Sisters from Fairfax committed suicide, NY medical examiner says

NEW YORK (FOX 5 DC) - Two Fairfax County sisters who were found dead in New York's Hudson River committed suicide, according to the medical examiner's office.

Talea Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 23, were found dead in October.

The sisters were born in Saudia Arabia.

Police say the victims' feet and waists were duct taped together and they were facing each other. Investigators also say they believe the sisters entered the water from the George Washington Bridge.

At the time, investigators said there were no obvious signs of trauma.

On Tuesday, New York Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson offered this statement:

"Today, my office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River. The sisters were two of roughly 500 known individuals citywide that committed suicide in 2018."

According to a public records search, the sisters at one point lived in Falls Church at Skyline Towers Apartments with their father.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children posted on its website that Tala Farea had been missing since Aug. 24 and she could be with her sister. The page on the website has since been taken down.

However, Fairfax County police did not put anything out about the 16-year-old girl being missing. Police say they are limited with what information they can disclose because of juvenile privacy laws in Virginia.

Tala was a student for a portion of the 2017-18 school year at Fairfax High School, according to a Fairfax County Public Schools spokesperson.