The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome back, everyone. Just at the top, I want to say thank you so much to everyone who's left us a review recently. We've gotten a lot on Apple iTunes. iTunes, I'm a thousand years old for saying that. On Apple Podcasts. Also, we've gotten some on our website, www .coldandmissing .com. So thank you if you've taken the time out to
review us. Five stars. I know I've said it before, but it goes a long way in getting others to listen to our podcast and get these cases out there. So thank you if you've done it. And if you haven't, I'm going to plug it right here. If you wouldn't mind just taking a second to review us, it really means so much to this podcast and the mission of the podcast, which is just getting these stories
out there. Yeah, the reviews mean, a lot to both Ali and I, but most importantly, it emphasizes and uplifts the thing that we're trying to do here, which is bring more awareness to these cases that we're covering. So thank you so much for doing that. But with that thank you and that plug out of the way, we'll go ahead and get into this week's case. Yeah, and we are on episode 144 this week. And this is a cold case. All right,
let's get into it. Today, we are covering the cold case of Marisha Cheong, and this takes place in December of 2012 in Jamaica, Queens, New York. But first, a little bit about Marisha. Marisha is only 24 years old in 2012. She was born in Guyana and was the oldest of four siblings. Her father still lived in Guyana, but her mother, Farida Ali, raised the children in New York. Family meant everything to Marisha. She talked to her mom every single day, and her mom remembers
her as the kindest soul. She says, quote, she was the sweetest person you'd ever meet. She would not harm anyone. Friends remembered how easily she smiled, even at strangers. Marisha was studying business administration at Long Island University and had recently re -enrolled in classes there. She loved interior design and dreamed of starting her own company one day. She was ambitious, bubbly, and full of life.
At the time, Marisha was living in Jamaica, Queens with her boyfriend of five years, 26 -year -old Latchman Balcaran. He went by the nickname LJ. LJ told friends he planned to propose around New Year's at one of their favorite restaurants. But Marisha's family worried. They thought that LJ was possessive and controlling. He knew all of her phone passwords and rarely left her side.
Her mom recalled, quote, Tension grew. While Marisha was going to school, LJ was working part -time as a delivery driver and was also pursuing a dream of his of becoming a Bollywood director. Money was tight with the couple, so they relied on Marisha's mother, who helped pay their rent, also paid for Marisha's classes, and even bought Marisha a car so she could get back and forth between her classes easier. However, LJ quickly commandeered the car and used it for his delivery
gig and would drive Marisha around instead. Farida grew frustrated and felt taken advantage of, so she said she would only pay for Marisha's college classes moving forward. Despite tensions at home, Marisha kept moving forward, smiling, planning for her future, decorating for the holidays, and planning family get -togethers. But just before Christmas, she disappeared. And now a timeline of events. December 19th. There are a few different reports about what happened this
day. This is the day that Marisha is last seen. LJ says a few different stories about this day. According to one report, the two of them get into a fight and she said that she needed a break and left the apartment around 10 .30 a .m. He said, quote, I thought she was upset. I thought she needed some time. She left just like that. We had an argument about the relationship. It wasn't serious. After Marisha left, LJ says that
they kept talking via text message. Eventually, LJ says that Marisha and him agreed to meet near the Forest Hills 71st Avenue subway station. When LJ arrives, Marisha is nowhere to be seen. From here, the text messages from her started to sound slightly off. He said, quote, the texts were suspicious. They didn't sound like her. She would normally call me babe or stinky boo -boo. She used another name. LJ wouldn't go into specifics about what exactly was in the text
beyond that. In another version of events, LJ says that he was out doing deliveries and that they were arguing over text messages. This does seem to be the story that he tells police eventually, and this is the story that he kind of maintains throughout the rest of the investigation. Marisha's mom and cousin also received text messages from her phone. To her mother, the messages read, quote, Mom, I'm fine. I just need a little time to think. I'm good. But Farida instantly knew
something was wrong. She said, quote, She never addressed me as mom. Wherever we were, whatever it was, she always called me mommy. Her cousin Audrey recalled, That when her aunt saw the word mom, she knew immediately that the message wasn't from her daughter. Audrey said, quote, she texted her right back and said, Marisha, call me this very instant. She knew something was wrong. But Marisha didn't call. And that day, she missed
her classes at Long Island University. At home, she left behind her iPad and both of her winter coats. Things she wouldn't have gone without in December. The family is immediately on edge when they couldn't get a hold of Marisha, but they believe that they will be able to see her the next day. The next day, Thursday, December 20th, Marisha has been missing for one day at this point. And this is the day that Marisha
is reported missing. She fails to show up at her younger brother's birthday celebration, a party that she had been planning for and had even been making custom t -shirts for. Her mom tries to get a hold of her, her siblings FaceTime call her, and everything goes unanswered. After this, her family reports her missing. They know that this is out of character for her. Police quickly question LJ. They bring him in for questioning.
It seems like sources told the local news that this is where LJ tells police that he was making deliveries that whole morning. That when he left their home that they shared together, she was asleep in bed in her pajamas and he left to go make deliveries. Police say that they are able to verify his whereabouts for Wednesday and they let him go. Over the upcoming weeks, Marisha's family take to social media trying to get the word out about their loved one. That she's missing.
That they can't find her. They haven't spoken to her and it's not like her to miss the holidays. It's unclear exactly what police are doing during this time in Marisha's case. However, on Saturday, February 16, 2013, so Marisha had been missing for 59 days at this point, Marisha's body is discovered. It had washed ashore at Breezy Point near the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. Her hands were bound behind her back, and her feet were also tied up. Rope had been used for both of
these. She was still wearing her multicolored pajama pants, a gray sweatshirt, and one black Ugga boot. There was a pair of headphones that were tangled up in her hair. Her earrings had remained on her body. Ultimately, that is what her mother will use as an ID. Police show her a picture of the earrings, and she instantly recognizes them as her daughter's. The autopsy revealed broken bones in both of her arms, a fracture on the right side of her neck, and bruising
across her body. But because she had been in the water for so long, the exact cause of death couldn't be determined. The medical examiner ultimately will rule her homicide as a homicidal violence of an unknown type. LJ reinforces to police and to Marisha's family that he was out making deliveries when Marisha went missing. Two days after Marisha's body was found, on February 18th, police bring in LJ for questioning again. Again, police release him without arresting him.
Police refuse to call him a suspect, but they also say that they haven't ruled him out completely. Marisha's family was certain LJ knew more than what he was saying. Her mom says, quote, LJ denied it. He said, quote, The next day, February 19th, so three days after her body was found, Police pulled surveillance footage from the area around Marisha's home. One camera across the street captured something important to the investigation. The video showed Marisha entering her home, but
about five minutes later, she left again. But this time, she wasn't alone. A woman appeared to be pulling her by the arm. Years later, Queens detective attorney Melinda Katz described the footage as, quote, it's very grainy. but it does show a female pulling Marusha out of the home. What it does show is that she didn't go willingly. The surveillance footage is very grainy. The footage comes from a home that's across the street,
but also like down a house. So Marisha's home is only really viewable in the top right -hand corner of the footage. And even then, it's really only the front gate that you can see of the home. You can't really see the front door at all. We will have this footage available on our Instagram, at coldandmissing, so you can go see it there. You are able to see figures, though, and what I'm talking about in this description. So go
check it out there. A week after she was found, on February 23, 2013, Marisha is laid to rest. Her family and friends gather to say goodbye, but LJ was not there. At the request of Marisha's family, he stayed away. It does take weeks for the autopsy results to come in, but finally, in May of 2013, so about 79 days after she was found, Authorities confirmed what the family and police already knew, that Marisha's death
was a homicide, as we already stated. But her exact cause of death could not be determined. And furthermore, because her body had been in the water for so long, they were not able to determine if she had even drowned or if she had been put into the water after her death. Her mother grew frustrated. She says, quote, I really want to know what happened to my daughter and why it's taking so long. That's all, really. If the public can help, if they know anything,
they should come forward. In October of 2013, about eight months after Marisha was found dead, police released the surveillance footage to the public. The NYPD labeled the unidentified woman in the video as a person of interest and that they wanted to locate her and they asked for the public's help. However, it doesn't appear that many... if any tips come in that help lead to the woman. Police try to find other surveillance
footage in this case. However, Hurricane Sandy had come through the area about two months before Marisha vanished, so a lot of security cameras in the area had been damaged by the storm, and they had not been replaced at this point, so surveillance footage was very limited. In 2024, so it's been over a decade, 11 years at this point, Marisha's case remains unsolved. The Queens DA's cold case unit still lists her murder as open. Police continue to seek the identity of
the woman in the surveillance footage. A modest reward has been offered for information, but so far, no arrests have been made. LJ has been questioned multiple times, but has never been named a suspect. To this day, Marisha's family believes he knows what happened. But that is truly all we know about the murder of Marisha
Cheong. So if you know anything about the murder of Marisha Cheong in December of 2012, please call the Queens District Attorney's Office at 718 -268 -6300 or the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1 -800 -577 -8477. So that is the cold case of Marisha Cheong. Marisha sounded like such a sunny, lovely, and light person in the way that you described her. And I've already seen some pictures of her, and she looks exactly the way all of her loved ones describe her as, just very
warm. And it's very sad that her light was... extinguished so early because she had a full future ahead of her, going back to school, very strong relationship with her family. Her life was, you know, budding, blooming, and it was cut off. So I'm, you know, I'm angry. I'm very angry. I was very angry listening to this because You know, there are signs and red flags in people's behavior in relationships, and that's very apparent here. And I'm glad you brought it to this podcast,
and I'm eager to talk about it with you. Yeah, Marisha was somebody who was deeply loved by her family and friends. And, you know, she was
described as someone very maternal. And so she had that, like, mothering instinct with... a lot of those around her where she just kind of loved and took care of everyone so yeah I echo everything you say that just an amazing person whose life was tragically cut short and how tragic is that that the world is missing this person with this light and this future ahead of them but yeah I think we should just go ahead and dig into this case a little bit Yeah, the first
thing I wanted to talk about, obviously, was her boyfriend, LJ. Even with what limited information available to us about LJ, there's some immediate red flags there, particularly about the passwords and the phone. In my opinion, it just didn't sound good. So I was on alert immediately. No matter what, everyone should have full... autonomy over themselves and their life, whether you're
in a relationship or not. But especially when you are in a relationship, being with someone else should help you to feel free, not caged. I was sad to hear that things like that were happening and immediately felt like it probably contributed to her disappearance. It's definitely concerning. Her family definitely raised the flag about her relationship. It seems like they were voicing these concerns to her prior to her disappearance, but then definitely after she
disappeared. Her mother especially made it known that she was suspicious of LJ. Yeah, there's a lot to talk about there and unpack, but for me, the biggest thing is just there's these kind of two different stories about what happened that day. And, you know, I went back when I was creating the script for the timeline and double checked my sources. And I was like, no, it does say this in this report. And then it says this
in this report. And then, you know, moving forward, it's that he was out delivering and he last saw her in bed. So, you know, I thought that was the biggest red flag for me. And that's never really been explained why there's two different stories there. Yeah. In this case, the odds are severely stacked against LJ. Things don't really look good for him from my point of view. I agree.
But then I have to think about the surveillance footage that comes into play where, you know, it shows a woman pulling her away from the house. And so then it's, well, who's this woman and how does she play into this and what's going on here? Because that does seem to be the last time that Marisha is seen is that surveillance footage. That is the last known sighting of her is her on that surveillance footage. So who is
that woman pulling her away from the house? And I would be curious to know how police are sure that it's a woman doing it. Because like I said, this footage is very grainy. It's very hard to see any detail. Yeah, something about Marisha. You know, one of her incredible qualities that you described is her relationship with her mother and her relationship with her family. The fact that she has such a strong connection to them makes it very difficult for her to disappear
her. And this surveillance video is... I mean, it's such a small moment in time, but it's the only moment where, you know, she's not on her phone. She's not talking to anyone in her family. No one from her family is with her. Like, it's a moment where she's rarely alone. And within that moment, pulled away. I have no idea what
to make of that surveillance video. My mind went in a hundred different directions, but I'm so glad that it exists because it's such a rarity that footage like this exists in cases like this that I just feel grateful that it does. Yes, the surveillance footage is one of the very few clues we have in this case, so I am very grateful that it does exist and gives us... Just some insight, like as that detective says, like it shows that she wasn't going willingly, whatever
was happening. So like that is giving us some clues, some direction, some information. So I am glad that it exists. I just wish we had more more evidence, more anything to go off of. You know, I if I could know anything about this case, I would wonder if police have been able to pull
anything else, if they have maybe. something else that they're trying to not release to the public just to point us in any direction but obviously I'm not going to know that they're not going to tell me that but I do feel that this case is solvable and I know how deeply like her family misses her and wants answers in her case so I know that they are going to keep energy on her case and like try to keep her name in the spotlight and I do have hopes that this case
can be solved and we will get answers yeah again just to mention the strong relationship she had with her family the one she had with her mom seemed um very very special and that there was so much love there and continues to be and The way her mom advocates for her now, listening to her talk about her daughter, about Marisha, I immediately sided with her. It's difficult not to. It seems like she knows her daughter
very, very well. Yeah, her mom has been absolutely one of the biggest advocates in this case, as well as her siblings. As they've gotten older, they, you know, grappled with the loss of their older sister and are looking for these answers as well. So I just really hope that we have some evidence that we're able to test, do something. I just really want this case solved. And, you know, I have to. Over this last decade, police have never named LJ officially as a suspect.
He's never even been named a person of interest. The only person of interest is the person in the surveillance video. But. Police have also been very careful to say that nobody has been ruled out either. So everyone's kind of still on the table at this point until we know something firmer. We just we have to suspect everybody. And I really, really want justice in Marisha's
case. So again, if you know anything about the murder of Marisha Cheong in December of 2012, please call the Queens District Attorney at 718. 286 -6300 or the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1 -800 -577 -8477. As I mentioned in the timeline, we do have that surveillance footage on our Instagram at coldandmissing. Go check it out. See what we're talking about with the grainy footage. But you can see Marisha being pulled in the opposite direction and kind of getting pulled out of frame.
So go take a look at it. Let us know your thoughts. Let us know what you see, what you think. We'd love to hear it. And we also will just have photos of Marisha. And Marisha with her loved ones. So go take a look and you'll see that bubbly, smiling person that we were talking about in this episode and that loving person that was loved by so many. So at Cold and Missing, check it out. That's where we're at. And if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can
always go to our website, www .coldandmissing .com, where we have our official transcripts. So that is where I go through. I update spellings and make sure everything's correct. So you can go find that there, www .coldandmissing .com, along with all of our older episodes as well. And like I mentioned at the top, I'll just mention it briefly again. If you could leave us a five -star review, it goes so far in getting these stories out there and getting other people to
listen, give us a chance. So truly five stars goes a long way. It's a perfect way to support the podcast and to support these cold cases and missing people we report on. But that is all I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe, y 'all.