TEAM HERALD
SANTA CRUZ: The mystery into the murder of 69-year-old Luisa Maria Dias from Goa Velha, who was residing in a rented room at St Agostinho Waddo, Santa Cruz, has left the Old Goa police clueless and baffled as they are yet to get any significant lead into the case.
Confronted with more questions and few answers, the only information that the police have gathered thus far is that the deceased woman had resided in a rented room in Britona prior to shifting to Santa Cruz. Though the police got this information from the house owner, Ana Fernandes, they were unable to trace the address as the house owner was unaware of the same.
What has baffled the police is that the door to the room, which served as an entry and exit point, was latched from the inside while all things inside the room were untouched.
“Further, all the valuables were intact,” said a police official, virtually ruling out the possibility of robbery.
The valuables, which included four gold bangles, one gold chain, two gold rings and two gold earrings, have been handed over to relatives of the deceased.
At this point of time, the police are now left with the only possibility that the accused could have fled by removing the roof tiles after committing the crime. But this theory is also fraught with doubts as nobody in the vicinity had heard any noise of the getaway.
“If the accused had to flee through the roof, he would have had to first replace the tiles to cover his exit point, get down without disturbing any other tile and also without making any noise to avoid alerting anyone in the area,” admitted the police official.
“This unusual escape could only have been executed with near perfect precision,” he added.
The police official was also of the opinion that if anybody had to flee after committing the crime, the door should have been the easiest and the safest option for a getaway.
“Why would anybody want to take the risk of taking the escape route through the roof where there was a distinct possibility of getting detected,” asked the police official.
Police sources also disclosed that the rape angle is also in question as there were no signs of struggle by the victim.
Meanwhile, the Old Goa police recorded the statements of the house owner at the police station and also locked the room to prevent anyone from tampering with the evidence.
It may be recalled that Luisa Maria Dias was found murdered in the rented room, with an autopsy report pointing towards evidence of violent sexual assault.
What was initially assumed to be a case of the unnatural death of Luisa Maria Dias on Sunday morning soon turned into a murder case the next day, when police received a copy of the autopsy report indicating evidence of smothering and blunt force vaginal penetration.
