Francheska Sugel Martinez

• Missing Since 06/09/2000
• Missing From Paterson, New Jersey
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Hispanic
• Date of Birth 06/10/1987 (37)
• Age 12 years old
• Height and Weight 4'5 - 4'7, 110 - 120 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A short blue denim miniskirt and a pink sleeveless blouse.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Francheska had braces on her teeth when she was last seen. Some agencies refer to her as Francheska Martinez-Gissat. She has a mole on her right breast and a discoloration on her left arm. Francheska is of Puerto Rican descent.

Details of Disappearance

Francheska ran away from her Paterson, New Jersey home on June 9, 2000, the day before her thirteenth birthday. Her twin sister, Misheila, stated they were at 17th Avenue and east 22nd Street when Francheska said she was going to the store.

When the girls' stepfather came to the store a few minutes later, he found out Francheska had never arrived there. At 1:30 p.m., Francheska called home and spoke to Misheila, saying she was with friends at the Great Falls on the Passaic River in Paterson. She asked Misheila not to tell anyone, then hung up. She has never been heard from again.

Francheska told friends she was interested on attending the Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan, New York on June 11, but it's unclear whether she ever arrived there. Friends reported she was dating a 22-year-old man her family didn't know. If this was true, Francheska's boyfriend could have potentially faced serious legal consequences for statutory rape.

A few days after her disappearance, the clothes Francheska had been wearing on the day she vanished, untorn but minus the shoes, were found in a supermarket bag in the driveway outside her mother's house.

On July 22, six weeks after her twin sister disappeared, Misheila also vanished. She left a mother for her mother, reproaching her for not loving their stepfather and for alleged infidelity in her marriage; the letter said she and Francheska were unhappy at home. The girls' mother says she was not having an affair with anyone at the time.

It's possible twins left of their own accord and may be traveling together, possibly in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn or the Bronx. There is also speculation that they were victims of human trafficking.

Another theory is the girls' stepfather, Hipolito Miguel Corniel, was involved. A few months after Francheska and Misheila disappeared, Corniel killed a young woman. He served a seventeen-year sentence for the crime and was released in 2017. The girls' brother believes one of his sisters was pregnant with Corniel's child in 2000, but there is no evidence to support this theory.

Misheila and Francheska's disappearances remain unsolved. Many agencies classify them as runaways.