Great-aunt says viral ‘Faloma’ claim reopened family’s wounds

The great-aunt of long-missing sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk says she immediately knew a woman in a viral YouTube video was not her grandniece, describing the claim as painful for family members who have spent more than 15 years hoping for answers.

Tina Palacios, who said she was close to the sisters and had hoped to adopt them before they disappeared in 2011, spoke after the Federal Bureau of Investigation publicly debunked claims that a woman appearing in a widely shared online video was Faloma Luhk. The FBI said it investigated the claims and determined that the woman was not Faloma.

“As soon as that thing came out, everybody was calling, everybody was messaging,” an emotional Palacios said. “I saw it and right away I knew it was fake.”

She said the woman in the video bore no resemblance to the child she remembered and criticized those behind the video.

“It’s sad how people can just ... prey on other people’s misery,” Palacios said fighting back tears. “That’s just not right.”

Palacios said she still thinks about the girls constantly and becomes emotional whenever their names are mentioned. She recalled spending weekends with them and buying snacks for them to take to school. Years after their disappearance, she discovered a bag of snacks she had purchased for them but which they never got the chance to use.

She said she had wanted to adopt the girls or obtain guardianship so she could provide them with medical coverage, passports and opportunities to travel.

“I wanted to give them the normal child life,” she said between sobs. “I was never given that opportunity.”

While acknowledging she does not know what became of the sisters, Palacios said she believes they knew the person who took them.

“My personal belief is that they knew who took them,” she said. “There was no struggle, there was no screaming.”

She added that the sisters had been taught not to get into a vehicle with strangers and believes someone close to them may know what happened.

“I always say that the person that knows what happened to those two girls is the person that saw them last,” Palacios said.

Palacios also urged anyone with information to come forward and called on investigators to continue pursuing leads.

“For such a small island, somebody out there knows something,” she said.

In a follow-up message, she said she believes answers can still be found.

“If they really, really look, for such a small island, they could do it,” Palacios said.

Despite the passage of time, she said she has never given up hope that the sisters are alive.

“I’m not giving up hope because when I give up hope, that means they’re gone,” she said.

Palacios also had a message for Faloma and Maleina should they ever see her interview.

“If you guys are watching, I love you and I’m not going to give up on you guys,” she said.

She added, “I never gave up on them and I won’t give up on them.”

According to the FBI, Faloma and Maleina Luhk were reported missing from Saipan on May 25, 2011, and their disappearance remains one of the CNMI’s most high-profile unresolved missing persons cases.

The agency recently investigated claims circulating online that a woman appearing in a YouTube video was Faloma and concluded the claim was false. The FBI said it remains committed to investigating the sisters’ disappearance and is asking anyone with information to contact authorities.