JOHOR BARU, July 9 — Police here have confirmed that they are investigating the death of an Estonian freelance model in Pulau Rawa, off Mersing here, as murder.
According to a report by The Star, Johor CID chief Senior Assistant Comm Datuk Hasnan Hassan said , Regina Soosalu’s death on July 1 was initially investigated as a drowning but changed to murder after suspicious wounds were found on her body.
“We can confirm that the woman arrived at Pulau Rawa on July 1 and died on the same day.
“We have also detained six persons to assist with investigations, “ he was quoted by The Star today, while declining to reveal the exact timeline for the incident investigated was still underway.
Asked if the detained suspects included the woman’s partner, SAC Hasnan said they had yet to detain him.
He also said the woman’s family was informed of her death via Interpol.
“I believe that the message was relayed to the family via the Estonian Embassy in Beijing,” he told The Star while declining to comment further.
An online portal had previously reported that Soosalu, who lived in Kuala Lumpur, was believed to have been on a holiday on the island when she died.
Sources in the modelling industry, however, suspected something amiss as her death was only made known to them only on July 6. They were also not informed of the exact cause of her death, which varied from drowning to a disease.
The news comes shortly after a high court in Kuantan sentenced 39-year-old shopkeeper, Asni Omar, to death today after the court found him guilty of killing French tourist Stephanie Foray on Tioman Island, off the east coast state of Pahang.
Foray, 30, went missing on Tioman island in May 2011. Her partially mummified remains were found three months later buried in a cave on the island.
Another tourist, British backpacker Gareth Huntley also went missing on the same island during a trek to Lubuk Teja Waterfall on May 27.
After more than a week of intense search and rescue operation, Huntley’s decomposed body was found at Sungai Mentawak, 20 metres away from a kayak storage unit at Juara Lagoon chalet.
