https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/could-be-months-before-cause-of-death-known-for-two-teens-father-found-in-renton-apartment/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ultra-devout-sisters-adriana-and-mariel-gil-cut-contact-with-momthen-mysteriously-ended-up-dead-with-dad?ref=wrap
Ultra Devout Sisters Cut Off Contact With Mom?Then Mysteriously Ended Up Dead With Dad
Published Dec. 18, 2021 4:07PM ET
Betsy Alvarado thought her 16-year-old daughter would be fine living with the teen?s father. Her eldest daughter, 17, had done it for years, and the two were still close.
But a religion-fueled separation, months of stonewalling, and two dead daughters later, Alvarado is demanding answers?especially now that authorities say the sisters? father may have been alive for several days before his body was found alongside the girls? in their Washington State apartment.
The twisted saga in Renton, a city 12 miles south of Seattle, came to an end on Dec. 11 when the bodies of Adriana Gil, 17, and Mariel Gil, 16, were found wrapped in a blanket during a wellness check by their landlord. Their father Manuel Gil, 33, was also found dead.
But autopsies haven?t been able to determine how the three died, the Seattle Times. All three were found without trauma marks, and Renton police reportedly found no other signs of foul play. Even odder, a timeline offered by police to the Times indicates that Manuel may have been alive up until Dec. 10, five days after investigators believe the girls died.
It could take the King County medical examiner?s office months to determine a cause of death, police said, particularly since obvious causes such as carbon monoxide poisoning did not pan out. They also believe environmental conditions could have affected their assessment of the time and manner of the deaths, as the apartment was warm when they entered it.
?I don?t think anything else will tell us what happened,? Renton police Detective Robert Onishi told the Times.
Alvarado, 33, said the girls? deaths followed a monthslong emotional separation.
She said Adriana had been living with Manuel since she was 12, though the mom and daughter had remained in contact. But over the spring and summer of last year, Mariel began to spend more time at her father?s house, eventually moving in toward the end of the last school year.
As the girls began to spend more time together under their father?s roof, the religious dedication intensified. The two followed the Hebrew Israelite faith, and their father followed the Black Hebrew Israelite faith, a controversial religious movement that believes Black people are the true ?chosen people.? Extremist followers of the movement have been tied to some violent and antisemitic incidents.
Eventually, communication between the girls and the mom stiffened, with the girls?at the time a healthy and ?plump? 150 pounds each?telling their mom in late February or March they could no longer see her because she wasn?t devout enough. The two eventually stopped responding to her texts completely, and when they would, it would only be in Bible verses.
?I cried so many nights trying to convince them to come back but they felt like if they lived with me they would burn in hell because they wouldn?t be able to follow God?s word the way they?re supposed to,? she told the Times.
At one point, Alvarado said, she had to call Child Protective Services when she received calls that the girls weren?t attending school. Her concern hit a boiling point on Dec. 10, when she called the police to perform a wellness check on the apartment after not hearing from her daughters in months. She accompanied an officer to the door of the unit, though the two left after no one answered the door.
?I ended up leaving there that night not knowing anything,? Alvarado said.
The next day, the unit?s landlord, Carlo Papini, went in to check on the family after a neighbor reported not seeing anyone enter or exit the unit in a week and that police had been there the night before. After attempts to call out to Manuel, he entered through the backdoor?where he discovered the girls on the floor, their bodies wrapped in blankets and their backs against the couch. Manuel?s body was later found in a bedroom upstairs.
?I can see them in my mind right now, the sweet little faces of two little teenage girls,? Papini told the Times. ?It was like they went to sleep, and they never woke up.?
The family has set up a GoFundMe to support the family following the tragedy. But Alvarado?s ultimate goal is to find out how she lost her daughters.
?I just want justice,? she said.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by marakisses
