Was Angara murdered?
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The case of Geetha Angara, a native of Chennai, India, who was found dead 10 years ago at a New Jersey water treatment facility amidst morbidly suspicious circumstances, will be reopened.
Angara, who was 43 at the time of her death and the mother of three children, was a chemist who calibrated the drinking water quality in the facility’s tanks. According to NJ.com, authorities — backed by forensics — stated, “Someone — probably a male co-worker — had wrapped his hands around the chemist’s throat in a dank hallway above and squeezed until she passed out, then forced her through the hatch into the murk….In 36-degree water, she drowned.”
Detectives never managed to solve the case, which made nationwide headlines at the time. However, they did find the heavy metal grate covering the million-gallon water tank that served as Angara’s final resting place was slightly askew, and the screws that normally secured it were either gone or broken.
With the 10th anniversary of her death looming over them, Angara’s family has called for the case to be re-examined and have partnered with Sen. Joe Kyrillos, who told NJ Advance Media that he would be asking the state Attorney General’s Office to re-examine evidence, witnesses, and suspects.
In the weeks leading up to his wife’s death, Jaya Angara said another employee had blamed her when a foreign substance was discovered in the treated water.
“My wife told me the atmosphere was very hostile at the time,” he said. “There was friction.”
While at least one investigator believes the incident may have been an accident as opposed to a murder, Geetha Angara’s daughter, Pavithra, rejects the notion completely. While speaking with NJ.com she called her mother an exceedingly careful woman and moreover, she said, it would be nearly impossible to miss a black, 4-foot hole in the ground.
“I think you would have to ignore a lot of facts to believe it was an accident.”
As it stands, five pathologists reviewed Angara’s autopsy report and all five concluded her death was a homicide.
A blog, dated September 25, 2005, from http://geethaangara.blogspot.com/ – created by a relative of the deceased – has this to say of the horror that hit the Angara family:
“The Angara family has been resident of the State of New Jersey for the last 22 years and resident of Holmdel for the last 5-½ years. On February 8, 2005, Dr. Geetha J. Angara, 43, a mother of three children (10, 14 and 20), a loving wife and a dedicated professional was viciously attacked and killed at her workplace, Passaic Valley Water Commission’s water Plant, Totowa, NJ (PVWC) in cold blood while performing her duties and ensuring the quality of water supply to the community apparently by one of the coworkers and pushed her into a huge drinking water storage tank containing millions of gallons of purified water. Her frozen body was found on the following day in one of the water storage tanks.
“Geetha J. Angara, a Ph. D from the New York University, a US citizen, was an employee of the Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC), Totawa, New Jersey for the last 12 years working as a Chemist. She was responsible for the quality of the water for about 750,000 households in the Passaic and Bergen Counties and its neighbouring towns. She was appointed as a Chemist at PVWC by passing the NJ State personnel department’s competitive test in 1992. About a year back she was promoted to a Senior Chemist and was actively involved in the water quality research and had full knowledge of the State and Federal EPA regulations. She had published several research papers. She had recently obtained her T2 license from the State DEP and underwent training by the Homeland Security Department on protecting the water supplies, one of the critical infrastructures of the State.
“The Passaic County District Attorney, Mr. James Avigliano has been conducting this homicide investigation since February 9, 2005 with no arrest so far.
“These following are the facts of the case so far:
“The District Attorney declared that this case is homicide and not an accident
The Autopsy Reoprt as per DA’s Office ruled out accident and determined it as homicide
Dr. Geetha J.Angara had no knows enemies and considered an “exemplary” employee by the Water Commission (PVWC)
Dr. Angara had been working as Senior Chemist, playing a major role in the running of the Water Commission’s state of the art facility, a USD70 million Ozone Laboratory
Dr. Angara was last seen alive carrying an oxygen canister into the Ozone Lab by one of the employees around 10.00 AM on the morning of February 8, 2005
After that the same employee saw her walking toward the steps of basement around 10-15 AM. After that no one in the Plant was able to account for her whereabouts
On or about 9.30 AM on the morning of February 8, 2005, while Geetha Angara was on her coffee break, one coworker informed her that a couple of machines in the basement area require recalibration. According to other coworkers present at that time with her recalled that Geetha had indicated to that person that she would be there and take care of it.
No immediate boss or supervisory staff or other colleagues looked for her even after Geetha Angara’s prolonged absence (almost 10 hours) from her laboratory while her personal belongings and her automobile remained intact. She was carrying a radio communicator with her on the day of her murder as part of the requirement of the Company and no one tried to reach her or investigated why she was not responding to the radio calls assuming someone tried to reach her.
It took almost two hours to summon the police by the Company Officials who reached the scene on the night of February 8, 2005. Given the circumstances and the facts, it is very unusual for any one to delay in contacting the police.
Based on the News Paper accounts, the Company staff went to the crime scene area and cordoned off the basement area where the grate opening was located with a tape with out the presence of the police.
Recently the Company shipped all 3 ozone generators for repairs due to leak. The DA’s office is investigating the origin and circumstances of the leak and the time line and failure of all 3 generators at the same time without any back-up generator.”
1 Comment
What makes you so sure it was a man?