- 7 hours ago
It's every parent's worst nightmare, we take you beyond the headlines speaking with a mother living this horrific reality.
Paula Sequea's daughter, Salisha Ali, was brutally murdered and dismembered in New York — a crime that has shocked communities both abroad and here at home.
As investigators piece together what happened, her family is left grappling with unimaginable grief and searching for answers.
Paula Sequea's daughter, Salisha Ali, was brutally murdered and dismembered in New York — a crime that has shocked communities both abroad and here at home.
As investigators piece together what happened, her family is left grappling with unimaginable grief and searching for answers.
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NewsTranscript
00:14it's every parent's worst nightmare tonight we take you beyond the headlines speaking with
00:20a mother living this horrific reality paula sakia's daughter salisha ali was brutally
00:26murdered and dismembered in new york it's a crime that has shocked communities both abroad and here
00:33at home as investigators piece together what happened her family is left grappling with
00:38unimaginable grief and searching for answers we're joined live by salisha's mother who's
00:44speaking out about her daughter's life the devastating loss and her call for justice
00:51mr care let me thank you so much for agreeing to join us tonight i know it's incredibly difficult
00:57for you and of course for your family but if we could start off with telling us a little bit
01:03about
01:03salisha okay salisha she was she was born on the 23rd of november at arima hospital when she was born
01:16she
01:17like cry all night she was she was just she used to cry a lot as a baby i can
01:24remember that and um
01:26growing up she went to the mother nervous school and then she passed the common entrance exam she went to
01:34qualitative school of education and at age 16 she started working at royal castle
01:45she she just wanted to work so she stood like a little evening like two days for the week she
01:51just
01:51wanted to experience working so at that age at that age she started to work and earn her own
02:02income yeah and since then since starting off her first job how has she progressed she was doing well
02:10and after that when she turned 18 she went she got her driver's license then she started to work
02:17work at supermarkets then she went and she did a geriatric course she always doing courses she did a
02:24computer course and then she went into the um security okay so that was her last that was her last
02:33job
02:33here here in trinidad and uh about her kids tell us about well she has three daughters shania naomi and
02:41chanice oh they are very beautiful children and so loving they're only hug me up all the time they're ages
02:50how
02:51old they are shania is 14 chanice is 10 naomi is 13 so 14 10 and 13 yeah okay what
03:04would you want the
03:05world to know about salicia beyond this tragedy i want them to remember her as a she was a very
03:14loving
03:15family oriented very caring person everybody in the village couldn't get that contested out
03:23her brothers miss her a lot especially jordan so while she was here you all would lived in the same
03:29family home yeah well she um when she met um shania the kid's father she moved out she was renting
03:37and
03:38you know she went and she rented a few places and after that she came back home i always say
03:45i want
03:45them to be near me so yes so she was living downstairs by me yeah how did she meet her
03:54alleged killer the 75
03:57year old rupchan simbu and what was their relationship like is she i didn't know exactly how they met but
04:05from what i heard they met at a christmas party okay yeah in trinidad yeah at a christmas party
04:17that's it that's all i know about it and how did she tell you mom i'm going
04:23how was that conversation well she told me that um she said she told me she met this guy and
04:30he told
04:31her that um she can come to the states and he would help out to get her papers and it
04:39will be good for
04:40the kids he was always focusing that you know come you'll help your kids you know we'll get a better
04:45life over there trinidad has too much crime and i guess she she went with that so she was in
04:53search
04:54for a better life i wouldn't say she was in search for a better life because she had a good
05:00life here
05:01she had everything here but um i think she just wanted a different experience yeah
05:07what do you think made her trust this guy i mean she did get married to him abroad yes yeah
05:15but we didn't know that she got married it's later on then we when i keep questioning her then she
05:21said
05:21she got married yeah and how did she explain that to you because i read in one of the foreign
05:28newspapers
05:28that you didn't approve yeah i didn't know well she did already married but i didn't approve
05:33of her going there in the first place because when she went and she got a visa because she had
05:38a little
05:39business she had a um she used to sell like online like clothes she used to order and sell she
05:45used to
05:46go like curacao and stuff and she would come back with suitcase like underwear and thing and she would sell
05:53and so she had everything she had the security and she had that she had her car she had a
05:58home she had her
06:00family but so when she was leaving to go she said she was going to the states so i said
06:08girl i don't
06:10think you should go you know because you have everything here she said she does want to you know
06:17experience the states because she never she never traveled to the states so she just wanted to think
06:22she hear this and she hear you know it's better and she and all was saying you know trinidad
06:26have too much crime she don't want the girls growing up in that so but you know she's 34 years
06:32so i could only talk to her so much yes i can't you know force her to stay so she
06:37said she was going on
06:39so he was 75 years old he's from trinidad yes he's from trinidad okay because i think that that part
06:46was missed somewhere in the headlines so he would have visited she met him at this christmas party decided
06:52to go up and that was in 2022 yes 2022 december and she got married to him she um she
07:01went and she
07:04did her visa right she went under the visa she went and got a visa that was in 2023 and
07:10she got through
07:11the visa and in june of 2023 she went up to new york and she was working at her when
07:19she went up there
07:19she got work the second day she was there she got work at a roti shop so she stayed there
07:23like five
07:24months and she came back home in december and then she stayed here like eight months and june month
07:32the first of june never forget that day 2024 she went back up and she said she i said well
07:39if you're
07:39going back up just stay fine a few months and come back home she said okay so she left
07:46first of june 2024 and then you know the months going she wasn't coming home so i said why you
07:53not how you're not coming home and then she said well look i got my work permits i said how
07:58you come
07:58how you get a work permit and she said well she you know she didn't really answer that but she
08:04then she
08:04said she would send me everything on whatsapp so she said she got a new york idk i said but
08:09you don't
08:10just get those things just so and then she came out and she said she got married and she told
08:14you
08:15to the same gentleman yes to the same person yeah and your response at that time and i told her
08:20i said
08:21how can you get married to him because he's 74 years he could be your grandfather and then she said
08:27no
08:27it's not like that it's just an arrangement so there was some understanding yes they had an understanding yes
08:34according to her yes according to her what she told you and of course one year later just about one
08:42year later you just couldn't reach her yes in july the 13th of july was the last we heard from
08:50her
08:51and you went to visit her before that yes i went up to new york in february the 25th i
08:59went to spend like
09:00the carnival yes i was up there on the 25th and i spent two weeks up there we're going to
09:05take a
09:06short break miss sakia and when we get back we'd like you to tell us about that last meeting with
09:11your daughter we're going to go to a short break we'll be right back
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10:41welcome back to beyond the headlines mr kia just before we went to the break you did mention to us
10:46you
10:46last met your daughter in february of last year yeah what was that meeting like you met her husband
10:53what was the your impression of him okay well when i got there she well she picked me up at
11:00the airport
11:00we went home well he was not at home when we reached it so she said you want to take
11:06a rest i said no
11:07i think i'm here to rest that's that's why exploring so we went down to liberty avenue and spent the
11:14whole
11:14afternoon got back he was home it was a normal a normal living arrangement she had her own room
11:23i me and her was in one room he was in the other room and then he has like three
11:29bedrooms
11:29yeah the other guy rent in there so you have a guy in the room she in one room he's
11:34in one room
11:35he just normal was there anything different about him no the way he spoke to her he
11:46well they hardly spoke to tell the truth yeah they hardly spoke but when they do speak you know you
11:52see them you know what you cooking today and she say well you know we can we spend all the
11:58outside so
11:58she said we'll order pizza or something so they did order pizza they were like normal normal yeah
12:05and when and did you realize that something was wrong well most of the time like when we out and
12:14you know he called her phone she would not and she don't answer he would call me and he would
12:19say um
12:20she's not answering her phone so i'd say well we're busy and then he said when she come back home
12:26you'll just threaten to put our clothes outside most of the time so once she don't answer the phone
12:31you say i'm gonna put your clothes outside i'm gonna divorce you you know i'm gonna file for divorce
12:35in the morning he used to be like that yeah and july 13th that was the last time you spoke
12:41to her
12:41yes that was the last time and attempts to reach her tell us about that experience okay well she
12:49she was video chatting she spoke to me earlier but she was video chatting with her cousin
12:55amanda ali and um until about 10 o'clock sunday night this was the sunday night she spoke to her
13:05about
13:0510 o'clock and then she told amanda she was going in her bed and amanda said okay well i'm
13:12going in my
13:12bed too and that was it after that monday morning we try and calling her and she her phone amanda
13:21called
13:21her phone first six o'clock monday morning and the phone was going straight the phone rang and somebody
13:27was cutting it off and then i called her it went straight to voicemail everybody who attempted to
13:34call her that day it went straight to voicemail tuesday we didn't we didn't think anyone with anything
13:39of it monday tuesday morning we call in going straight to voicemail we said no something wrong
13:45she wouldn't she need her phone to clock in and clock out of work so i said no something wrong
13:51so
13:51i called amanda i said can you give me um sham number please because i never took his number because
13:58i never really wanted to have anything to do with him so i never took his number so i called
14:02amanda and
14:03i said can you give me sham number please and she she gave me sham number so i called him
14:08i said um
14:09sham number not getting on to salisha since yesterday have you seen her i heard she was by
14:15you sunday night he said yeah she was by me and then um he said she got a call 11
14:22o'clock at night
14:24and she but she went in the washroom and she take the call when she came back out she pack
14:29a bag of
14:29clothes and she said she's going to work and i said how she's going to going to work at 11
14:35o'clock
14:35he said she said she called her uber said did you see the car she took he said no i
14:41said did you
14:41walk out the door he said no he said he was in his bed yeah and um but you asked
14:49him she was by
14:50you was was she not living there still no she was not living there she didn't move out about two
14:55months before why she said she just said she just can't take it no more because every time you just
15:03you know always putting out her clothes packing her clothes in box and putting it off and she said
15:07she couldn't take that anymore felt that run and then they had little arguments and stuff
15:13so when did you when you contacted the nypd what happened from there okay well
15:22this is it for the whole week when we couldn't get her tuesday he said probably she forgot her charger
15:29the charger home so he said probably we'll get onto her like wednesday so wednesday came we didn't get
15:36on time then he said well she probably on a living so he said sure sure sure friday all they
15:42will get
15:42she will come home friday because she usually come by him friday and she has a meal to collect so
15:46i said
15:47okay friday came we didn't hear from her saturday morning i called her i said sean where's my daughter
15:53her he said um she didn't come he don't know where she is i said you didn't see her all
16:00week you didn't
16:00make a report he said no because she will come he said she will come she would show up so
16:06i said no
16:07something wrong so i called him one of our friends in queens and i told him i said can you
16:12call the police
16:14for me please and send them over and he did call them and in 10 minutes they were by his
16:21house and they
16:22searched and they didn't find her they did a wellness check and they didn't find her and then
16:27um we didn't get from a holy saturday sunday i sent an email to the train on the bagel embassy
16:34and miss camicia borrell she sent me her number and she said call me and i called her and she
16:43went into
16:45the precinct closest to her and she made the report and she filed a missing person report
16:52and she made that make sure that they had a a missing person file because they didn't have that
16:57because when i called the precinct on sunday they didn't want to take the call to say they can't
17:02take a call from trinidad right mrs sikia mrs sikia i hate to cut you off we only have a
17:08couple more
17:09minutes remaining for this interview the long and short of it is that your daughter's torso was found
17:15yeah and last week what did they find they finally her head her arms and her legs so you would
17:23have
17:23done a cremation on her torso yes what is the next step now the next step the medical examiners have
17:31to
17:31call me to come and get the rest of her remains yes so you have to head back to new
17:37york yes and you
17:38all are raising funds we're going to share with you the account information it's with citizens bank
17:45the arima branch and you can of course help this family to retrieve the remains
17:50of salisha if you had one thing to say to salisha what would you say to her
17:58i would tell her
18:01we love her i'll tell her don't be so hard next
18:06hard why you say that if she was hard because we were telling her don't go
18:11and she she's a strong person she make up her own mind
18:15so even though you tell her something she would do whatever she wants to do this was the end you
18:20imagined i never told this would happen never thought that never never never thought this would have
18:27happened to her and what would you advise young women and i would advise them not to rush into anything
18:38and be careful of the people they let into their lives what's next for her daughters
18:52well she was their main support so they come like ours ours now so we have to support them till
19:01they
19:01do they understand what happened yes they understand they do understand it's hard for them
19:10up to this evening i was by them when they were talking about all right sure
19:14and every time they talk about her oh it breaks my heart because i know she won't be here to
19:20see them
19:20grow up and how nice they are growing up really nice children
19:26well secure let me thank you so much for you know sharing with us and speaking to the young women
19:32out there and giving them advice yeah be careful who you trust be careful who you let into your life
19:40this is of course the reality that this mother is living every day we took you beyond the headlines more
19:48news up next
19:52i'm coming in
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