Preethi Reddy: Death-crash suicide twist to dentist-in-suitcase murder

The family of Sydney dentist Preethi Reddy, stabbed by a former boyfriend who never got over their breakup, react to her “unthinkable’’ murder.

Preethi Reddy with her ex-boyfriend Harshwardhan Narde.

A Sydney dentist whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in the boot of her parked car on Tuesday was murdered by a former boyfriend who never got over their break-up, police sources have ­revealed.

Preethi Reddy, 32, was last seen alive on CCTV vision at the Swissotel in Sydney’s CBD in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Her ex-boyfriend, Harshwardhan Narde, also a dentist, had booked the hotel for the weekend and the pair had attended a dental conference together.

Police won’t confirm whether the pair had stayed together at the hotel, but investigators believe Dr Reddy was stabbed to death by her former lover just hours after she was seen on the hotel security vision­.

he body of 32-year-old woman Preethi Reddy was found stuffed in a suitcase in a Kingsford lane on Tuesday night. Picture: L. Costa Photography

Before her body was even discovered, however, Dr Narde was also dead. Police believe he had deliberat­ely driven his BMW into the path of a semi-trailer on the New England Highway near Tamworth­ in northeast NSW about 10pm on Monday.

Dr Reddy’s sister Nithya last night said the murder was “unthinkable”. “Words cannot capture the pain we are feeling with the passing of my beautiful big sister,” Nithya Reddy said in a statement. “Our family, particularly my parents and Preethi’s partner, are going through the hardest thing that anyone can endure.

A catalogue of murder. Source: The Australian

“Prior to this unthinkable event, she had been the happiest I’d ever seen her – she was living her best life.

“Our family will never be the same without Preethi in our lives.”

CCTV footage at McDonald’s on George Street captured Dr Reddy buying two bottles of water at 2.15am on Sunday before leaving alone. Security vision from the Swissotel also shows her entering the hotel early on Sunday.

Harshwardhan Narde who died in a fiery crash after speaking with police about his ex-girlfriend.

Later, at 11am, Dr Reddy rang her family to say she would head home after a late breakfast. When she failed to appear­ later that day, her family raised the alarm.

On Monday, Dr Reddy’s curren­t boyfriend, who has asked not to be named, posted desperate pleas on the Facebook page Help Find Preethi Reddy, saying he was “super worried” about her safety.

Yesterday he returned to Facebook with a tribute to his dead girlfriend: “I’ll see you again one day … and we’ll continue where we left off my angel.”

A Facebook post, since deleted, by the Oasis Smiles Dental clinic, where Harshwardhan Narde worked.

Police discovered Dr Reddy’s body at 9.30pm on Tuesday, hidden­ in a suitcase in the boot of her Volkswagen Golf, which had been parked in Kingsford in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. She had suffered­ multiple stab wounds.

Detective Superintendent Gav­in Dengate said yesterday that police had spoken with Dr Narde just hours before he died, as part of “standard” inquiries into Dr Reddy’s disappearance. Hours later, he deliberately drove head-on into a semi-trailer.

Police are now trawling through CCTV footage to help establish whether Dr Reddy’s body was transported from the hotel in the suitcase or whether she was murdered at another location.

The scene of the crash of the man suspected of killing a Sydney dentist.

A dentist also at the conference told The Daily Telegraph he had seen the pair. “They looked happy and stayed back to chat after the conference ended at 6.30pm. I knew they were in a long-term relations­hip — many of us did.”

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— With AAP