Tuesday October 16, 2018
By Erin Adler and Mara Klecker
Their car veered off the road into the water. Family and friends who stood vigil prepared to gather again to bury the women.
Gallery: Bushra Abdi (left) and Zeynab (Hapsa) Abdalla both 19, had been missing since early Saturday.
Two 19-year-old cousins
whose bodies were pulled from a Chaska pond Sunday night accidentally
drowned, authorities ruled Monday, while funeral plans were finalized in
the wake of the tragedy that left Twin Cities Somali-Americans reeling.
After a
frantic search for Bushra Abdi and Zeynab “Hapsa” Abdalla ended with the
discovery Sunday evening, family and friends who stood vigil prepared
to gather again to bury the women.
Still,
there are unanswered questions about what happened after the women got
into their car together and before it submerged into the freezing pond,
along with what caused their car to veer off the road at the
intersection of Hwy. 41 and White Oak Drive early Sunday morning. The
deaths remain under investigation by the Chaska Police Department.
“But we
know that answers aren’t going to bring my sister back,” said Rahma
Abdalla, sister of Zeynab Abdalla. “Her life is lost forever. That
doesn’t seem real.”
The deaths
have rocked the Somali-American community, said Jaylani Hussein,
executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
“This is probably the most shocking event to hit this community in a long time,” he said.
Friends and family contend
that the women’s early morning plea for help via a cryptic 911 call
warranted more urgency than they believe police initially showed.
“I am very
frustrated with authorities with how they responded,” said Habsa Abdi,
sister of Bushra Abdi. “I felt like they brushed it off.”
Police
disagree, saying they acted promptly and worked the case from the moment
they learned of the emergency call until the bodies were found. Within
about an hour of the disappearance, investigators visited Abdalla’s home
and inquired about the women’s welfare, said Capt. Craig Robson of the
Shakopee Police Department.
“This idea
that we didn’t do anything, that’s uninformed,” Robson said. “We were
on this thing immediately, and we were not dismissive of it.”
Members of the Somali-American community arrived at the scene to look over the small pond where the bodies of Bushra Abdi and Zeynab ìHapsaî Abdalla were found in a car at the site near Hwy. 41 and White Oak Drive, Monday, October 15, 2018 in Chaska, MN. ELIZABETH FLORES – Star Tribune
Chaska
police, who took the lead on the case, declined an interview request but
sent a news release stating that this was an active investigation. But
Robson said neither agency had approached the case as if the women had
run away, as some family members suspected.
Abdi and
Abdalla went missing early Saturday morning after Abdalla left her
Amazon job in Shakopee and drove to pick up Abdi at her workplace, a
Chaska nursing home, at 2:47 a.m.
The
cousins and best friends met up during work breaks and were likely
running to the gas station to get snacks, family members said.
The two
had been working night shifts, family members said, to earn extra money
to buy cars. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, Abdalla, who
was driving her family’s Chevrolet Impala, didn’t have a driver’s
license or a permit. Abdi had her driver’s permit.
At 3:08 a.m., Abdalla called 911 seeking help. It was the last time the women were heard from.
Family
members and community leaders believed police didn’t pick up involvement
until they organized their own search of the area on Sunday afternoon,
meeting up at the Chaska Event Center to search in cars and on foot.
“It felt like we were doing the investigative work,” Rahma Abdalla said.
Multiple
agencies responded to the area Sunday night after tire tracks were
spotted leading into the pond. Rahma Abdalla said community members
discovered the tracks during their search and alerted authorities.
After
that, hundreds of Somali-Americans watched and waited as a car was
discovered deep in the water. Eventually, both women’s bodies were
found. Their identities were confirmed Monday afternoon, and their
deaths were ruled an accidental drowning by the Anoka County Medical
Examiner.
Robson
noted that one initial challenge was that the cellphone that made the
911 call wasn’t registered to either of the women, but to an unrelated
third party, possibly due to the reassignment of the phone number.
Members of the Somali community grieve at the scene. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune
“I think
what you’re hearing from people is their emotion — it’s a terrible
incident,” Robson said. “But to say that the police didn’t take it
seriously ... that’s completely false.”
While the
shock and questions continue to reverberate, family members said they
will lean on each other as they turn toward saying goodbye.
“We’re just mourning,
trying to accept it,” Habsa Abdi said. “These were two people that loved
each other who died together. We’re taking it step by step.”
Services
for the women are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Islamic
Institute of Minnesota, 1351 Riverwood Drive, in Burnsville.