Two sisters found dead in an apartment in Sydney lived secretive lives and would not let visitors into their home, a friend has revealed.
Asra and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli’s bodies were found decomposing inside their home in Canterbury on June 7.
Their remains were in such an advanced state of decay that it is proving difficult to establish how they died.
A man who was friends with Asra, 24, said he was never invited inside the sisters’ home and said he did not know where she worked.
“She told me nothing about her life like that … I did not go to her home, I meet her out, you know, not in the house,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
An employee from the sisters’ building management company earlier revealed the women approached them with safety concerns months before their deaths.
“They made a report that they saw a man ’acting weird’ outside the building – standing between two cars and acting strange,” the employee told Daily Mail Australia, noting they could see no malicious intentions.
“We checked the CCTV and saw there was a man there. But that spot is busy. There is a burger shop there and Uber Eats drivers coming and going all the time. He could have been anyone.
“We couldn’t determine why he was there, but he didn’t look like he was doing anything untoward, so there was no need to chase it up further.”
So far, the case has left investigators scratching their heads, with both the bodies found in separate bedrooms, with no signs of injury.
The cause of death for either woman has yet to be revealed and the case is being treated as “suspicious”.
The worker said the women also told their building’s management they had concerns someone was tampering with their food deliveries. Surveillance cameras again found no evidence.
The building’s surveillance footage has since been obtained by police.
In another bizarre twist to the case, The Daily Telegraph reported that the sisters’ family did not want police to release images of them as part of their appeal to the public for help.
A coroner investigating their deaths reportedly overruled the family’s wishes in order for as much information to be gained about the pair as possible.
Investigators previously revealed the family was assisting police with their inquiries and there was “nothing to suggest” that the family were suspects.
It is believed the sisters may have been dead for weeks prior to being discovered, with the alarm only being raised by their landlord after they failed to pay rent.
The Daily Telegraph also revealed the pair’s landlord had filed an eviction notice weeks before their bodies were discovered.
Investigators were unable to say what the women did for work, though both had registered ABNs from 2018 to an address in Wetherill Park.
They arrived in Australia in 2017.
The welfare check in June which led police to discover the women’s bodies was not the first time officers had been called to their home.
Police previously attended the unit in mid-March after a call from the building manager.
“I believe food had been left out in the common areas and he contacted police as he was concerned for their welfare,” Ms Allcroft said.
Ms Allcroft said at the time the girls “appeared to be fine” and “no issues” were raised during that visit, with no further action taken by police.
Daily Mail Australia reported that a source claimed the women were “timid” during the welfare check and at first refused to let police enter the apartment.
The source claimed when they let the officers inside the women huddled together in a far corner of the unit while police asked them questions about their wellbeing.
“They were stand-offish and didn’t really want to talk,” the source said.
“Something felt off, but they said they were OK. What more could anyone do?”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
