bloodrayne
08-18-2004, 04:40 AM
Three Set Free In Ritual Murder Of Duluth Woman
Her daughter's last phone call came collect and from half a world away. Carolyn Ahmad had hired a lawyer to divorce her husband, she told her mother, Janice Bushell of Duluth. She was going to some sort of ceremony and would return to her home in Malaysia in time for supper.
Instead, Ahmad was murdered that day, perhaps as part of an occult scheme by people who hoped sacrificing her would inspire winning lottery numbers.
Ahmad, a Duluth native and mother of three children, died in November 1999. Her skeletal remains were found 19 months later.
On Monday, three people charged with her murder were freed by a judicial commissioner in northern Malaysia who ruled that prosecutors didn't have a solid case, the Associated Press reported.
The judge said prosecution witnesses provided conflicting testimony and were unable to establish the date, time and circumstances of Ahmad's death.
There are differing versions about what exactly happened, Bushell said Monday from Duluth, but no doubt about when Ahmad, 35, was killed -- two to three hours after that last phone call.
There was to be "some kind of a ceremony to help her with her marriage. She thought she was going be honored," Bushell said. "She was wearing some kind of outfit."
In one version of her death, someone put a lei around Ahmad's neck and strangled her with a cord hidden in it, Bushell said.
One of those believed involved was Shanmugavala Shanmuga, a Hindu medium who died in an auto accident three years ago, according to Malaysian authorities. His brother led authorities to Ahmad's shallow grave on an oil-palm plantation near an abandoned Hindu temple at Ipoh, Malaysia, about 100 miles north of Kuala Lumpur.
Authorities alleged that Ahmad was killed as part of a ritualistic ceremony, a sacrifice to obtain lottery tips from the Hindu goddess Kali.
Some Malaysians have held ceremonies to offer prayers and sacrifice goats in hopes of receiving lottery inspiration, the Associated Press reported.
Bushell said even her daughter's cell phone number may have been considered lucky. "Somebody took her cell phone," she said, and it kept taking messages "for quite a while."
The AP reported that prosecutors are expected to appeal the judge's freeing of the defendants, Ramasamy Palaniappan, 39; Michael Anthonysamy, 37, and Christopher Earthiam, 31.
They faced death by hanging if convicted.
Ahmad, daughter of Leslie and Janice Bushell, grew up in Duluth, where she attended Central High School. She studied to be a dental hygienist and met her husband, Roslan Ahmad, while they were students at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
They married in 1986 and subsequently settled in his native Malaysia.
Roslan Ahmad, manager of a private hospital in Ipoh, notified authorities three days after his wife went missing. In that last, 10-minute phone call, Janice Bushell said, her daughter talked about the impending divorce and her husband. "He told her he hadn't loved her for 10 years," she said.
Ahmad's family did not attend Monday's hearing, the AP reported.
The Bushells are left with family pictures of Carolyn, flowers from a memorial service they held for her, and memories.
"She was too trusting," her mother said.
Her daughter's last phone call came collect and from half a world away. Carolyn Ahmad had hired a lawyer to divorce her husband, she told her mother, Janice Bushell of Duluth. She was going to some sort of ceremony and would return to her home in Malaysia in time for supper.
Instead, Ahmad was murdered that day, perhaps as part of an occult scheme by people who hoped sacrificing her would inspire winning lottery numbers.
Ahmad, a Duluth native and mother of three children, died in November 1999. Her skeletal remains were found 19 months later.
On Monday, three people charged with her murder were freed by a judicial commissioner in northern Malaysia who ruled that prosecutors didn't have a solid case, the Associated Press reported.
The judge said prosecution witnesses provided conflicting testimony and were unable to establish the date, time and circumstances of Ahmad's death.
There are differing versions about what exactly happened, Bushell said Monday from Duluth, but no doubt about when Ahmad, 35, was killed -- two to three hours after that last phone call.
There was to be "some kind of a ceremony to help her with her marriage. She thought she was going be honored," Bushell said. "She was wearing some kind of outfit."
In one version of her death, someone put a lei around Ahmad's neck and strangled her with a cord hidden in it, Bushell said.
One of those believed involved was Shanmugavala Shanmuga, a Hindu medium who died in an auto accident three years ago, according to Malaysian authorities. His brother led authorities to Ahmad's shallow grave on an oil-palm plantation near an abandoned Hindu temple at Ipoh, Malaysia, about 100 miles north of Kuala Lumpur.
Authorities alleged that Ahmad was killed as part of a ritualistic ceremony, a sacrifice to obtain lottery tips from the Hindu goddess Kali.
Some Malaysians have held ceremonies to offer prayers and sacrifice goats in hopes of receiving lottery inspiration, the Associated Press reported.
Bushell said even her daughter's cell phone number may have been considered lucky. "Somebody took her cell phone," she said, and it kept taking messages "for quite a while."
The AP reported that prosecutors are expected to appeal the judge's freeing of the defendants, Ramasamy Palaniappan, 39; Michael Anthonysamy, 37, and Christopher Earthiam, 31.
They faced death by hanging if convicted.
Ahmad, daughter of Leslie and Janice Bushell, grew up in Duluth, where she attended Central High School. She studied to be a dental hygienist and met her husband, Roslan Ahmad, while they were students at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
They married in 1986 and subsequently settled in his native Malaysia.
Roslan Ahmad, manager of a private hospital in Ipoh, notified authorities three days after his wife went missing. In that last, 10-minute phone call, Janice Bushell said, her daughter talked about the impending divorce and her husband. "He told her he hadn't loved her for 10 years," she said.
Ahmad's family did not attend Monday's hearing, the AP reported.
The Bushells are left with family pictures of Carolyn, flowers from a memorial service they held for her, and memories.
"She was too trusting," her mother said.