2 Sisters and Father Were Found Dead in His Home — as Mother, Who'd Raised Concerns, Seeks Answers

Adriana and Mariel Gil.Photo: gofundme

A Washington man with extreme religious beliefs and his two teenage daughters were found dead inside his apartment, leaving their mother to pick up the pieces and find out what led to their mysterious deaths.

On Saturday, Dec. 11, at about 10:48 a.m., police in Renton, responding to a call from the owner of a rental property who had inspected his unit, discovered the dead bodies of three people, later identified as sisters Adriana Gil, 17, and Mariel Gil, 16, and their father, Manuel Gil, 33, police say.

The girls' mother, Betsy Alvarado, was floored when she heard the news.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she toldKOMONews. “Someone called me and told me and it didn’t really register what they were saying.”

Detectives and a team from the King County Medical Examiner’s Office searched the apartment, but “no determination of cause and manner of death has been made,” police said in a news release.

Police estimate the sisters may have died on Dec. 5 and that their father died five days later, Renton police Det. Robert Onishi says, adding that “there is no obvious mechanism of death.”

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Further laboratory testing needs to be done to determine the cause and manner of death, police said in the release.

“That still might not tell us the whole story of how this came about,” Onishi says.

As police continue to investigate, Alvarado is mourning the loss of her daughters and searching for answers about what happened.

She is wondering whether her ex-husband’s extreme beliefs played a part in their deaths.

The sisters followed the Hebrew Israelite faith, Alvarado toldThe Seattle Times.But her ex-husband was part of an extremist fringe of the Black Hebrew Israelites, she says,KIRO,The Timesand KOMONews report.

Adriana had lived with her father since she was 12 while Mariel moved in with him in June,The Timesreports.

Over the past two years, Alvarado says she watched helplessly as her daughters began to change the way they dressed, what they ate and how they acted, she told KIRO.

She said the girls lost about 50 lbs. each while living with their father and weighed about 100 lbs. when they died,The Timesreports.

“Everything just seemed to keep on progressing and getting more extreme and more extreme,” she says.

Alvarado says she was devastated when the girls told her they couldn’t spend time with her or live with her because of their religious beliefs.

“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 toldThe Times.

Unable to see her daughters for nearly a year, Alvarado says she called Child Protective Services about the situation.

“I told them they don’t go outside, they don’t have friends,” she told KIRO. “Something’s going on in that house.”

Alvarado brought the police with her to the apartment on Dec. 10 to check on the girls but got no answer.

The following day, the landlord went inside the apartment to check on the girls, and found them on the floor, wrapped in blankets,The Timesreports.

“I want justice,” says Alvarado.

Girls Were ‘Loved Deeply and Cherished’

In aGoFundMe pageset up to support Adriana and Mariel’s family, Alvarado’s sister-in-law Jessica Alvarado wrote that news of their deaths “devastated the entire family, as we cherished them.

“Adriana was in high school and loved to play sports. She loved basketball the most. She was very respectful and polite. She wanted to go to college.

“Mariel who also attended high school with her sister, she was very talented in arts, she was always drawing and coloring,” the page states.

“Both girls were deeply into their religion with God. They were very close with each other and always together. They were very smart and enjoyed learning new things. Our entire family was shocked, devastated, and heartbroken. These beautiful girls are now Angels, who will be missed dearly.”

CPS did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Renton Police at 425-430-7500.

source: people.com