Police say the case against Rupchand Simboo came together after separate discoveries in Springfield Gardens and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — A 75-year-old Queens man was charged Wednesday with murder after police said they tied the death of his wife, Salisha Ali, 34, to human remains found in two parts of the borough months apart, including a discovery last week in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
Authorities say the case now centers on whether Rupchand Simboo killed Ali in July 2025, reported her missing the same day, and then tried to hide what happened. The arrest followed a long investigation that began when sanitation workers found suspected human remains in a garbage bag near JFK Airport in September and gained new urgency after more remains were recovered in March.
Police said Ali was last seen alive on July 13, 2025, during a FaceTime call with a relative. Later that day, investigators say, Simboo filed a missing-person report. At the time, the case appeared to be a disappearance. That changed on Sept. 22, when sanitation workers collecting trash near 149th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard in Springfield Gardens found remains inside a garbage bag. The medical examiner later identified them as Ali’s. By Jan. 31, authorities had ruled her death a homicide. The investigation turned again on the night of March 5, when additional remains were found near Cross Bay Boulevard in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Police arrested Simboo on the morning of March 11 at about 10:25 a.m. at his South Ozone Park home.
Simboo was charged with murder, obstructing governmental administration and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. Police have said Ali’s remains were found in separate locations and that not all of her body has been recovered. Investigators have said arms and legs were still missing. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said, in remarks reported by local outlets, that the remains showed signs of dismemberment with a straight-edge instrument used on soft tissue and a saw used on bone. Authorities have not publicly said where Ali was killed, what prosecutors believe the motive was, or whether Simboo has retained a lawyer. They have also not publicly explained how the remains recovered in Jamaica Bay ended up there, though the later discovery appears to have helped close a key gap in the case.
The relationship between Ali and Simboo has become part of the public record as the case has unfolded. Local reports said the two met in 2023 while Ali was living in Trinidad. She moved to Queens in 2024, and the two married that year. ABC7 reported that police sources said Simboo was also Ali’s immigration sponsor. Documented previously reported that Ali had migrated from Trinidad in June 2024, was working in a restaurant in Queens and was training to become a home health aide. The same report said she kept in close contact with her mother and three daughters in Trinidad. After communication stopped, relatives grew worried and tried to retrace her steps. When her torso was identified months after the first discovery, family fears deepened. The March recovery in Jamaica Bay, local reports said, confirmed those fears.
The legal case is now moving from recovery and identification to prosecution. Police announced the arrest on March 11, but investigators have said they are still processing evidence connected to the homicide. Publicly known milestones include the July 13 missing-person report, the Sept. 22 recovery of remains near Springfield Gardens, the Jan. 31 homicide ruling and the March 5 recovery in Jamaica Bay. What comes next is likely to include arraignment, the filing of detailed court papers and further forensic review. Prosecutors may also seek to show how the missing-person report fits into their timeline. For now, key unanswered questions remain: where Ali was killed, whether anyone helped dispose of the remains, and what additional forensic evidence investigators recovered from the home or other locations.
Neighbors told local television reporters they were shaken to learn the accusations involved a home across the street. One neighbor, Hasiena Dwarika, said it was “definitely eerie” to realize a person facing such allegations had been living nearby while families were raising children in the area. Another neighbor offered sympathy to Ali’s relatives. ABC7 also reported that one of Simboo’s relatives appeared at the house after the arrest and said the family had many questions of its own. The public picture that has emerged is one of an ordinary-looking block suddenly tied to a homicide investigation that stretched from a neighborhood home to marshland near JFK and then to a wildlife refuge miles away.
The case stood Wednesday night at the charging stage, with police saying the investigation remained active and more evidence work was underway after the March 11 arrest.
Author note: Last updated March 12, 2026.