Missing Navy woman
By Rod Ohira
found, arrested
Star-BulletinA Navy woman stationed at Pearl Harbor who had been missing for nearly two months was arrested Aug. 22 by police in Arlington, Texas.
Petty Officer Melody Rayel, 28, is currently in San Diego, where she is being questioned by Transient Personnel Unit investigators about her unauthorized absence, said Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Rod Gibbons.
The investigation will determine what action the Navy will take against Rayel.
Darlene Haughton, the sailor's mother, told the Star-Bulletin yesterday that her daughter is having "some mental difficulties."
"She's ill but alive," said Haughton, who added that her daughter is being examined by a psychiatrists. "We've talked only briefly, but her behavior is not like her. It's not anger -- more like distant.
"We're trying to figure out why she left and what's wrong. I'm sure some of it is stress-related to the job, but her personal life's probably in the toilet, too."
Rayel, honored as her staff command's Sailor of the Year in 1996, has been in the Navy for eight years. She was a purchasing clerk for the 3rd Naval Construction Brigade at Pearl Harbor when she disappeared July 1.
Rayel was last seen in Hawaii at a Wahiawa check-cashing establishment on July 11.
"They tracked her through her Social Security number," Haughton said.
"When I left the islands (last month), I thought my daughter was dead. We're grateful to God for giving her back to us."
