Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Rupchand Simboo has been charged with murder, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with evidence and other crimes for the homicide of his 33-year-old wife, Salisha Ali. The victim’s beheaded and dismembered torso, wrapped in plastic tarp and a blue blanket, was initially discovered by NYC Sanitation workers near 149^th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard on September 22, 2025. Additional remains were discovered by detectives in the vicinity of the North Channel Bridge on March 5 and 6, 2026.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, the defendant went to extraordinary lengths to evade responsibility for the brutal killing of his wife, discarding her remains in remote locations and concealing critical evidence in an apparent effort to cover up this horrific crime. Were it not for the diligence of New York City Sanitation workers, who discovered the remains and promptly notified authorities, the victim’s loved ones might still be searching for answers about her disappearance. My thoughts are with the Salisha Ali’s family and friends as we work to ensure that the defendant is held fully accountable.”

Simboo, 74, of South Ozone Park, was arraigned last night on a criminal complaint charging him with murder in the second degree, two counts of concealment of a human corpse, and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. Queens Criminal Court Judge Sharifa Nasser-Cuellar remanded the defendant and ordered him to return to court on March 16. If convicted, Simboo faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to the charges and investigation, in the evening hours of July 13, 2025, Simboo and Ali were both present inside the defendant’s home. The next morning, the victim failed to show up for work at her job in Brooklyn and was never seen or heard from again.

On July 19, 2025, at the request of the victim’s mother, the defendant called 911 to report the victim missing.

On September 22, 2025, at approximately 7 a.m., two NYC Department of Sanitation workers on a route near a wooded area in the vicinity of 149^th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard observed a blue moving blanket wrapped with a yellow rope which appeared to contain a large object inside. They opened the blanket and discovered what appeared to be a decomposed female torso. It was later determined that the remains belonged to the victim.

A search warrant was later issued and executed on a defendant’s home, resulting in the recovery of plastic wrap and yellow rope, which the NYPD Laboratory determined was consistent with the yellow rope used to bind the victim’s torso.  The execution of a second search warrant for the defendant’s work garage resulted in the recovery of a moving blanket, identical to the moving blanket which the torso was found in.

On March 5 and March 6, 2026, additional remains – including a head, legs and an arm – were discovered in the Jamaica Wildlife Refuge off of Cross Bay Boulevard, just south of the North Channel Bridge. Office of Chief Medical Examiner forensic analysis determined that the additional remains also belonged to the victim.

Detectives searched the wooded area in the Jamaica Wildlife Refuge based upon the defendant’s GPS coordinates from the Life360 app on his phone. The data showed that the defendant was present at that location on July 14, 2025 – the day after the victim was last seen alive. Simboo’s Life360 data further showed that the following day, on July 15, 2025, the defendant was present at the location off of Brookville Boulevard and 149^th Avenue where the victim’s torso was discovered by sanitation workers.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Weinstein of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Antonio Vittiglio under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.