Harshita Brella: Six unanswered questions after young woman's body found stuffed in car boot

Harshita Brella disappeared on Wednesday and was found dead in a car boot 100 miles from her home on Thursday as questions surround her mysterious disappearance and death

Unanswered questions surround the mysterious disappearance and death of a 24-year-old woman.

Harshita Brella disappeared on Wednesday and was found dead in a car boot 100 miles from her home on Thursday.

Northamptonshire Police were called on Wednesday by someone raising concerns for Harshita’s welfare. Officers called round at her home on Sturton Walk, Corby, but reportedly they received no answer at the door.

A missing persons investigation was opened and the police enquiries were fast-tracked before her body was found 96 miles away in Ilford on Brisbane road on Thursday.

A postmortem at Leicester Royal Infirmary confirmed on Friday that Harshita had been murdered. No arrests have been made and police have appealed to the public for information.

Screams on the street?

Locals living on Brisbane street where her body was found described it as a “rough” area with drug dealers and “attacks” commonplace. One person said police had been focusing on a car in the street with a forensic tent set up which was removed on Friday.

“There was screaming on the street earlier in the week,” one neighbour told the Mail. “It's rough around here so I didn't bat an eyelid. There's always drug dealing and attacks and all sorts.”

Previous contact?

Northamptonshire Police have had previous contact with Harshita, they said. The force made a mandatory self-referral to the IOPC after what they described as ‘previous contact’ with Harshita.

Domestic violence?

Harshita was made subject of a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) at Northampton Magistrates Court in September, two months before her death.

These are orders made by courts at the request of police designed to stop domestic abusers contacting victims in the period between a suspicion being raised and a charge being made.

The order, which lasted only 28 days banned the perpetrator, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from visiting her workplace. The order prevented him from molesting her, threatening violence, or intimidating, harassing or pestering her.

The man was released following the court hearing and no formal charges were brought against him but he was told to pay costs.

Why so far away?

Harshita’s body was found in the boot of a car in Ilford 95.7 miles from her home in Corby. How she got there and why the car was left at this location remains a mystery. Neighbours on Brisbane road said police had been present in huge numbers.

“Officers swarmed all over the street and were here for hours. It looked incredibly serious,” they told the Mail.

Fight at shared house?

Yesterday neighbours told reporters that the house in Corby where Harshita lived had been used as an HMO (house of multiple occupation) which had had 12 people living in it at one point last year.

The number of occupants has since reduced and the house had been largely peaceful since some noise complaints were resolved last year, the Northampton Chronicle reports. The neighbour said she believed that the house had Bulgarian, Moldovan and Portuguese resident.

She said she had heard a disturbance at the property earlier this week. "The way that gate slammed I knew something had happened.

“Someone took off quickly. I had heard banging coming from the house and then they obviously just legged it,” she told the paper.

Did she know her killer?

Police have said that Harshita was killed by someone they believe was “known to her”. Superintendent Steve Freeman from Northamptonshire Police said cops “believe that this was a targeted incident and there is no wider risk to members of the public.”

Police have been questioning people living near the scene in Ilford. “They seem to suggest they know who did it. From what they said to me I bet it sounds like a man who knew her. They seemed to want to know about men in particular,” a neighbour who did not wish to be named told the Mail.

Police have asked anyone with information to contact police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.