TAHOLAH, Wash. — Two middle school-aged girls, last seen on the Quinault Indian Nation more than 44 years ago, were long thought to be runaways.
Recently, new information indicates a crime may have been committed and new federal resources have been assigned to the case.
Cousins, Elsie Eldora Luscier, 13, and Carlota Maria Sanchez, 12, were last seen on the Quinault Indian Nation in 1979. Charmaine Sanchez is Carlota’s younger sister and says the two girls were thought to have gone to visit a nearby relative in Neah Bay – when they did not return, they were presumed to be runaways.
“I knew that she wasn’t there, and I knew that they weren’t believing me because I was just a punk 10-year-old kid,” Sanchez said.
Since there was initially no suspicion of a crime, an official search by law enforcement did not start for two weeks after the girls were reported missing.
The girls were presumed to be runaways and an official search did not start for two weeks.
“They should have listened to me. They should have listened. Because that’s two weeks that went by, and we could have had it back then,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez says her sister and cousin had planned to visit a family friend in Neah Bay. She says their mother reluctantly agreed to let them go. The girls left and never came home.
Lt. Ron Belcher of the Quinault Nation Police Department took over the case when he started at the department 14 years ago.
“When I read the case file from the Seattle Police Department, it was getting lumped into other cases up there and not from here – it was like it was overlooked, overshadowed like it didn’t mean anything and to me, that hits hard because these are two young girls that went missing from a reservation and it felt like, reading over the cases, that nobody cared,” Belcher said.
Four decades after their disappearance, new leads and new technology have garnered advances in the case. However, investigators won’t elaborate on the specific details. But in what is seen as an encouraging move to the family, last year the FBI opened its own investigation – something the bureau would only do if they believed a crime was committed.”
FBI Special Agent Clint Barefoot was assigned the case in 2023.
“We believe that there are some folks in this community that have some information as far as what’s going on in this case and they may be haunted by it and these folks may not have long left to find some peace before they leave this world,” Barefoot said.
The FBI is working alongside the Quinault Nation Tribal Police and Washington State Patrol and maintains this is not a cold case.
“I feel like I have gotten to know them a little bit. I feel like I do have a connection to them, and like so many others, I think it’s unique, unlikely, and profound. I’ll do whatever I can to see that some answers get found in this case,” Barefoot said.
By all accounts, Elsie and Carlota had a tough childhood – as testament to this, the FBI worked to touch up this grainy picture of Elise – the only one investigator had to work with. Two girls whose disappearance to this day remains a mystery, one Charmaine Sanchez is hopeful she’ll see solved.
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