News Americas, QUEENS, NY, Mon. Feb. 18, 2013: The Guyanese-born boyfriend of a 23-year-old woman is in custody after her body was found washed up on a beach in Queens over the weekend.
Marisha Cheong, also from Guyana, had been reported missing since last December by her parents. Her body was discovered a few miles away from Jamaica, NY, in Breezy Point, Queens on Saturday morning. Authorities say there were signs of trauma on her body, but the decomposition was so advanced that it isn’t clear if it indicates foul play. Sources also say her hands may have been bound when she went into the water. The body was wearing only pajamas and one shoe.
The cause of death remains a mystery, and officials say it could take several weeks for the medical examiner to make a determination.
Cheong’s boyfriend, 26-year-old Guyanese migrant, Latchman Balkaran, who works at a dispatching company in New York City, has been picked up for questioning. He has told friends that Cheong had run off with another man and he had no idea where she was.
Cheong vanished on December 9 from the apartment she shared with Balkaran.
