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Just days after disappearing from her Toronto residence, Dr. Elana Fric’s lifeless body was tragically found concealed in a suitcase.
The vibrant mother of three had suffered a brutal demise, prompting investigators to retrace her final steps. A crucial breakthrough came when her young daughter provided pivotal information about her murder, as recounted on Oxygen’s Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins.
Elana, the daughter of immigrants, rose from modest roots to build what seemed like an idyllic life. With a flourishing career, she resided in Toronto alongside her neurosurgeon husband, Mohammed Shamji, and their three children: Yasmin, Faiza, and Marius.
“She had the life everyone dreams of,” recalled friend Neely Savard. “The house, the wealth, the career—everything seemed perfect.”
However, that seemingly perfect image shattered on November 30, 2016, when Elana vanished without a trace.
But that image shattered on Nov. 30, 2016, when Elana disappeared.
When her mother Ana Fric wasn’t able to reach Elana on the phone, she called Mohammed, who allegedly told her Elana had packed a suitcase and left the night before.
Ana remembered, “Then I got very, very scared.”
Elana Fric’s Secret Affair is Uncovered
Concerned, Ana called police to report her daughter missing. Two Toronto Police officers conducted a wellness check at the home at 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 1, finding Mohammed alone with his children.
He told officers that Elana had left the night before to be with her boyfriend, a married doctor who worked at the same hospital. But they were struck by the fact that her car was still sitting in the garage.
“If what Mohammed was saying was accurate,” Toronto Police Det. Sgt. Steve Ryan told Killer Relationship, “this boyfriend would have been the last person to have seen her.”
And while the married physician confirmed the affair with Elana, he insisted that he had been with his family the night she disappeared.
Friends See “Red Flags” In Elana Fric’s Marriage
By then, investigators were also learning troubling details about Elana’s 12-year marriage to Mohammed.
“There were red flags in their relationship: how Mohammed talked to her, how he treated her, how he made her feel like she was special to have him,” pal Neely said. “Elena absolutely believed he valued his career over her.”
Others described Mohammed as controlling and abusive at times. He had previously been charged after splitting her lip, which resulted in a peace bond, an agreement in Canada reached in front of a judge that outlines specific conditions, like counseling or community service, while keeping it off a person’s criminal record.
Then in May 2016, Elana discovered her husband was having an affair. By November, Elana filed for divorce—just days before she disappeared.
Elana Fric’s Body is Discovered
The case took a heartbreaking turn on Dec. 1, when a passerby noticed a suitcase by a river. Inside, authorities discovered the body of woman with a broken neck.
“It certainly looked like she had been strangled,” Ryan recalled. “It was one of the worst beatings that I had ever seen. It stays with me to this day.”
The body was ultimately identified as Elana.
Early the next morning, not knowing their daughter’s body had been uncovered, Elana’s parents were doing some detective work of their own at her home. After Mohammed left for work, they noticed two small rugs were missing and found mud on the floor leading from the garage.
They went to the police station to report what they’d found and learned the heartbreaking news that their daughter had been found dead, confirming Ana’s worst fears.
“I knew Mo killed her. I knew it in my heart,” she said. “I knew it all this time that she was missing, that she’s dead and he killed her.”
Investigators got a search warrant for Elana’s home and began a forensic search for evidence. They found traces of blood in the master bedroom and, according to the detective, her vehicle was “covered in blood.”
He added, “All these little building blocks were all part of a very good circumstantial case.”
Fearing Mohammed was planning to leave the country, officers moved in to make an arrest, but due to Canada laws, they had to charge him with a crime within 24 hours or release him.
Elana Fric’s Daughter Offers Final Clue
Investigators got the final piece of evidence they needed from an unlikely source: the couple’s 11-year-old daughter Yasmin.
Although Yasmin initially claimed not to know about the crime, she admitted to overhearing her parents arguing and a loud cry on the night her mom disappeared.
When she went to check on her parents, she discovered her dad in the master bedroom, pulling a duvet on the ground towards him. When she asked him what was happening, he told her to go back to bed. She later reported hearing a commotion in her parent’s walk-in closet, but her dad once again told her to go back to bed.
Her account gave authorities the information they needed.
Toronto Police Superintendent Andy Singh explained that police believed Mohammed learned of Elana’s affair which “really infuriates him,” leading to the argument overheard by their daughter. At some point, Mohammed assaulted his wife, breaking her neck.
After she was killed, investigators theorized that Mohammed grabbed a suitcase from the closet, drove his wife’s body to a river overpass and then tossed the suitcase over, as his children slept at home.
In an attempt to spare his children from testifying, Mohammed agreed to plead guilty to charges of second-degree murder in 2016. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 14 years.
Still marred by the tragedy, Ana’s focus has now turned to her grandchildren.
“My daughter still lives with them,” she shared, “in Yasmin, in Faiza, in Marius, in each and every one of them, I see her.”
