FBI Honolulu media relations coordinator and special agent Tom Simon also told Variety that an additional six to seven special agents from Honolulu have arrived on island.
“The FBI headquarters in D.C. has recognized the importance of this investigation and supplemented our budget,” Simon told Variety. He did not provide an amount.
Additional FBI special agents from Honolulu have joined FBI special agents from Guam and the CNMI in the investigation and search.
Special agents, or profilers from the FBI’s Child Abduction Response Deployment Team and 20 FBI special agents and support staff are also on island.
The FBI, assisted by its evidence response team, or crime scene investigators, will continue searching for “any clue” at the Marpi landfill today, Simon said.
“The FBI is committed to devoting whatever resources are needed to cover the outstanding leads. As long as there are investigative leads to cover, we will be on the case,” he added.
About 40 combined federal and local authorities have been searching the landfill since last week.
On Friday, personnel from the CNMI police and fire divisions, the Commonwealth Ports Authority police, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the Division of Environmental Quality, the Commonwealth Health Center and the Emergency Management Office joined in the daylong search.
Simon told Variety that they were on the right location of the landfill, since the garbage they were looking at included newspapers, dated May 24 or 25, the day the school girls were reported missing.
Simon said landfill personnel used earthmovers to excavate the garbage and scatter it on the ground so that investigators could start sifting through it.
Simon said they are using a methodology developed by the FBI when “going through massive garbage to look for evidence.”
Other FBI special agents are out on the field looking for other leads and knocking on doors, he added.
“We’re looking for two things: we find the bad guys to lead us to the victims, or we find the victims to lead us to the bad guys,” Simon told Variety.
“We investigate. We’re not waiting for the phone to ring. Substantial leads are coming in. We hope the community continues calling us,” Simon added.
Simon noted the “outstanding collaboration” between the FBI and the Department of Public Safety.
“Regardless of how things turn out, we will be brothers forever,” Simon said.
Simon said the CNMI is “very lucky” for having fire and police officers and personnel who are “the best.”
On Friday late afternoon, acting Gov. Eloy Inos thanked the volunteers who proceeded to the Kagman Community Center after their search.
Jermain Quitugua, the missing girls’ mother, was also there after her search, and expressed her and her family’s gratitude to the volunteers, the administration and federal authorities.
Jermain’s father, Elbert Quitugua, told Lt. Jess Mesa that their family would cook lunch for the volunteers and authorities on Saturday. The management and staff of Power 99 donated meat, Variety was told.
On that day, volunteers, including the Saipan Hash House Harriers, searched the jungle, cliff lines and beach areas.
The FBI has offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the recovery of the missing school children, or information leading to the successful prosecution of those responsible for the their disappearance.
Crime Stoppers and IT&E donated an additional $2,000 reward while the Saipan City Taxi Association is offering $500.
If you have any information about this case, call 911, the FBI at 322-6934, the girls’ family hotline at 285-4048, or the Crime Stoppers at 234-7272.
