Rupinder Goraya 34, Fort Myers FL missing since 10/19/07

[klaasend]

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/10819391.html

Fort Myers woman missing, husband leaves country
By WINK News

Story Created: Oct 26, 2007 at 12:58 PM EDT

Story Updated: Oct 26, 2007 at 6:13 PM EDT

Fort Myers, Fla. - The search is on for a Fort Myers woman who has been missing for at least a week. 34-year-old Rupinder Goraya was last seen on October 19th. A worried friend called Fort Myers Police, saying she is suspicious because Goraya's husband and son are traveling to India right now.

Goraya worked as a registered nurse at Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center, but she was recently on leave so she could recover from surgery.

Friends have not been able to contact her, and police are concerned because her husband, Kultar, has flown to India with the couple's 3-year-old son.

"It causes concern for us. We're treating it as a missing person with suspicious circumstances," said Jeff Nibarger with the Fort Myers Police.

Police searched Goraya's car and her home at the Montego Bay Apartments, but found nothing incriminating. Police also say this isn't the first time they have been to the couple's apartment. They responded to a call last May, and ended up arresting Kultar for putting his hands around his wife's neck. He did spend the night in jail, and had received counseling for anger management issues.

Investigators say Goraya's friends do not believe she would move away without her child.

""It seems out of character for her. So that is why we want to look at all the possibilities here," said Nibarger.

Immigration Officials have confirmed that Kultar left the country.

If you have seen Goraya, contact Fort Myers Police at 344-4155

[klaasend]

http://www.fox4now.com/global/story.asp?s=7269865



Fort Myers
Missing Fort Myers Woman

Oct 26, 2007 07:17 AM PDT

 
   The Fort Myers Police Department is asking for help in finding a missing endangered adult.  Police have been investigating the disappearance of Rupinder Goraya since October 19th after receiving a call from a friend who was concerned about her well-being.

  Goraya has a medical condition which requires her to take medication on a daily basis. Family and friends say her disappearance is out of character and she would not have left her son featured in the picture provided.

   Police believe Goraya's disappearance is suspicious. She is originally from India and resides in Fort Myers with her husband and son.  There is one prior incident of domestic violence.  The husband is currently in India with their son.

   Anyone with information is asked to call FMPD at 334-4155 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS

[MumInOhio]

Lake yields no clues about missing FM nurse
By Denes Husty III
dhusty@news-press.com
Originally posted on November 10, 2007


 Lee County sheriff's dive team members searched a Fort Myers lake Friday but failed to find any clues that might lead them to a missing nurse.

The case involves Rupinder Goraya, 33, a nurse at Southwest Regional Medical Center who vanished in early October.

Police consider her disappearance suspicious and have listed her as an endangered adult who is supposed to be taking daily prescription medications, said Fort Myers police spokeswoman Shelly Flynn.

At the request of city police, sheriff's dive team members searched a lake at the Montego Bay Apartments on Colonial Boulevard where Goraya lived with her husband, Kultar S. Goraya, 33, and their son, Sam, 3.

Divers after two hours found no clues in connection with the case, said sheriff's Maj. Jeff Taylor.

"We're just making sure that we don't miss anything," said police Detective Michelle Rand.

She said police last week also searched woods in the neighborhood but found no clues.

Kultar Goraya was charged by police in May with domestic battery. In August, the couple started living together again, detectives said.

Rand said police have not been able to contact the nurse's husband — who is now believed to be back in India with his son — following her disappearance, but they have talked to her relatives in India.

[MumInOhio]

Police want national help to find missing Indian woman
By Justin Herndon, WINK News
Story Created: Nov 9, 2007 at 6:42 PM EST

Story Updated: Nov 9, 2007 at 6:50 PM EST

Fort Myers, Fla. - Fort Myers police are putting out an appeal to Indian communities across the nation in hopes of finding a missing woman.

That's their next step since an underwater search came up empty.

Lee Sheriff's office divers took the search for a missing woman underwater.

Divers used a line search - as you can see the divers follow a rope and search until they reach each other.

It took a little more than an hour to search this apartment complex pond.

Nothing found so the search moves on... and fort myers police detectives get anxious.

Detective Michelle Rand said, "hopefully, get the word out - maybe somebody has seen her somewhere. Obviously, we're concerned about her safety and well-being. so we just want to locate her."

Rupinder Goraya disappeared in early October - her husband and child went back to their native India and haven't been in touch with authorities.

Kultar Goraya was previously arrested in a domestic violence case for allegedly choking his wife and throwing a vase at her.

Police aren't saying he's the reason she's missing now but they do want to talk with anyone who can help and part of their plea is going national.

Detective Michelle Rand said, "the Indian community is very large so we're hoping by giving it the national exposure. If, indeed, she did decide she wanted to leave - hopefully, somewhere else in another state - somebody else might be able to tell us that they've seen her."

Rupinder Goraya was on a leave of absence from her hospital duties after having surgery.

Police say if the husband does turn up as a suspect, India does have an extradition treaty with the United States so he could be brought back to answer questions.

Contact Fort Myers police with any information at (239) 344-4155 or by email to: tipline@fmpolice.com

[Nut44x4]

Police search lake for clues in mom's disappearance
WBBH-TV
FORT MYERS: Authorities searched a lake at an apartment complex in Fort Myers for clues in the disappearance of a mother.

Fort Myers Police, with the help of the Lee County Sheriff's Office dive team, searched at the Montego Bay Apartments on Colonial Boulevard. That is where 34-year-old Rupinder Goraya lived with her son and husband.

Authorities say they had no specific information that would lead them to the lake.

"What we're trying to do is ensure that we are covering all of our bases at this point in time," said Detective Michelle Rand, who works for the Fort Myers Police Department.

The search for Goraya began after a friend who was concerned about her safety called police several weeks ago.

Investigators think she has been missing since early October and they consider her disappearance "suspicious."

"This is uncharacteristic of her. She's very meticulous in keeping with her appointments. We just want to find her safe and be able to give her family the good news that we have located her and she's fine," said Detective Rand.

Her husband, Kultar Singh Goraya, and the couple's young child have been in India since the search for Rupinder began.

During Friday's search divers battled poor visibility, but covered every inch of the lake. In they end, all they found was an old pellet gun.

There is one previous incident of domestic violence involving Goraya and her husband. Back in May Kultar was arrested after allegedly choking his wife and threatening to kill her. Police say Rupinder did have marks on her neck after the incident.

Police say they have been working with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI since Rupinder's disappearance was reported to track down Kultar and the couple's son in India.

They believe they may be in the Punjab area.

http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/21713936/

[MuffyBee]

Dec 3, 7:42 AM EST

Husband Suspect in Wife's Disappearance

By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press Writer
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MISSING_WOMAN?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
 FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Kultar Goraya is admittedly nervous - and for good reason. His wife, Rupinder, disappeared two months ago. Police say he is the only "person of interest" and they can't get a single straight story out of him.

Soon after Rupinder vanished, he abandoned his job and took their handicapped 3-year-old son Sam back to their native India, then abruptly returned to Florida with the boy when relatives demanded to know what happened to his wife.

During a recent interview in his sparsely furnished apartment, he sat on the couch with his arms crossed, hands tightly tucked under his armpits, rocking back and forth. He occasionally chewed his cuticles and alternated his stare from ceiling to floor. He guzzled water. He proclaimed his innocence.

"I love too much my wife," said Kultar, 33. "Many things I am thinking ... I don't know why she is doing this. She has not called me."

He said Rupinder was having affairs with two men. Maybe she ran off with a lover, he speculated. Maybe she is with friends. However, he couldn't provide credible names for people he said she knew well. He supplied a telephone number for one woman, but she said she didn't know Rupinder.

Fort Myers police cite similar changes in Kultar's stories. They said they have found no evidence of another man. Friends and relatives say that was not Rupinder's character, and she wouldn't have run off. Personal items were found in her apartment that she wouldn't have left behind and or would she have left her son, they say.

Detectives say that while Kultar's stories changed too much during their two interviews with him to be believable, they don't have enough grounds to arrest him.

"There's no one piece of physical evidence that we have right now that she has met with foul play," Detective Jeff Nibarger said. "However, all things considered, it certainly looks suspicious."

Kultar, Rupinder and Sam moved to Florida last year from India's Punjab state. Rupinder, 34, was participating in a nursing exchange program, but had been on leave from Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center to recover from a hysterectomy performed after a cancer diagnosis. Kultar worked as a convenience store clerk.

Their five-year marriage was arranged and they never seemed happy, said Rupinder's aunt, Parneet Othee, who lives in Virginia.

In May, Kultar was arrested for allegedly choking his wife in a drunken rage. Police said he threatened to kill her, but the couple later reconciled. He admits his relationship with his wife was shaky.

Kultar said he last saw her on Oct. 2. He had been napping when she came in and "kissed my forehead" and said she was going to Orlando to catch a flight to New York to visit a hospital where she hoped to work.

Her relatives don't buy the New York story, saying she had no desire to leave a job she liked in Florida.

Her cell phone calls and credit card activity all go cold after that day, detectives said. She missed a doctor's appointment.

Kultar never reported his wife missing, authorities said, but her hospital colleagues did on Oct. 19, more than two weeks after he says she left.

Adding to suspicions, four days before her colleagues filed that report, Kultar made what police say was a hastily planned trip back to India with his son.

"If your wife was missing, would you leave the country?" Nibarger asked.

He soon returned. Othee said he wasn't welcomed by his relatives in India, who were angry that he couldn't explain what happened to his wife.

In the interview, Kultar rambles, sometimes incoherently, and switches thoughts mid-sentence.

"My wife is scared," he told the AP. But he couldn't explain what may have frightened her.

Asked about his domestic abuse arrest, Kultar first said: "I slapped my wife only one time."

Prodded, he backtracked and said he never hit her.

"Verbal only," he said, then changed the topic.

"She is playing with me," he snapped. "When she comes back, I want a divorce ... Everybody is saying to me 'Where is Rupinder? Where is Rupinder?'

"I don't know," he said.

Nicole Cox, 21, who lives in an apartment below the Gorayas, said something never seemed right with the couple. Rupinder was outgoing and friendly, "a sweet lady," while Kultar seemed distant and unpredictable.

"He just seemed to be one of those people who could change his personality in a split second," Cox said.

She said Rupinder would never have left without her son. "She was so kind and so sweet and so caring with Sam. If she wanted to leave, she would have taken him," Cox said.

Rupinder's aunt is worried. "Because of the previous circumstance when he choked her, that makes me fear now," Othee said.

Detectives also fear the worst.

"The circumstances surrounding her disappearance just aren't normal. It's just that in this instance, things are leading us to believe she may not be OK," Sgt. Jennifer Soto said.

[Nut44x4]

Missing Fort Myers woman to be featured on 'Without a Trace'
news-press.com • April 3, 2008

Tonight the CBS television show “Without a Trace” will feature a missing Fort Myers woman, according to the Fort Myers Police Department.

Rupinder Goraya, 34, 2721 Colonial Boulevard #21-202, disappeared nearly six months ago.

On Oct. 19, 2007, the department received a call from a friend who was concerned about her well being.

Goraya has a medical condition which requires her to take medication every day.

Family and friends reported her disappearance is out of character and she would not have left her son.

Police believe Goraya’s disappearance is suspicious. She is originally from India and lived in Fort Myers with her husband and son. There is one prior incident of domestic violence, according to the police department.

“Without a Trace” airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Anyone with information about Goraya’s disappearance is asked to call FMPD at 334-4155 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS. Tips can also be made by email at www.tipline@fmpolice.com.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080403/NEWS0110/80403023/1075&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

[MuffyBee]

Rupinder Goraya is still missing. 

Credit  photo from 2007 article: http://www.fox4now.com/global/story.asp?s=7336693