FORT MYERS, Fla. — Fort Myers Police have arrested a man in connection to a 2007 cold case homicide.
40-year-old Kultar Goraya is charged with second degree murder for killing his wife Rupinder Goraya.
WINK News obtained exclusive details from Kultar’s arrest report. The information is below:
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In December 2007, Lee County law enforcement dove into the retention pond at Montego Bay apartments, looking for the body of Rupinder Goraya, who disappeared two months earlier.
Rupinder’s co-workers at Southwest Regional Hospital reported her missing on October 19, 2007, but her body was never located.
Even without a body today, Fort Myers police say they finally have enough evidence to charge her husband, Kultar Goroya, with murder.
“It’s a great feeling. we do this for the victim’s families. They had to go 7 years without knowing what happened to their sister, their daughter, relative, and now they are able to have closure for her disappearing,” said Sergeant Brian O’Reilly, of the Fort Myers Police Department.
Detectives got a break in the case when investigators with the television program “Cold Justice,” came to Fort Myers to help.
The team worked closely with Fort Myers detectives to investigate the case over a two week period in November of 2014, while filming an episode for the program.
“They were able to provide some sort of expertise, some consultation, financial resources for a trip to Washington State, forensic examination, some other stuff,” said O’Reilly.
At the time the warrant was approved, Goraya was in the custody of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office for an aggravated assault.
Goraya was transported from the Manatee County Jail to the Lee County Jail. Tuesday, he made his first court appearance and was held without bond.
Police say they have a strong case against Kultar Goraya.
He flew to India with the couple’s son shortly after she disappeared on October 2, 2007, and never reported her missing. Rupinder’s co-workers did instead.
In an arrest warrant obtained exclusively by WINK News, family members say when he arrived in India, he had some of Rupinder’s clothes, makeup and even wedding ring with him.
He later told police when he returned, that she ran off to New York.
The warrant shows that over the years, he told also police she left for California and Orlando instead.
Roommates and family members of Kultar say he admitted to killing her saying things like “”she is gone, there is no single proof.”
And “said that he had killed Rupinder, and paid a man to dispose of her body.”
Additional information from the warrant showed that there was a history of domestic violence in the marriage.
Rupinder also suffered from diabetes and needed daily medication.
She had just received surgery from stomach cancer as well.