Torchlit tribute to Corby woman Harshita Brella as remains due to be repatriated to India
Mourners joined a torchlight vigil to remember a woman found dead in the boot of a car as preparations were made to return her body to her family in India.
Northamptonshire Police believe 24-year-old Harshita Brella was strangled at her home in Corby and are seeking her husband Parkaj Lamba, 23, as the prime suspect.
Police said the return of Ms Brella's body, along with sentimental personal items, would help her family to begin arrangements for her funeral.
Det Ch Insp Johnny Campbell said police were in regular contact with the family at what he described as "this very difficult time".
He said: "We have worked together with Harshita's family to arrange for her body to be repatriated to her family home this weekend."
His remarks came as around fifty people gathered for a minute's silence in Corby to remember Ms Brella.
People joining in were asked to bring a torch or use their mobile phone to light a pathway along Pat Fawcett Way through Hazel Woods.
Organiser Lou Cory, from the Labour Party's Corby and East Northants Women’s Branch, said: "Corby as a town has always come together as a community and this story has saddened our community.
"This is a young woman who came to Corby and made this her home - I just want to tell her family we are thinking of them and we feel their pain at this time and we'd like to extend our best wishes."
Detectives from the East Midlands Serious Crime Unit have been piecing together hours of CCTV footage to track the movements of Ms Brella and her husband as they try to establish the full circumstances leading up to her death.
Ms Brella's body was found inside the boot of a car in Ilford in London on Thursday, 14 November.
Police suspect that she was killed by her husband in Corby, before he drove her body to London, abandoned the car, and fled the country.
An international manhunt has been launched to find him.
Last week detectives investigating Ms Brella's murder released a CCTV image that they believe was taken on the night she was killed.
The photograph shows Ms Brella, and her husband walking around Corby Boating Lake in Northamptonshire on Sunday 10 November.
Det Ch Insp Campbell said: "We are continuing to appeal for further information from people in Corby.
“It's a busy part of the town with a lot of passing traffic, and we'd really like to hear from anyone who was in that part of Corby between 6pm and 9pm on Sunday, November 10, specifically in the area of Cottingham Road, near to the boating lake.
“If you have any dashcam footage, or other information that may be relevant to the investigation, however small, please contact us as soon as possible."
The force earlier confirmed Mrs Brella had spent time in a refuge following an allegation of domestic abuse two-and-a-half months before her death and had been identified as "high risk of domestic abuse".
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