Kimberly Hays '11 and Sophia Roy '10, who had been declared missing after they did not return from a spring break trip to Trinidad, are now safe at a hotel there, Steven Hays, Kimberly's father, said Thursday.
"They're all right," he told The Herald in a telephone interview last night.
Hays did not elaborate on what happened to the two students except to say that he had spoken to Kimberly briefly and that "one of them may have been drugged."
Officials at the FBI and the State Department confirmed earlier Thursday that both agencies were investigating the students' disappearance.
The University had announced in an e-mail to students late Wednesday night that two unnamed students had not returned after break.
Friends of Roy and Hays said Thursday that the two had been expected back from their trip by Monday, the day classes resumed.
But Steven Hays said the two missed their Delta Air Lines flight off the island, and the students' friends told The Herald that, to their knowledge, no one had heard from either of them since they left the country.
An ATM withdrawal was made in Trinidad from Kimberly Hays' bank account on March 30, Steven Hays said, and law enforcement officers had attempted to use security footage to determine who had made the withdrawal. The pair had planned to return before that day, friends said.
Two students who live with Hays said two FBI agents, accompanied by a Department of Public Safety officer, had questioned them and searched Hays' room on Wednesday night.
Steven Hays said his daughter was being interviewed by State Department officials in Trinidad Thursday night.
Nat Rosenzweig '11, who said he is a friend of both students, said he had planned to travel to Trinidad with Hays over spring break but, for personal reasons, decided not to go. Roy went on the trip with Hays instead, he said.
"I don't think there was any specific itinerary for the trip," Rosenzweig said.
The two departed from New York on March 22 after originally planning to fly out the day before, he said.
They planned on "going from hostel to hostel" and "didn't want to be staying in one resort," he said.
Friends expressed relief upon learning that Hays and Roy had been found. "I'm really happy and relieved," said Jennifer Grayson '11, who lives with Hays in a suite on campus.
Previously, friends posted several messages on Hays' and Roy's Facebook walls expressing concern about the students' well-being and asking for information.
"Has ANYONE actually had contact, phone, text or otherwise with Sophia since March 21, 2009," one poster asked Thursday afternoon. "All of her friends help is needed."
An advisory on the State Department's Web site, dated March 4, advises that "incidents of violent crime have been steadily on the rise" in Trinidad and Tobago.
"Violent crimes, including assault, kidnapping for ransom, sexual assault and murder, have involved foreign residents and tourists, including U.S. citizens," according to the site.
Friends of Hays told The Herald she had matriculated with the Class of 2010, but took the spring and fall semesters off in 2008 to travel in Europe.
In an e-mail to students late Thursday night, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn wrote that the University was "extremely grateful for the work done by law enforcement agencies, as well as by members of the Brown community, that led to this outcome."
"We look forward to their safe return to campus," they wrote.
