Two young sisters escaped Saudi Arabia with $5000 on a family vacation, flew to Australia via Hong-Kongchanged their names and renounced Islam – five years before their decomposing bodies were found in a Sydney unit.
This is evident from new reports published in newspapers in the Middle East on Friday.
Esra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead in separate rooms of their first-floor apartment in Canterbury, south-west of the city, when police conducted a welfare check on June 7.
Detectives think they died a month earlier, in May, but continue to scratch their heads to find out what happened.
No cause of death has been determined – there were no obvious signs of injury and no signs of forced entry into the building.
News outlets in Yemen, however, have shed more light on the baffling situation, reporting that the women fled their homeland in 2017 with a pile of money due to a very tumultuous relationship with their parents.
Pictured: Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24. She and her sister were found dead in southwestern Sydney
Pictured: Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23. Her body was found in an apartment in Canterbury on June 7
According to Ana Yemenyi and Tomorrow’s Yemem, the sisters were on summer vacation with their family when they jumped on a plane to Sydney via Hong Kong.
They changed their names from Reem and Rawan Abdullah Al-Sahli to Israa and Amal Abdullah Alsehli, renounced Islam and became atheists,” the newspapers claim.
The sisters then joined an Australian refugee organization. Obviously they had a bridging visa until they died in June.
Local news outlets said their brother was expected to make a public appeal to encourage potential killers to come forward, but the family has remained silent so far.
The mysterious deaths have sparked a stir on social media, with many Middle Eastern residents questioning why the sisters felt the need to escape the Saudi kingdom.
One man said the women exposed themselves to danger when they left their homeland: ‘Don’t leave Saudi Arabia in search of freedom. You won’t find it.’
The sisters flew from Saudi Arabia to Sydney, via Hong Kong, with $5,000 in their pockets (stock image of Middle Eastern women)
When they arrived in Sydney, they contacted a refugee organization. Pictured: Their Canterbury apartment building, where they were found dead in June
Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Sydney has expressed its condolences to the family, who are reportedly “well connected.”
Despite local reports, NSW police say the family is cooperating with investigators and has “no reason” to believe the Alsehli sisters have fled their homeland.
The coroner has not released the sisters’ bodies to their families, although it is clear they could be buried in Sydney.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Detective Claudia Allcroft confirmed that police know very little about the women and renewed a call for public information – anyone who has seen the sisters in their final days has been asked to come forward.
While police told the Daily Mail Australia in June that toxicology tests had been speeded up, detectives said on Wednesday they were still waiting for the results.
Toxicology reports are normally processed within four to six weeks.
Forensic police searched the unit (pictured) in the wake of the horrific discovery on June 7 – a month after the women died
Eight weeks after the gruesome discovery, the case is still plagued with mysteries and inconsistencies.
Both women registered ABNs in 2018 as sole proprietorships at a Wetherill Park address in western Sydney, but police are still unable to confirm what kind of work they did.
They also drove a black BMW coupe that normally costs more than $38,000, and lived in a modern two-bedroom apartment for $490 a week.
In 2018, Asra filed an AVO against a 28-year-old man, but the case was dropped in court the following year and the details of the application are unknown.
The sisters’ car was also keyed in at the end of 2021, but it is not known whether it was a coincidence or whether the damage to their properties was malicious.
The women regularly went to the local gas station for coffee and energy drinks, while workers described them as ‘happy’ – but noted that the couple would only respond to questions and never strike up a conversation.
There were also three welfare checks carried out by police in the months before the girls were finally discovered in separate beds in their unit on the first floor in Canterbury, with mail piling up outside their doors.
Police believe the women died in May – around the time they stopped paying rent.
As detectives struggle to find out what the women were up to in Australia, police released their photos for the first time on Wednesday.
“We hope someone can help our investigators,” Detective Allcroft said.
“Either by sightings, or by those who knew the sisters and may have information about their movements before their death.”
A black BMW coupe covered in dust was removed from the apartment building’s garage the day after the bodies were found