The body of Trinidadian Hemattie Roopdial, who had been missing since Friday, was found bundled in a bag and stashed inside a closet in her Toronto, Canada apartment, on Monday night.
News Source: Trinidad Guardian
She had been strangled.
Roopdial, 25, was the niece of Chaguanas MP Manohar Ramsaran.
The Chaguanas MP said he became deeply worried when he heard the couple had disappeared, but had hoped things would turn out for the best.
The Roopdials were reported missing when they disappeared after collecting tickets to Trinidad at a travel agency in Mississauga on Friday.
Seema Ramsaran, Roopdial?s sister, was due to travel to Trinidad with her sister?s son, four, and five-year-old daughter yesterday for a vacation.
Ramsaran said Roopdial, who was the daughter of his brother Ganesh and sister-in-law Seeta, lived a stone?s throw away from his Munroe Road, Cunupia, home before she left Trinidad seven years ago.
Ramsaran said his niece actually returned to Trinidad to get married.
Ramsaran said he was at the UNC?s Monday night meeting at Fyzabad when his wife, Amina, telephoned him around midnight to deliver the bad news.
He said he was mortified to learn his niece was discovered in a closet inside a bag.
Ramsaran said from the reports he got, no blood was found splattered on or around the body.
Ramsaran said Roopdial?s husband was still missing and the couple?s car was discovered abandoned by a lake.
Roopdial?s parents flew out of the country on separate flights on Monday and early yesterday morning.
Ramsaran said it was the first time any of his relatives had suffered a violent death.
This is the second violent death involving a relative of a UNC member.
Naparima MP Nizam Baksh?s son Ashmead was also killed recently. His murder has sparked a series of protests against crime.
Yesterday, Ramsaran vowed to continue his fight against crime in T&T.
?I am continuing my fight against crime,? he said.
?The death of Hemattie has shocked me and has shocked the entire family. My relatives are usually people who would die of old age and now that a young member has died, it?s truly tragic.?
The Toronto Star yesterday reported that Roopdial?s husband was now a prime suspect in the murder.
The paper reported a tale of a marriage gone sour and of Toronto police constantly having to visit the couple?s home to quell domestic disputes.
According to the report, Hemattie had planned to send her two young children and her sister to T&T while she was filing for divorce.
The couple?s 1992 red Chevrolet Cavalier was found Saturday morning, abandoned in a park in Brampton, west of Toronto.
Dillraj?s brother, Ramraj, 40, told the paper Hemattie had a restraining order taken out on her husband two years ago, but that the couple did not seem to be having any problems lately.
Toronto police gave few details about the discovery of the body, saying only that a family member discovered the decomposing remains on Monday night, hidden in the apartment.
Speaking to Canadian journalists yesterday, Staff Inspector Jeff McGuire, of the Toronto Police, urged anyone knowing of the victim?s husband?s whereabouts to come forward.
?I would caution that if anyone is doing anything to assist this person in not coming forward, or assisting him in fleeing the country or harbouring him, you will be dealt with according to the criminal code,? McGuire said. Ramsaran said no funeral arrangements have yet been made.
