The decomposed body of a young woman who had been missing since December was found washed up on the beach in Breezy Point on Saturday. Police say they were called to the location in the morning after the body was found on the beach, and subsequently confirmed that the woman was Marisha Cheong, a 24-year-old who disappeared just before Christmas. Police sources tell CBS 2 her hands "may have been bound."
Cheong's family started a Facebook page soliciting the public's help in finding the woman, who was last seen in Jamaica, Queens, where she shared an apartment with her boyfriend. The boyfriend, LJ Balkaran, said he was supposed to pick her up at a Forest Hills subway station on December 19th, but Cheong never arrived. A CBS 2 reporter previously asked Balkaran if he had any involvement in his girlfriend's disappearance and he replied, "Oh no. No. Just now, just finding her, that’s all we care about... We had an argument - text argument that day - but I don’t know what happened."
Cheong's friend, Jenny Persaud, tells CBS 2 that on the day Cheong disappeared, she received text messages from her friend "the whole day" but no phone calls, which struck her as “very odd.” Cheong's mother also received text messages from her daughter on the day she disappeared; one read, "Mom I’m fine i just need a little time to think." Cheong's mother is troubled by that, telling CBS 2, " She don’t usually talk like that she usually says mommy." The speculation is that someone else was sending the text messages from her phone.
The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death in the coming days, but police have already confirmed that Cheong's body showed signs of trauma. ABC reports that the body was found clothed only in pajamas and one shoe. Cheong had left her iPad behind in her apartment, along with her winter coats, which her family says is not normal behavior. Sources tell ABC that Balkaran, a 26-year-old delivery driver who freelances in the film industry, is being questioned.
