Thursday, November 26, 2009

Washed Up Body Identified as Tattooed Mom from Queens, N.Y. - The Trentonian News

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A missing Queens, N.Y., mother with a sister in Willingboro has been identified as the woman whose tattooed body was found washed up on Newbold Island in the Delaware River.

Farisha Rahamot-Ali, 38, was a native of Trinadad who was reported missing in New York City on Oct. 27. A kayaker found the body on Nov. 14 on the northwest bank of the island which is part of Mansfield Twp., Burlington County.

But nobody knew who the woman was, until recently, when her sister who lives in Willingboro “was searching the New Jersey State Police Web site when she saw the press release with a composite drawing and photos of her sister’s tattoos,” reported Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Jones.

Rahamot-Ali is decorated with a colorful phoenix tattoo on her shoulder, and flowers around an ankle. The sister, who was not identified yesterday, then contacted detectives at the NJSP’s Bordentown station “to tell them of her suspicion that the body was that of her sister.”

Jones said Rahamot-Ali was positively identified by dental records.

The death has been termed very suspicious, but an autopsy Nov. 15 by the Burlington County Medical Examiner failed to define the cause and manner of death.