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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Murder at a NJ water treatment plant |
| 2005-02-15 |
| When this woman's death was first reported, it didn't sound accidental to me. And, I was right: It was a homicide. A chemist found dead last week in a storage tank at a Totowa water treatment plant was killed, most likely by one of her co-workers, authorities said Monday. Citing autopsy results, investigators said Geetha Angara drowned at the Passaic Valley Water Commission plant, where she had worked for 12 years, and said they are questioning its 85-member workforce in the search for suspects. They declined to give information about what specifically made them conclude the senior chemist's death was a homicide. Angara, a 43-year-old mother of three, was last seen Feb. 8 at about 10 a.m. as she set out to test water quality. A plant manager reported her missing at 11:22 that night after colleagues noticed her car in the lot hours after her shift had ended. Police divers found her body in a drained below-ground tank the following evening. The tank is accessible only through a 4-foot-wide opening, which was covered by a heavy aluminum panel. [...]Angara had no known enemies or other work-related problems. The native of India had a doctorate from New York University and lived with her husband and three children in Holmdel. Funeral services were held over the weekend. Passaic County Prosecutor James F. Avigliano said it was "very doubtful" that someone outside the plant could have slipped in and killed Angara. He left open that possibility, however. "The only way someone could wander in is if they came from the area of the Passaic River or climbed over a 10-foot fence," Avigliano said. The Passaic County Sheriff's Department and Totowa police plan to begin patrolling the plant grounds by car and foot for an indefinite period, authorities said. Until now, officers only drove around the plant's perimeter. The company has no surveillance cameras in the building where Angara was working. A homeland security plan calls for installing cameras on the grounds and in some buildings, but that probably would not include water-testing areas, officials said. As senior chemist, Angara was in charge of calibrating sensors that measure water clarity. Those monitors line a concrete corridor where she was last seen working, and sit above the tank where she was found dead. Searchers found her body in a sump at one end of the tank. Her two-way radio, clipboard and a broken flask were found below the tank opening about 100 feet away, Avigliano said. Investigators initially focused on the diamond-plated aluminum covering that lay over the tank's opening. The plate measures 3.5 feet by 4.5 feet and weighs about 50 pounds, authorities say. At 5-feet, 5-inches tall and 175 pounds, Angara probably would have had trouble prying it loose and lifting it herself, investigators say. The prosecutor has voiced frustration that borough police waited 10 hours to alert his office to Angara's disappearance and allowed a family member to drive the victim's car home. Totowa Police Chief Robert Coyle has said his officers initially had no reason to suspect homicide when a plant manager called to say a worker was missing. Also hampering detectives' efforts were the 13 hours that elapsed from the time Angara was last seen alive to the missing-person call. "This is going to be a difficult case," Avigliano said. "I'm just hoping through diligent work ... we're able to conclude it." This is curious to me because the woman was a native of India. Working at a water treatment plant that serves nearly 1 million people and processes about 75 million gallons a day. The plant doesn't have adequate security. Could there be a terrorist mole on the inside? Did this woman find out something she shouldn't have? Pure speculation, I know. But this case bears watching. |
| Posted by:growler |
| #3 We've got it under control. You're going to have to trust me on this. |
| Posted by: Jack Bauer 2005-02-15 7:48:40 PM |
| #2 ...I don't know, this sounds like a really whacked out CSI episode... Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-02-15 7:38:59 PM |
| #1 Geetha is a Hindu name. Not too many Hindu terrorists. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-15 5:48:00 PM |