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In 17 years of search there is no trace of Puerto Rican twins disappeared in NJ
THE NEW JOURNAL, NEW YORK._ In 17 years of permanent search, the family and the authorities have still not found any clues about the disappearance of the Boricuas twins Francheska and Misheilia Martínez, 12 years old, who were last seen in Paterson Falls, amid rumors that both wanted to leave the house.
According to José Martínez, brother of the twins and retired police detective Sergeant Pablo Maute, who investigated the case, the suspects point to the stepfather of the young Hipólito Miguel Corniel, but the man, who is serving a 17-year sentence for the murder of a woman, she has never been proven the relationship with the disappearances and according to a detective of the State Police, she confessed but later retracted.
Corniel, will be released this September 9 after serving the sentence. The former detective describes Corniel, as "a cold person, looks at you, lies to you and looks at your face and you do not notice anything".
Corniel, would have killed the woman months after the disappearance of the twins Martinez.
They vanished one after the other one month apart. The first was Franchesca, who disappeared on June 9, 2000 and more than a month later, on July 22 of that same year, his twin Misheilia, left. Neither of the two communicated with the mother, brother or other relatives.
The brother of the two women, says he always believed that one of them, was pregnant with the stepfather, for the alleged symptoms that he noticed, but the twin, never talked about it with anyone and his mother, exonerated Corniel of any connection with the disappearance of his daughters.
The Paterson Police Department has not stopped searching for the twins and dozens of specialized sites maintains the active campaign, hoping to receive some signal about the whereabouts.
Even, graphics have been published on the progress of the age of the then minors and the physical aspect that they would have now.
"Frustration," says former detective Maute, when he recalls not having been able to find the clues necessary to find the twins alive or dead, stressing that he made all the efforts and used the means that the investigators had at hand for the time.
Francheska would meet 13 days after disappearing. The miniskirt and a pink hat she was wearing were found days later in a plastic bag at the entrance of her house.
Since then, nobody has heard about them. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), declared them "fugitives," but the agency says they may have been victims of a human trafficking operation.
According to the friends of the Puerto Rican twins, Francheska had a secret boyfriend who was 22 years old.
According to this legal website, if Francheska had sex with that boyfriend the man could have faced a long sentence in prison, although there were no suspicions or accusations against the mysterious boyfriend who according to his relatives, only she knew.
"Definitely, of course, yes," answers the former detective about his doubts about Corniel as the person responsible for the disappearances of the twins. State police of New Jersey, were integrated to the search for the Puerto Rican twins, in 2013, but that reinforcement did not give results either.
"We dedicate hours and hours and many resources to the search, but we came to the same conclusion as many other detectives: frustration with Mr. Hipolito," said Detective Erin Micciula of the State Police in New Jersey. "He (Corniel), confessed but then retracted and unfortunately we do not know where to look for them to recover them," the official said.
The brother insists that Corniel's relationship with Francheska did not look "normal" and the man always took her shopping to the stores and she came back loaded with clothes and gifts.
Martinez says that before disappearing, the other twin left a letter in which she reproached her mother for not loving her stepfather and being "unfaithful", so she and her sister alleged that they were not happy with their mother.
The mother, Gloria Puello, admits that Corniel was watching her with a neighbor, but clarifies that she never had any relationship with the alleged lover.
"The only way for Corniel to take revenge against the mother of the twins, was to hurt the daughters, knowing how much the mother loved her," says the former detective.
The police say that since the last time they interrogated Corniel about the Puerto Rican twins, the investigation got stuck.
