An Indian-origin cancer researcher and a mother of two was murdered and her body dumped near a creek in Texas. Sarmistha Sen was reportedly out on her daily jog in Plano, a suburb near Dallas, when she was attacked and killed. The incident happened last weekend and police have initiated a homicide investigation.
Police have arrested a person in a burglary incident just around the same time Sen was murdered and suspect the man to be related in the slaying of the cancer researcher. Even Sen's family members are clueless about the reason behind her brutal murder. The 43-year-old Sen was an avid runner who took the same stretch every morning, according to her family.
Killed Brutally
Sen's body was discovered around 7 am near a creek at Legacy Drive and Marchman Way on Saturday morning, less than two hours after she went out on her regular run along the Chisholm Trail. According to police she was randomly attacked and killed while on her daily jog. About the same time Sen's body was discovered, police had received a call over a burglary from a nearby home. Following that, police tracked and arrested a 29-year-old Bakari Moncrief.
Moncrief is accused of burgling the house and police now suspect him to having killed Sen on the way before he reached the house. Moncrief is an out-of-state person and was reportedly visiting his relatives in Plano. He is now is being held on $1 million bond on the burglary charge as police investigate his possible link to the murder.
However, the police are still not sure if Moncrief murdered Sen and hence hasn't been charged over her killing. "We have our suspicions, but we have to have proof," said Plano Police Officer David Tilley.
Killed for No Fault
Police suspect that Sen had probably seen the burglar and that she might have been killed for no fault of hers. The 'close proximities and very close time frames' of the cases have raised suspicions about Moncrief's possible involvement in Sen's death, the police said. Her body was discovered 20 to 25 feet below the creek by a passerby who informed the police.
Sen and her husband were married in India before moving to Texas to continue her higher education. The couple has two sons – 12-year-old Neil and Ryan, 6. According to a biography posted by her family on to the website CaringBridge, Sen was regularly into running. "She was passionate about cancer care and was a lifelong supporter of cancer research," the biography further read.
Sen's killing is just another example of the serious issues women in the US commonly face while out running. A 2016 survey from Runner's World found that 43 percent of women at least sometimes experience harassment on the run compared with just 4 percent men.
