Crime Junkie - MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF: Nadia Malik

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

Nadia Malik was trying to break free of an abusive relationship when she disappeared only to be found dead in a car. And while her family and many others are sure that one person is responsible for her death, the mysterious circumstances have made finding justice elusive.If you know anything about Nadia’s death, contact private investigator Kevin Ryan at 267-225-8921. There’s a $60,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible.Please visit and share, Justice for Nadia Malik Facebook page.National Domestic Violence Hotline: [phone]-SAFE (7233); for TTY: 1-800-787-3224 or Text “START” to 88788.Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/ to view the current membership options and policies. Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/mysterious-death-nadia-malik/

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and the story I have for you today is about a young woman who was trying to break free of an abusive relationship when she disappeared, only to be found dead in a car. And while her family and many others are sure that one person is responsible for her death, the mysterious circumstances around her case have made finding justice elusive. This is the story of Nadia Malik. It's Saturday, February 8, 2014, and in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a man named Thomas is getting increasingly worried about his friend, 22-year-old Nadia Malik. You see, she's in this on-again-off-again relationship with this guy named Bupinder Singh,

and things between the two have been rocky to downright physically abusive over the course of their seven-year relationship. But recently, things between the two had even escalated. A couple of days ago, Nadia had called Thomas in tears, and she explained that Bupinder, who everyone calls Guggun, wasn't letting her go home. He'd picked her up from her parents' house where she was staying so that they could quote-unquote talk, but in the days since, the two of them have just been like driving around, sleeping at various rest stops along the New Jersey Turnpike. She said that he kept promising to drop her back off at her parents' house or even at Thomas' apartment, but he just never followed through, and so

she was just trapped riding around with him for days. But here's the thing, Nadia was adamant that she doesn't want the police involved. Instead, she asked Thomas to call her father, who was in Chicago on business, and just let him know what was going on. Except that didn't really accomplish anything, because Nadia's family had actually never met or spoken with Thomas, so when her dad gets this call from him, he seems to think that he's actually Bupinder just kind of screwing around and pretending to be someone else. So Thomas is getting frustrated, and he decides to record his next conversation with Nadia for proof that something is wrong. Here is that actual

conversation. Why didn't you want to tell your dad? Why isn't he taking you home? He said he's going to take me home tomorrow. I have no idea. He's not going to take you home, Nadia. I know that would be sad. He said he'd been saying that for how many days now. You want to go home, right? Yeah, but didn't I tell you to tell my dad? Did you tell my dad? I did tell your dad.

What did he say? He's not responding to me. He thinks I'm a cousin. He's like, please pick up. Like, if not, hit back. Can Govind hear what we're saying right now? No. Okay. I'm actually leaving him on voicemail right now. Say what you want to say to him. Say to who?

Say to your dad. For what? You want to go home, right? Yeah. You want to go home tonight? Yeah. You need help? Yeah.

Govind's forcing you? Yeah. Okay, cool. Then we will take care of this. Bye. But wait. What? I don't want any drama or trouble or any police involved in this.

Don't worry. We'll take care of it. Promise what? I promise. I don't want any police involved in this, Russ. I'm just going to go like move. No, promise. Trust me. I'll talk to you later. What are you doing? Don't worry. Bye.

Now, I'm not sure what Thomas' plan was or how the rest of the day panned out. But the next morning, Sunday, February 9th, he and Nadia managed to steal a few more minutes on the phone when Bupender gets out of the car. She tells him that they're in a Philadelphia neighborhood about 25 minutes away from Bupender's apartment and lands down. And she's come up with this new idea. She wants Thomas to call one of her brothers, Fuad, who lives in Georgia, and get him to talk to Bupender.

Because if anyone can convince him to bring her home, it is her calm, level-headed brother. So Thomas relayed the message to Fuad, who already knew about the trouble between his sister and Bupender. Not exactly what was going on with her like driving around, but just like the trouble they've had over the years. Like, her whole family never liked him. Not that he was controlling and possessive. But they had only found out about the physical abuse that passed January, when Nadia was

hospitalized with broken ribs after Bupender pushed her down the stairs because she was trying to leave and he didn't want her to. So Fuad is already on high alert when he gets this call from Thomas. And he immediately then reaches out to Nadia and speaks with her and Bupender. But that call for him is far from reassuring. Nadia's sister Mona told us that the last thing Fuad hears is Nadia yelling that Bupender wasn't letting her leave. There was some sort of commotion and then the phone just went dead.

Now he kept trying to text her and call her, but it's only Bupender who replies. At 8.51 am, he tells Fuad that he's going to drop Nadia off at their parents' house and she'll be able to call him then. But it's at this point that Bupender starts telling two different stories to different people. Because it's not just Fuad that's texting him. Thomas is trying to communicate with him through Nadia's phone as well. And at first, he tells Thomas that they're getting something to eat, that Nadia is going

to be home by 11 am, but then 11 comes and goes and she's not there. At 11.37, Bupender tells Fuad that Nadia just dropped him off at his apartment and he gave her the car to drive herself home. She's sure to be at her parents' house in like 10 minutes. Once again, she doesn't show. Then, still using Nadia's phone, Bupender tells Thomas that the two of them are together, although he doesn't specify where. But he tells Fuad that he's at the apartment and that Nadia isn't with him and that he

has no clue where she is. But Fuad doesn't believe him, so he asks Thomas to go check out the apartment. When Thomas gets there, it doesn't look like anyone's home, and Bupender's car, which is a black 2007 Nissan Altima, is gone. And it's important to note Thomas can't just like get to Bupender's door. So his apartment is on the second floor and the main exterior door to the building is locked. All he can do is ring the buzzer and he's ringing and ringing and ringing, but no one's answering.

Now, again, Bupender's like still communicating with them as this is happening. So Thomas and Fuad are like, listen, let him in. He's there, but Bupender has an excuse for why he's not answering. He tells Fuad that he knows Thomas is outside, but he's not going to answer the door because he doesn't want anything to do with Thomas. And that's because the relationship between Nadia, Thomas, and Bupender is complicated. The two guys actually used to be friends themselves, but their relationship soured when Thomas saw how Bupender was treating Nadia.

The minister told us that Thomas was hanging out with the couple one day and he was stunned when he saw Bupender slap Nadia. And then after that, Nadia started confiding in Thomas and then the two of them developed strong feelings for each other. So that winter, when Nadia's tumultuous relationship with Bupender had reached a boiling point, Bupender had found out about her and Thomas. And he was trying to pressure Nadia into marrying him, but she was actually taking steps to leave him.

And over the past couple of months, she had been back and forth between her parents' house and his apartment. Now, we've talked about how leaving an abuser is one of the most dangerous times for a domestic violence victim or survivor. And we've also heard from advocates who say that contacting authorities on a victim's behalf without their consent can actually do way more harm than good and might even jeopardize their safety. But the situation Thomas is in, he's feeling like this is an emergency because by now it's around 3.30 in the afternoon.

It's been hours since anyone has even heard Nadia's voice, much less laid eyes on her. So she could be in immediate physical danger. And that's why he decides to call the police. They come out and meet him at the apartment where the maintenance man unlocks the exterior door for them. And right away, they notice something strange. The door to Bupender's apartment is kind of slightly open. After knocking and announcing themselves, they step inside and look around. It's clear right away that Bupender's been lying to everyone.

Nobody is home. And in fact, they can't tell when anyone was last here. But officers see that there is fresh food in the fridge. There's no reason for the officers to stay. But before they leave, they lock the door to preserve what very well could end up being a crime scene. Now, what's wild to me is that he's clearly caught lying, something is going down. But the rest of the afternoon and into the night, Bupender stays in contact with Thomas, who in turn calls the station with updates every time he's calling texting,

especially every time he's spitting these various stories that keep changing. According to police reports and text message logs, Bupender is still using Nadia's phone. He promises Thomas now that he's going to bring Nadia over at 5.30. That doesn't happen. Then he says he dropped her off at a Starbucks in the area. But Thomas calls three nearby Starbucks locations and Nadia hasn't been to any of them. And then he tells Thomas, actually, you know what? It's the other way around.

She actually dropped me off at Starbucks. Well, maybe not. But either way, he swears on his son's life that Nadia will be home at 6.45. Thomas tells Bupender that the police are looking for him and that unless he brings Nadia back, unharmed, ASAP, he's going to go to jail. But Bupender keeps texting him like, listen, chill out. We're on the way. We're right around the corner.

We're over by Chili's. Now we're getting gas. Oh, there's so much traffic. The car is barely moving. It's snowing. The tires are bad, so we can't drive too fast. Then he's just waiting for Thomas to go to work at 10 p.m. Then he'll drop her off.

Like, it is just excuse after excuse after excuse. And during all of these strange conversations, Thomas is begging Bupender to just let Nadia speak on the phone. If not to him, then at least to her brother or to her dad, because everyone is on edge and worried sick. They just want to hear her voice. They want to know that she's OK. Thomas even offers to pay Bupender's rent, which is past due,

if he just puts her on speakerphone for a second. And that comment about paying his rent must have started the wheels turning in Bupender's head. Because at 10.33, he texts Thomas and tells him, go to CPS, put $100 on one of those like prepaid debit cards, and then send me the card number. And if you do that, I promise she'll call you after that, for real this time.

But until I have the number, don't even bother reaching back out again. Thomas knows that this is just another trick by Bupender. He doesn't believe if he does this that Nadia is actually going to call. Because up to this point, he won't even send him a picture of Nadia. And he's not being any more forthcoming with her family. Messages fly back and forth all night,

but there is no sign of Nadia. Police have advised Thomas to save all of the texts that he's getting, and a sergeant speaks with her father on the phone. Other than that though, I'm not sure what other investigative steps police actually took that day. By the next morning, Nadia is still nowhere to be found. As far as anyone can tell, when she first got into Bupender's car,

she was in the town of Brumaw, which is where her parents live. The agency that had been involved to this point was the agency where Bupender's apartment was. So once they kind of get everything sorted, the case gets transferred over to the Brumaw people, which is actually Marple PD. And that's when her family is able to file

an official missing persons report. One of the first things detectives do is to try and learn as much as they can about Nadia, about her relationship with Bupender, and everything that led up to this event. And the gist of what they learn is alarming. Nadia met Bupender in her junior year of high school. After they got together, Nadia's grades fell.

She spent less time with her parents, with her siblings. And according to an article by Vinivella in the Philadelphia Inquirer, when she got pregnant in her freshman year of college, the couple hid it from everyone until after she gave birth to their son. Eventually, Nadia's parents got custody of the baby, which she and Bupender were in favor of.

But when Nadia got pregnant again with their daughter Alina in 2011, they hid that pregnancy. She was afraid that her parents would be disappointed with her. Her family only learned of Alina when Alina died in February 2012 under suspicious circumstances. A Delaware County Medical Examiner's report says

that Nadia and the three-month-old baby were in her car, parked near a Chinese restaurant in Springfield, Pennsylvania when she realized that Alina wasn't breathing. First responders arrived and found Alina cold with rigor mortis already set in, which usually means a person's been dead for at least two or three hours. But the ME could never determine how Alina died.

Nadia was inconsolable when this happened, and she told them that Bupender had been in the car with her when they discovered Alina was dead. But he just fled the scene, leaving her to deal with everything on her own. After all of these years of trauma, her family tells police that it seemed like she was ready to end things once and for all,

like for good. She had even been accepted to a college like pre-med program that she was excited about starting. But like so many abusers, Bupender found ways to keep Nadia ensnared in their relationship. And one of the ways he did this was by using their dead daughter. See, Alina's death was still technically under investigation. But according to Delaware County Daily Times reporter Rose Quinn,

Bupender knew that authorities were about to close the case without pressing charges. I don't think Nadia knew that though. And her family says that he used the situation to his advantage. Like she'd always told her brother that the reason she even got in the car with Bupender to begin with, the day that this whole event started where she goes missing, was because he said he wanted to talk about their baby Alina.

So now that police have a little more information about their background, they know that they need to track Bupender down right away. And based on stuff Bupender has told them, Thomas thinks that he's taking Nadia to his parents' apartment in Ohio. I mean, even if he's lying, and let's be honest, that seems likely seeing as how nothing he said about his location over the last few days has been truthful,

police know he's on the move. So according to an article in the Delaware County Times, detectives make an emergency request to ping Nadia's cell phone. Because at this point, it seems to be the only phone that Bupender has. It's all he's used to contact Thomas and Fuwad at this point. And if he holds on to it, they can actually track its location. They also managed to find some surveillance footage of Nadia from the morning of February 9th at a restaurant with a man,

presumably Bupender. And they find a traffic light camera that shows that after they ate, sometime between noon and 1, Nadia was driving the Nissan Altima in Upper Darby about 25 minutes away from her parents' house. Again, there's a man in the car who is probably Bupender. When detectives call Nadia's sister Mona with this update, relief just rushes through her because all she can think is,

thank God, Nadia is alive. But her mind is racing. And for the rest of the day, she can't help but wonder if this is some sort of scheme that Bupender cooked up just to get money. I mean, she knows how much control he has over her sister. And so she starts to wonder if Nadia might have just gone along for the ride. But those thoughts vanish just as quickly as they appear as Bupender's bizarre communications and demands continue from Monday into Tuesday.

He keeps sending antagonizing texts to Thomas and making false promises to both him and Fuad. Some highlights of those conversations, and maybe I should say low points, are when Bupender tells Thomas that if he ever wants to hear Nadia's voice again, then the only option he has is to send money. He claims that he didn't force Nadia to come with him. They're happy together.

He says Thomas can search the whole country for them, but he won't find them. There's this one moment, to me, one of the strangest moments, where he even pretends to be Nadia sometimes. But it's not convincing, and then he'll switch abruptly back to himself, telling Thomas that she, quote, can't f***ing call anyone. End quote.

Confusingly, he sometimes flips the narrative and tells both Thomas and Fuad that he tried to convince Nadia to call them, but that she doesn't want to talk anymore. But he thinks that that feeling will probably change once someone sends him $100, or at the very least some gas money. Police are keeping track of all of these communications,

and Wednesday morning, which is now February 12th, detectives get a break in the case when Nadia's phone pings three times in Ohio, right near Bupinder's parents' apartment. So they contact law enforcement over there, and at around 9.30 in the morning, officers head over to see if there's any sign of Bupinder, Nadia, or even the missing Ultima.

As police knock on the front door of the Singh's first floor apartment, a detective heads around to the back of the building. And thank goodness he does, because suddenly, the rear sliding door opens, and a guy comes out onto the patio and tries to make a run for it. But police grab him and take him into custody. Sure enough, that man is Bupinder.

He has scratches on his face and a black eye, which he tells police came from Nadia. When detectives search him and his stuff, they find her cell phone, they find her driver's license, and the only set of keys they had to the Ultima. But the car itself isn't there, and neither is Nadia. Bupinder admits to sending the antagonizing text to Thomas and her family, but he insists that Nadia didn't come out to Ohio with him.

He says that the last he saw her was on Sunday, February 9th, back in Philadelphia. The two of them had had an argument, he said, about their relationship, and he left her with the car but asked if he could take her cell phone since he'd be traveling, which to me doesn't make any sense, because remember, there's only one set of keys to the car,

so okay, even if you did leave it with her, it would have been useless, because she wouldn't have been able to drive it. He says he left Pennsylvania that day, and he can prove that he didn't drive the Ultima to Ohio, because he has a Greyhound bus ticket that shows he traveled to New York City from Philly before boarding another bus to Cleveland by way of Washington, D.C.

When they ask him why he has her license, he says that he just happened to have it, like he was holding on to it when they parted ways. Oh, and that whole him running out the back door thing when the cop showed up was just a misunderstanding. He said, I wasn't trying to flee, I just wanted to see like who was knocking at the front door, so he went out the back,

which doesn't make sense because like A, just go to the front door, B, you can't see the front door from the back patio, why would you go around, like again, nothing this guy is saying is making sense. But even though he's not making sense, even though everything he's saying is very suspicious, police don't have anything concrete enough to charge him on

in relation to Nadia's disappearance. But what they do have is the fact that Bupinder was on probation back in Pennsylvania. He's got a criminal record that includes two DUIs and an assault case involving an employee at a 7-Eleven. So when he took off to Ohio without permission, he was in violation of his probation. So he agrees to be extradited to Delaware County

to face charges on the violations and to be formally questioned in Nadia's disappearance. And in the meantime, until he can actually be extradited, he's just kind of held in a county jail. Now, when Nadia's family gets word that Bupinder was arrested and Nadia was not with him, their hearts sank. They know that she would have called them by now if she was able to, if she was alone

and not being like controlled by him. And since the texts from Bupinder were so angry and so deceitful, they can't help but think the worst. All they want to do is bring her home, so they go full, boots on the ground, they get local maps, they split up areas. Each of them are driving around looking for any sign of her or the car.

According to Crime Watch Daily, police also start planning a big search. But Philadelphia and their surrounding areas are in the midst of one of their snowiest winters ever. And that Wednesday into Thursday, they are slammed with nearly a foot of snow. Nadia's family waits patiently for answers as police learn what they can from Bupinder.

Then on February 19th, Bupinder's father goes to the local police department to report the Nissan Ultima stolen. It turns out the car is actually his and it's registered in his name. He had just given it to Bupinder and Nadia that month. Bupinder's brother tells reporter Vinnie Vella that his dad reported it stolen out of concern for Nadia

because they don't know where she is, they are saying that no one's telling them anything, so they thought this might be a way to get some answers. And he also defends his brother. He says that Bupinder and Nadia had a nice relationship and he only came to Ohio because Nadia left him and he didn't know what to do with himself, so he wanted to see his mom and dad.

So after Bupinder's father reports the car stolen, police release a photo of the Ultima and ask everyone to be on the lookout for it. And not long after, on the morning of February 20th, they actually get a call from a man who says he found it. That morning, police get a call from a man who says that he was flipping through the Delaware County Daily Times and he came across an article by Rose Quinn

that included a picture of the car. And he said he had this full on holy sh** moment because there parked right next to the bar that he's in on 30th and Market Street near the heart of Philadelphia was what looked like the same car. So police head out to the location and sure enough, when they run the license plate, they confirm it is the missing Ultima.

They can tell that it's been sitting there for a few days because the windshield is covered with seven or eight parking tickets. They decide to open the door to search it and that's when their hearts sink because in the front passenger seat, underneath a black Nike duffel bag and some clothing is naughty as body.

According to the medical examiner's report, she's kind of in a kneeling position, slumped forward in the seat, which is fully reclined. Her knees are on the floor and her upper torso and shoulders are on the seat with the right side of her face leaning against the backrest. A lieutenant notices what looks like bruises on her back, but there are no obvious major injuries

or even signs of a struggle. Mona first hears about the terrible discovery from a friend who works across the street from the bar. The friend went to see what all the police activity was about. They saw the car and they matched up the license plate. Now, police wouldn't confirm anything to her, so all she could tell Mona was that the Ultima is there and a woman's body was found inside.

You know, for one hopeful moment, Mona thinks, maybe this is some kind of a mistake, maybe by some miracle it's a different Ultima, a different woman, but then a detective calls her and says that he has bad news and that's when she knows that nothing will ever be the same. As she drives to her parents to tell them the worst thing any parent can hear,

back at the scene, police get a search warrant for the car. The inside of it smells like gasoline and there's tons of stuff to sift through, like books and loose change, there's a laptop and a printer, receipts for food and gas, none of which, according to Philadelphia Inquire reporter Aubrey Whalen, are from after February 9th.

They also find a marriage license application, though it was only signed by Bupinder that expired on February 4th. And there's also six prescription pill bottles in his name, three of which are empty. NBC 10 reported that some of the pills are antibiotics but I don't know what the others are. And get this, those parking tickets on the windshield

date back to 11 a.m. on Monday, February 10th, but at that time the car was in a completely different location, which they can tell from the info on the tickets. I guess it was initially parked about a half a mile away on 23rd and market and then it got towed to this spot during a like snow emergency on Valentine's Day. So here's your burning question, I know.

How did this many people, people who see the car, people who tow the car, miss Nadia in the car? Even people walking by, like her car is straight up out in the open enough that some dude in a bar spots it and you're saying again, the car is towed with a person inside and they didn't notice. I started spiraling, wondering if she was even in the car the whole time, maybe she was moved there recently.

But police think that it's just the perfect storm of a scenario that led to her body going undiscovered. I guess between the Ultima's tinted windows, the snow covering the windshield and that duffel bag on top of Nadia's head, no one could see her. A Lieutenant even tells reporter Rose Quinn that when he got to the scene, all he could see through the car window

was an unzipped duffel bag and he figured that her body had actually been removed already. It wasn't until he opened the door that he was able to see she was still inside. So okay, fine, no one physically saw her body inside the car. Still, why wasn't this car flagged? It had been tied to this case since day one. Nadia's family can't believe that no one bothered to check the license plate as all those tickets were piling up.

Especially when they learned from a woman that she called Philadelphia authorities about the abandoned car seven times over two days and nothing was done. I mean, someone was literally waving this car in their faces and it just got ignored. According to Vinnie Vella's reporting, the city parking authority has this policy. Cars with three or more tickets on the windshield

are written up as abandoned vehicles and those reports are then turned over to police close to investigate every case and try to find the owner of the car. Vinnie told us that he thinks the process broke down because the parking authority didn't notify police. So however we ended up here, we're here. And that Thursday afternoon, the car is towed to police headquarters with Nadia's body still inside.

She is then removed and taken to the medical examiner's office where an autopsy is performed the next day. Luckily, Nadia's body is well preserved because of the cold. The ME thinks that it's likely she was in the car the whole time that it was parked in those two locations. And we know that the Ultima was abandoned at least as of February 10th because that's when the parking tickets start.

But considering that Bupinder had the only key to the car when he's arrested in Ohio and he left for New York City on February 9th, I think it's safe to assume that the car had also been there since February 9th. We're talking 11 days before Nadia was found. It's also important to know that she's got no major injuries to speak of. Like there are no wounds on her lips or her face

to suggest the possibility of suffocation, no evidence of sexual assault, and then obviously nothing bigger like blood or stab wounds or blunt force trauma. But the ME notices that Nadia has some bruises and abrasions on various parts of her body, including her lower back. And she also has this small pink pinprick mark on the back of her right hand.

And Mona says that she was right-handed, so she thinks it's unlikely that she would have done this to herself. Now the skin around that mark is bloodstained, which the ME says is suggestive of a recent needle puncture. What's interesting is the puncture mark ties right in with her family's theory. They believe that she was poisoned. Actually, Nadia believed that she was being poisoned.

In January and February, she told various people that she thought Bupinder was putting the Percocet that she had been prescribed for that broken rib into her food. Because of that, investigators ran a battery of toxicology tests. Now to go back to where Bupinder is in all of this right now, he has still been awaiting extradition this whole time. He is finally sent back to Delaware County from Ohio on Thursday, February 27.

Police try and question him, and he talks a little bit, but then he lawyers up pretty quickly, shutting down any chance of getting a confession. So fast-forward a little bit. In late March, investigators get the preliminary toxicology results back, which are negative for everything. But that's not necessarily the all-clear on poisoning. You see, the ME thinks that any drug in Nadia's system

would have been metabolized while her body was in the car. So they decide to run even more tests. While they're doing that, Bupinder goes to court on April 15, and he is sentenced to four to 23 months in prison for his probation violation. With time served, he'd be eligible to get out in like five weeks, basically. So the clock is ticking, and five weeks go by fast, especially with him not talking.

And this whole time, police don't dig up anything that they feel bolsters their case enough to charge him. So on May 19, he's just let go. He's on house arrest, but it's a far cry from where Nadia's family believes that he should be. To them, it is obvious. I mean, the hundreds of threatening texts, the violent nature of their relationship,

and the circumstances of their final few days together. To them, it all adds up to one thing. Bupinder did something to Nadia. But what? That is what no one can figure out. Without that key piece of information, authorities can't charge him with anything. Because if there is no murderer, there's no murderer.

Which brings me back to the other case that's kind of still looming over Bupinder. And that's the death of his and Nadia's daughter, Alina. Well, in early July, the Delaware County Medical Examiner finally releases their results, which show that Alina, who, remember, was also found dead in a car like her mother, died of catechia.

Catechia is known as a wasting syndrome that's associated with, like, weight and muscle loss. And listen, there were some red flags during Nadia's pregnancy. Like, she didn't have structured prenatal care. And the doctor was concerned that Alina's head was growing faster than the rest of her body. But she ended up being born okay, healthy, seven pounds. And she did get thrush at, like, at one point,

but that's pretty common. And she was fairly small for her age when she died. She was only eight pounds. But what's super weird is that catechia is often a sign of an underlying condition, like cancer or something like that, which Alina doesn't seem to have had. So even though the ME considers it the cause of death,

the circumstances aren't adding up. And so the manner of death remains undetermined. And when Nadia's testing results come in, her case is even more mysterious. After extensive testing, not only for drugs like oxycodone and fentanyl and cocaine, but also therapeutic drugs, synthetic drugs, drugs used for anesthesia,

and even, quote-unquote, date rape drugs, they find nothing. And the Philadelphia medical examiner is stumped. Nadia didn't have any alcohol in her system. Tests for metal poisoning were negative. They even looked for elevated levels of nicotine based on this obscure theory that an overdose of it can be fatal.

But the level that they did find was well below toxic, like what you would expect for a smoker or even someone who's just exposed to secondhand smoke. So in the end, both her cause and manner of death are labeled undetermined. A spokesman for the ME tells reporter Vinnie Vella that he can't recall the last time the office made a determination like this.

Like, it is very uncommon. And while the investigation does remain open and Nadia's case file is sent to the Philadelphia DA's office for review, without a ruling from the ME, there is nothing that can be done. The DA can't move forward in the city's court of common pleas if they can't even say with certainty that Nadia's death is a homicide.

Which I understand and I fully appreciate that we live in a country where evidence is necessary to charge someone with murder, at least in some counties and for some DA's. But it's times like this that I wish we had a court of common sense. Because to her family and to many others, including investigators, it's almost impossible to imagine a scenario

in which Bupinder's hands are clean in this case. And that's what makes it so frustrating. As the year anniversary of Nadia's death comes and goes, her loved ones can't believe that no one has been held accountable. So that summer, that's the summer of 2015, they decide to put up a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction

of whoever is responsible for Nadia's death. And they even hire a forensic pathology consultant, Steve Cena, to review Nadia and Alina's deaths. He issues his expert opinion in September of that year. Contrary to Delaware County's ruling about Alina dying from catechia, he thinks the cause and manner should have remained undetermined. The baby had non-fatal injuries that require an explanation, like some bruising on her head,

which while not fatal, is concerning for an infant. And the autopsy findings suggest poor nutrition and possible infection. Plus, again, she was dead for at least an hour, likely several hours by the time investigators found her. And Steve knows that he doesn't think asphyxia can be ruled out either in her case. In Nadia's case, her autopsy was thorough,

but he also doesn't think smothering with a pillow could be ruled out. Although, you would expect to maybe see some injury on her lips, which, as far as I can tell, wasn't present. The toxicology test was also exhaustive. The only test not conducted that he could think to suggest is measuring her insulin and C-peptide levels. But they'd need a toxicologist to say

if those can even be accurately measured after this much time has passed. He agrees that her disappearance and discovery are extremely suspicious, and because of that, he thinks there are two possible ways to describe Nadia's death. Now, one of them still is undetermined, both cause and manner,

but the other is homicide by unspecified means. Now, this cause of death is often associated with decomposed or skeletal remains that are found under circumstances that make suicide, accident, or natural manners unlikely. But, technically, it could also fit the bill in Nadia's case. After all, it is impossible to test

for every substance in the world. Although, I should note, her family does have a suspicion about one substance in particular, succinal choline, or SUCKS for short. SUCKS causes temporary muscle paralysis, and medically, it's used in surgery as part of anesthesia.

But an injection of this stuff without respiratory support will probably kill you. Like, once the muscles you need to breathe are paralyzed, you'll die from asphyxia or suffer fatal brain damage. Now, to get into, like, medical details, Nadia's blood was tested for SUCKS, but the reason it has a reputation as being the perfect poison

is because the body processes it so quickly that it can be undetectable within minutes. I mean, this has been linked to some high-profile murder cases, mostly involving suspects in the medical field, because that's the thing about SUCKS. It's not easy to get your hands on. It's not like you can just get a prescription and take it at home.

It is only administered in hospitals or similar settings. So the question is, did Bupinder have access to this? The only thing that we could find that comes close is Mona says that Bupinder was a pharmacy student in college before he dropped out. She also points to the fact that there was apparently a James Patterson book found in his apartment

in which someone is killed with an undetectable poison. But I don't know how much credence police ever give this theory. And as months pass, Nadia's family becomes more and more discouraged at the lack of resolution. But they do have some luck pursuing other legal avenues against Bupinder.

The following year, Nadia's family launches a wrongful death lawsuit against Bupinder and his father, Devinder. They allege that Bupinder held Nadia against her will in the car, then harmed her and left her dead or near dead without any resources. And they say that Bupinder's dad, Devinder,

was negligent and reckless when he gave his son the Ultima because he was aware that his license was suspended after his previous DUIs. Plus, he knew that Bupinder wasn't supposed to leave the state, but he still gave him a place to stay when he showed up in Ohio. Not to mention the fact that he knew

about his son's violent nature and the threat that he posed to Nadia. But, day of court comes, and Bupinder and his father just don't show up. They don't even bother to hire a lawyer. In fact, a couple of months after Nadia's family files the lawsuit, Bupinder takes off and finds himself

once again with an active warrant for failing to report to his probation officer. After two years of no-shows in the civil case, the judge awards Nadia's family 10 million in damages. He doesn't rule on the merits of the case. But the Malik's attorney tells reporter Vinnie Vella that he sees the decision

as an indication the judge believes Bupinder and his dad bore some responsibility for Nadia's death. And, by the way, Nadia's family also thinks Bupinder is responsible for Alina's death. They're not sure how, but they think it's just too much of an awful coincidence for them to believe he didn't have a hand in it. And Mona says that the Springfield police

never conducted a real, thorough investigation when Alina died. For instance, Nadia and Bupinder were staying in a motel with Alina right before she died, but as far as Mona knows, police never questioned anyone there, or even checked the couple's phone records or surveillance cameras in the parking lot that they were in.

Anyway, it's unlikely that the family is ever even gonna see a dime of that 10 million because Bupinder apparently hasn't held a job. And I'm not sure what his father is up to. But the Maliks were never after money. It was answers that they wanted. It's not like they thought Bupinder would take the stand and admit to killing her, but they figured

maybe they'd learn more about Nadia's final days and hours. And even though they didn't get that chance in court, they do connect with others who are just as determined to find out what happened. Like private investigator Kevin Ryan, who provides his services to them at no charge. And Kevin is able to flesh out an interesting lead. It turns out that Bupinder used a video chat program

called PAL Talk in 2015 and 2016. And Kevin was able to put together a list of people that he'd been chatting with. Mona says that when Kevin reached out to those people, one woman told him Bupinder straight up confessed to her to murdering Nadia. So finally, for the first time, it seems like they have someone who can give them some real answers.

But the next day, that woman was nowhere to be found. And when Kevin spoke with her mother, he was told that she just didn't want to talk anymore. Another woman Bupinder was talking to gives Nadia's family screenshots of their chat. There's no confession in those, but he did ask the woman if she was only talking to him so she could collect the reward money.

And he told her he misses Nadia, although they had broken up a couple of months before she died. As of now, this case is still open, but it's not active. The Maliks want the Philadelphia Medical Examiner to perform another forensic exam, but they were told that there's not enough new information to justify it. And that's what the family is hoping this podcast episode

will bring, renewed interest and new information. Mona remembers when she and Nadia's other sister went to poke around for clues in Upper Darby, where Bupinder used to live. She says that a lot of people seem to be afraid of him or just didn't want to get involved. I mean, the community is home to a large population of immigrants who may be wary of police.

But she thinks that enough time maybe has passed, and maybe that will help lessen the fear, especially because it seems like Bupinders in Ohio now. At least that's where the most recent warrants were that we could find for him. In 2018, he was arrested for illegally distributing cigarettes. And surprise, surprise, he didn't show up for court. So if anyone is sitting on information about this case,

please contact Kevin Ryan at 267-225-8921. Tips can be confidential. There is a $60,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for Nadia's death. And if you or someone you love is a victim or survivor of domestic violence, help is available. Call the national hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.

Or you can visit this episode blog post or the show notes for resources. You can find all of our source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, at crimejunkiepodcast. And I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Crime junkie is an audio chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?