Dr. Sneha A. Philip - UPDATE!

[ZanzibarBlue]

In response to MetalHybrid's msg., I googled Dr. Philip's name and came across an article in upcoming issue of New York Magazine on her case, which will be on news stands tomorrow. If you recall, she was the young Indian doctor who disappeared the day before Sept. 11th in lower Manhattan. The link to the article is below:

http://newyorkmetro.com/news/features/17336/

Although she remains missing, the article provides insightful new updates, such as the allegation that "[p]olice reports and court documents describe a life that was reeling out of control in the months leading upo to Sneha's disappearance." The article states that Dr. Philip's residency was not renewed (e.g., she was fired) citing tardiness and "alcohol-related" issues. The article goes on to state that Dr. Philip was arrested and spent a night in jail where she meditated with a cellmate, following a bar fight. The article reveals that "Sneha was also experiencing marital problems in the months after she was fired from Cabrini, according to court papers, and 'often stayed out all night with individuals (not known to her husband) whome she met at various bars.'" In an explosive revelation, the magazine reports:

"She favored the loungy midtown lesbian bar Julie’s, the rocker-dyke bar Henrietta Hudson’s, and the divey gay rock club Meow Mix. According to the investigations, Sneha’s indiscretions appear to have reached a low point in the month prior to her disappearance. A police report says that her brother John walked in on her and his girlfriend—now the mother of his son—having sex. Her alleged struggles with depression, alcohol, and her sexuality spilled over into her new job as well. Staten Island’s St. Vincent’s Medical Center suspended her for failing to meet with her substance-abuse counselor.

Apparently these problems reared up again on the day she disappeared. Sneha had a court date on the morning of September 10, 2001, where she pleaded not guilty to the charge of filing a false complaint. Ron went with her before he left for work. According to the police report, the couple got into a “big fight” at the courthouse because Ron was upset that Sneha “was abusing drugs and alcohol and was conducting bisexual acts.” In this account, Sneha stormed out of court, leaving Ron behind."

Wow! This is a UM case that has always affected me deeply as I've noted in previous posts. This article puts her disappearance in an entirely new light. I seriously doubt now that she was killed in the Twin Towers collapse, given that she stormed out of court on the same day as her disappearance. I'm leaning very much now towards a voluntary disappearance on her part, either starting a new life, or potentially suicide. Incredible!

[crystaldawn]

Wow thanks for posting that link....very interesting! She did seem to be leading somewhat of a double life but I do still think she is deceased. Even if she wanted to start a new life she would have undoubtedly known about the 9/11 attacks and would have wanted to see if her family and friends were okay. Plus with her picture circulated everywhere if she was still alive and living elsewhere someone would have spotted her. I found it very interesting the part where they say right before the Twin Towers were hit there was video surveillance of a woman identical to Sneha in the lobby of her apartment building. Its strange that she turned around and left though and didn't continue on to her apartment (if it was in fact Sneha). The mystery deepens........

[ZanzibarBlue]

In my opinion, it is unconscionable that the family, particularly her brother, has withheld pertinent details concerning Dr. Philip's disappearance in order to portray her as a "hero" of 9/11. I appreciate their loss and their desire to locate her, but for her brother to lie to reporters and state that he spoke with her as she was going in to the Tower to save people, is an offense to the memory of those who we did so. I also find troubling the filing of a 9/11 victim's compensation claim to the tune of approx. $4 million for the purported reason of establishing a memorial fund. Of all of the circumstances of her disappearance, including the ones that are just coming to light, none place her at ground zero the morning of 9/11. Maybe I would feel differently if I was in there shoes, but it is troublesome.

One of the items in the article that gave me pause was the comment that the only surveillance footage in the Century 21 shopping area taken the day she disappeared, showed that Dr. Philip was shopping alone, and that the only evidence of a mysterious friend accompanied her was from a sales clerk who made the remark. I thought I remember UM showing this surveillance footage and highlighting the woman next to Dr. Philip as the "person of interest." I did not realize that there was no surveillance footage of this person. Does anyone else remember this?

[PrettyinPink55]

Goodness!!!! Who knew there was so much more to that case!!!
Thanks for posting that!!! I find this case very interesting, and of course sad, set behind the backdrop of 9/11.

[nohwheregirl]

Jeeeez...I'll be darned. The waters are much more murky than any of us thought. While I agree with her family that no one should be blamed for their own death just because they partied and had problems at work, I do find the following statement from her husband EXTREMELY naive and unconvincing:

"Sneha liked to see live bands and to have an occasional drink, and she preferred to do so at lesbian bars, where men would not hit on her—particularly after the groping incident, Ron says. She spent a few nights with women she met out on the town, but they talked or made art or listened to music until they fell asleep, he insists."

The husband's attitude tells me something just isn't right here (not to mention his completely illogical argument...Hello! Lesbians are into other women, dude! If I don't feel like getting groped, I'm headed to a bar frequented by gay MEN). None of the new info leads me to think that suicide is a more probable scenario, but I'm not any more convinced that she died in the towers either. It would be interesting to learn more about the surveillance footage from her apartment building.

I only vaguely remember the surveillance footage of her shopping. Did they actually show the alleged friend in the video? I thought that they did, but I could be wrong. It's always possible that there just happened to be another Indian woman shopping in the store at the same time as Sneha and the clerk assumed that they knew each other.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Wow... interesting layer to the story that we didn't know before. And while I don't think that Dr. Philip should be blamed for her own disappearance and/or death, I do think that if this "double life" theory is true, it was certainly careless.

In any case, though, if she died in the Twin Towers, her name should be included in the memorial. But the question still remains: was she there?

[rerungirl]

Fascinating article. I'm not sure which way I'm leaning now. If she did quarrel with her husband at the courthouse the day she disappeared (which her husband denies) it makes me think she may have just left on her own. Also, the surveillance footage in her apartment building showed a woman with no shopping bags. Maybe she had already left her purchases somewhere else and was going back to the apartment to retrieve a few things before leaving for good. Still, you can't rule out the possibility that she did rush to the towers when she heard what had happened. This is an absolute mystery and ranks among the top ten of all the ones UM ever profiled. (IMO anyway).

[ddelta]

The surveillience video showed only Sneha by the coat rack but on the way out there are a bunhc of people walking out with her and they thought the woman might be next to her. However, you can't realy tell.

That was a great article. Makes me look at her "disappearence' in a whole new light!

[LooksLikeCRicci]

This is probably WAY off base, but for the sake of argument, let's assume that all the allegations of Dr. Philips' "double life" were actually true... has anyone looked at her husband as a suspect?

Let's look at it this way: They were last seen fighting in court on September 10th, and she didn't come home that night, which the husband knew, but failed to call anyone to check on her whereabouts. I'm not trying to accuse anyone of anything, but it does make for an interesting alternate theory...

[ZanzibarBlue]

Interesting . . . her brother also seems to be a natural suspect given that he lived in the area, they were not on speaking terms and the alleged bisexual encounter b/w his sister and his wife. He also admitted to lying about the facts surrounding her disappearance and appears to have been the one to "float" the story of her going into the Twin Towers to save people. The problem that I find w/ the murder angle is that it would have been incredibly difficult to pull off given the location, lower Manhattan. How do you murder someone in an apartment building w/o anyone hearing anything, take the body down to a car w/o being seen (presuming you own a car in NYC, which I'm not sure any of the principals involved did), and then drive in the middle of the night, presumably off the island, and dispose of the body in an area with which you're not familiar a manner that it's never found? Very unlikely that it would be a crime of passion by a relative or family member. Possbily a stranger who lived out of NYC or in a secluded area of the 5 boroughs, but still, why didn't anyone see her with him/her?

IMO, suicide is a real possibility here. She suffered from depression and was engaging in self-destructive behavior. Her life was "spiraling out of control." Her husband reported that a 4 am call was made on the night she disappeared from inside their apartment to his cell phone. Possibly her trying to leave him a farewell msg. after returning to the apt., but for some reason being unable or unwilling to do so. Her possible appearance on the apt. surveillance camera shows a figure walking to the elevator bank, waiting, and then leaving after several minutes. This suggests she was struggling w/ a weighty decision, or despondent. If she was alive when the first plane hit, her viewing it and the smoke pouring out of the tower may have heightened her distress. She worked on Staten Island and lived near the ferry station. Many people have committed suicide by jumping off the ferry into upper NY bay, and it is very difficult to see anyone go overboard due to the ferry's design. It is thought that this is how monologist Spaulding Gray took his own life, and to my knowledge, his body was never found. Apparently the tides in upper NY bay and the flow of the Hudson and East Rivers tend to pull bodies under easily and take them quickly into the Atlantic.

Unfortunately, this case appears to be one that will remain and Unsolved Mystery.

[Aaron321]

i think this is going to be a very tough one considering what happened the next day.

[mistagee]

she was killed by her husband, I am sure of it, because in Indian culture, women who disrespect their husbands are killed, it happens here all the time, in India women are killed all the time by their husbands. So Im sure once he found out she was doing things he disapproved of, her killed her that nite, and it just happened before 9/11 and thats why no one checked

Another similar case, "cali" is the unidentified murder victim from Caledonia NY who was discovered the day the hostage crisis erupted in Iran (hell). The focus was off her murder and she was never ID'd.

[nohwheregirl]

Originally Posted by mistagee

she was killed by her husband, I am sure of it, because in Indian culture, women who disrespect their husbands are killed, it happens here all the time, in India women are killed all the time by their husbands. So Im sure once he found out she was doing things he disapproved of, her killed her that nite, and it just happened before 9/11 and thats why no one checked

Another similar case, "cali" is the unidentified murder victim from Caledonia NY who was discovered the day the hostage crisis erupted in Iran (hell). The focus was off her murder and she was never ID'd.

This post is extremely offensive and way off base. There may be reasons to suspect that Ron Lieberman, as the article says "a Jewish boy from L.A.," might hurt his wife, but Indian culture is not one of them. I would suggest actually reading the article before you jump to ridiculous conclusions like that.

[Brent88]

This is extremely interesting. I have been fascinated by this case mainly due to the 9/11 connection.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by mistagee

she was killed by her husband, I am sure of it, because in Indian culture, women who disrespect their husbands are killed, it happens here all the time, in India women are killed all the time by their husbands.

Even if that WERE true, it isn't relevent. Sneha's husband isn't Indian. And he never lived in India. So, I doubt he would simply take on that, ummmm, tradition?

I think you're way off base there.