Arlene Day Abbas was born in Indiana and eventually married and went to live in New Orleans with her husband and children. Arlene converted to the Islamic faith at the time of her marriage. In the mid 1980's Arlene and her husband were divorced and Arlene went to New York, leaving her small children with her husband. In 1988 she was hospitalized in New York city for mental health issues and subsequently released to a halfway house in Brooklyn. Arlene left the halfway house in Brooklyn on January 6, 1989 and was never seen again.