Queens Man, 74, Charged After Wife's Remains Found in Two Parks

Image: Queens man, 74, charged after wife’s remains found in two parks.

Salisha Ali, 33, had moved to the United States from Trinidad in 2024 to start a new life. She was working at a restaurant in Queens, training to become a home health aide, and calling her mother and three daughters back home every single day.

In July 2025, the calls stopped.

Eight months later, her husband was in handcuffs — and investigators say a location-sharing app on his own phone showed them exactly where he had been the days after she vanished.

The Disappearance

Ali was last seen alive on July 13, 2025, during a FaceTime call with relatives. According to prosecutors, she and her husband, Rupchand Simboo, 74, were together at his South Ozone Park home that evening. She never showed up for work the next morning.

Her family, unable to reach her, grew increasingly alarmed. On July 19, at the request of Ali’s mother, Simboo called police to report her missing.

Investigators began looking into the case. But two months would pass before the first break came — and it arrived not through a tip or a witness, but through a garbage bag in the woods.

Found in Pieces

On the morning of September 22, 2025, two New York City Department of Sanitation workers were collecting trash near 149th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard in the Rosedale neighborhood of Queens. In a wooded area just off the roadside, they spotted a blue moving blanket bound with yellow rope. Inside, they found the decomposed torso of a woman.

The medical examiner later identified the remains as Salisha Ali.

Investigators executed search warrants on Simboo’s home. Inside his garage, they found a moving blanket identical to the one recovered with Ali’s remains. NYPD lab analysis determined that yellow rope found in the home was consistent with the rope used to bind the torso, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

Still, more of Ali’s body had not been found.

A Phone That Told the Whole Story

In early March 2026, investigators returned to the Life360 location-sharing app on Simboo’s phone. The data showed that on July 14, 2025 — the morning after Ali was last seen alive — Simboo had been present at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge near the North Channel Bridge.

The following day, records showed him at the Rosedale location where her torso would later be discovered.

Detectives searched the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge on March 5 and 6, 2026. They found additional remains, including a head, legs, and an arm. The medical examiner confirmed they belonged to Ali.

Simboo was arrested on March 11, 2026, and charged with second-degree murder, two counts of concealment of a human corpse, and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded without bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 16.

A Marriage Built Across an Ocean

According to sources familiar with the investigation, Simboo and Ali met in 2023 while she was still living in Trinidad. Despite a 40-year age gap, they maintained a long-distance relationship until Ali relocated to the U.S. in 2024 and the two married.

Neighbors on their South Ozone Park block told reporters they had seen the couple together in summer, sitting on the porch, appearing unremarkable. Nothing, they said, had indicated what was allegedly unfolding behind closed doors.

“We were shocked when we got the news,” a relative told the Trinidad Express. “It is very horrific. This is something you would hear about in movies.”

The People She Left Behind

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz credited the city sanitation workers whose alertness first brought Ali’s case to light. Without their intervention, Katz said, Ali’s loved ones might still have no answers.

Ali’s family in Trinidad had waited months for those answers. She had three daughters there who expected her daily call. She had a mother who eventually had to ask her son-in-law to report her missing because she had no other way to reach authorities from abroad.

Simboo faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

For Ali’s family, the legal process is only beginning. The woman they described as the pillar of their lives — hardworking, devoted, full of plans — left Trinidad for a fresh start. She deserved one.

References: Husband Allegedly Murdered, Dismembered Young Wife and Dumped Remains in Queens Woods | Queens Husband Arrested After Wife’s Remains Found