia Manahane, Manuel L. Dela Cruz, Yuji Watanabe, Ngai Fung Chang and his girlfriend Lai Meung Kou, and Tian Ming.

Northern Mariana Islands

I was looking at the NCMEC site today and I came across this poster for two sisters, Faloma and Maleina Luhk, age ten and nine respectively, who disappeared on May 25, 2011. Listed as non-family abductions. I was a bit confused when I saw they were missing from “Saipan, MP.” That didn’t match any state abbreviation I had heard of.

Then I figured out that “MP” was the Northern Mariana Islands, which until an hour ago I didn’t know were part of the US. (Not sure what the P stands for. Maybe it was just that NM and MI were already taken?) I have a few cases from Guam but never a case from the Northern Mariana Islands. For that matter I was barely aware of their existence until today. But if these girls are still missing come November, I’ll have not just one Northern Mariana Islands case but two.

Makes me feel kind of ashamed how ignorant I am about my own country. When I was in college I had to look it up to see if the Bahamas were their own country or a US territory like the Virgin Islands.