Missing
Promila Daman Mehta-Paul
Promila, approximately 2011; Promila's Toyota RAV4; Paresh Paul
Date and time person was reported missing : 03/21/2011
Missing location (approx) :
Munster, Indiana
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
Asian
DOB : 09/19/1940 (80)
Age at the time of disappearance: 70 years old
Height / Weight : 5'0 - 5'2, 130 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Asian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Promila was born in India. Her native languAge at the time of disappearance: is Hindi. She has had a hysterectomy.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Promila was last seen near her home in the 9000 block of Twin Creek Boulevard in Munster, Indiana on March 21, 2011. She worked at her office, where she was an opthamologist, until 5:00 p.m., then went to First Financial Bank and made a deposit, something she did every day after work.
She has never been heard from again. Her car, a gold 2001 Toyota RAV4 with the Indiana license plate number DW2031 or the California license plate number 6LHZ319, disappeared with her and was never found. A photo of the car is posted with this case summary.
Promila was reported missing the next day after she failed to show up for rounds at the local hospital. It's uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning, or miss work without notifying her staff. She hadn't made any major financial transactions right before her disappearance, no drugs were Missing location (approx) : her home, and she didn't leave any kind of note.
Promila's son, Paresh Paul, moved in with her a short time before her disappearance. Her other children lived in southern California. A photo of Paresh is posted with this case summary. He also uses the names Paul Monet Fountaine, Omar Ahmed and Paul Asconte.
He left the area shortly after his mother's disappearance and was detained at the border crossing San Ysidro, California on March 26, when he tried to cross into Mexico on foot with no luggAge at the time of disappearance: or other belongings. Police questioned him about Promila's disappearance and he refused to say how he'd gotten to the border or where his mother or her car was. He'd left his own Acura, without the license plate, at Promila's home, and said he didn't know what had happened to the plate.
Promila and her ex-husband, Shashi Daman Paul, who is a pediatrician, married in Punjab, India in 1971, six months after the death of Shashi's first wife. They had three sons and became wealthy, but Promila claimed her husband began physically abusing her in the mid-1980s and she filed for divorce in 1991.
The divorce wasn't final until 1995 and they continued to have acrimonious court battles and Promila hired and fired at least 17 attorneys over the years. A judge in the case believed that both Promila and Shashi had lied and failed to divide their assets fairly. Some of the court disputes were still pending by the time of Promila's disappearance, twenty years after the divorce filing.
Shashi has remarried and now lives back and forth between Indiana and California. He's been ruled out as a suspect in Promila's case, as have two of their sons, but Paresh is considered a person of interest.
Paresh allegedly has anger problems and had physically abused his mother before, although she never pressed charges against him. He has an arrest record for public intoxication, driving under the influence, and battery. Investigators searched Promila's home several times and found evidence that leads them to believe she was murdered and her son was responsible for her death.
Paresh remained in her home after her disappearance. In October 2012, he was sentenced to five years in prison for forgery. He sold a black 2010 Toyota Rav4 owned by PMP Associates, a health care services company, claiming he was the chief financial officer of the corporation. Promila is the registered Age at the time of disappearance: nt, principal and secretary of PMP Associates.
Promila graduated from the Christian Medical College in the Indian state of Punjab. Her case remains unsolved. Foul play is suspected.
Other information and links : ncy
Munster Police Department
219-836-6600
September 2021 updates and sources
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
WLS-TV
MyFox Chicago
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
