Rohinie Bisesar, a Toronto financial advisor, faces a charge of second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing a newlywed healthcare worker in an apparent random attack.
An MBA graduate from prestigious York University in Canada, Bisesar was evidently on the run for several days before she was detained by Toronto cops.
She was originally charged with attempted murder, but the charges were upgraded when the victim tragically died after several days in the hospital.
“Bisesar…strolled into a downtown Toronto drugstore on Dec. 11 and plunged a kitchen knife into the chest of Rosemarie Junor, 28, who had just gotten married,” the New York Pos t reported .
Based on current information, authorities have concluded that Bisesar, 40, and Junor were strangers to each other.
“She’s very well educated; she has no criminal record. It’s out of the blue,” a Toronto police spokesman remarked about the suspect.
After an initial court appearance that occurred on December 18, Bisesar is due back in court on January 8. If found guilty of second-degree murder, she could be jailed for life.
Now charged with 2nd degree murder, Rohinie Bisesar is remanded into custody, back in court Jan. 8 pic.twitter.com/o2XzxVOTNO
— Lama Nicolas (@Nicolas_Lama) December 18, 2015
Various media outlets report that despite her stellar credentials, Bisesar was chronically out of work and relied on a circle of friends to support her through periods of unemployment. Describing the suspect as “sweet but odd,” a friend noted that “her mental health had deteriorated recently and she was hospitalized in 2014. He said that she became detached from family and appeared paranoid,” the Daily Mail detailed .
Shortly before she was arrested, Bisesar allegedly wrote an email that stated in part, “Something has been happening to me and this is not my normal self and I would like to know who and why this is happening. There is either a single person or more responsible and who and why would be nice to know. I am sorry about the incidence. I felt the need to be extreme to see if it would work. I would normally not do such a thing,” the National Post reported .
Also a graduate of York, Junor worked as an occupational therapist in the financial district where the crime took place. “Our organization is like a big family and we are all grieving today for this loss. Rosemarie was just such a vibrant, happy and glowing person,” her employer said.
Added her brother, “She was young, energetic and hardworking. She just got married, got a house, (was) planning to have a family and we’re all sorry that she’s gone so early.”
The suspect was filmed on surveillance video leaving the drug store after the attack, and police released an image in hopes that the public would provide information leading to an arrest. In a news release at the time when she was wanted for attempted murder, Toronto police considered the suspect violent and dangerous.
Bisesar’s lawyer described his client as “very upset” and like a “deer in the headlights” and expressed concern as to how the “meek and quiet” woman would be able to cope while in custody at a detention center in Milton, Ontario,” CBC News explained. The attorney “wouldn’t comment on whether Bisesar has had a psychiatric evaluation, nor if she’s fully aware of what she’s accused of.”
The Toronto Globe and Mail described Rohinie Bisesar’s day-to-day life after she fell on hard times.
“…In an immaculate black suit and dress shirt, the MBA holder would go into the Starbucks on Yonge Street frequented by Toronto Mayor John Tory or set up at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, working on her tablet…The truth was that Ms. Bisesar, 40, spent her nights much like the panhandlers did, sleeping on subway trains and in the maze of tunnels and shops beneath the financial district, where she had once worked. But, during the day, she strove to find her next job in finance: showering, laundering her single suit and reading about the economy…”
[image via YouTube]