Last November, someone doused Nancy Grewal’s porch and lit it on fire. Four months later, she was stabbed to death outside a home in LaSalle. Now her sister wonders why police didn’t appeal for leads in the arson sooner.
OPP are asking for public’s help in identifying whoever set fire to Nancy Grewal’s front porch last year
CBC News
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Last November, someone doused Nancy Grewal’s porch and lit it on fire. Four months later, she was stabbed to death outside a home in LaSalle.
Now her sister, Alishaa Grewal, is wondering why police didn’t release photos and video of the arson and ask the public for leads until after Nancy died.
On Sunday, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) released visuals of the arson, saying the homicide and the arson could be connected. That release also said Windsor police have been investigating the arson for months.
The timing still makes Alishaa wonder.
“To Windsor police, I just want to say if she had been saying since November, that ‘somebody is threatening me or someone set fire on my deck’, then what was police doing at that time?” she said.
“Why are they not listening at that time? Why did they not take action on it?”
Nancy Grewal, a 45-year-old Windsor woman, was stabbed several times outside a Todd Lane home in LaSalle at about 9:30 p.m. on March 3. She was at the home working as a personal support worker. Police say she died in hospital.
Less than a week before her death, Nancy Grewal spoke to CBC News about threats she said she was facing, including the arson attack at her residence. She said she’d received about 40 death threats and reported them to Windsor police.
CBC tried to confirm reports of an arson attack and death threats with Windsor police multiple times before Grewal’s death but didn’t receive a response.
As for the timing of the video release, “because this matter may be connected to an active homicide investigation, we are unable to comment on any questions about the case,” the Windsor Police Service said in a statement Monday.
“Public news releases may or may not be considered by investigators for a variety of reasons, including confidentiality considerations, the need to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations, and ensuring the safety of individuals involved.”
OPP said investigators from the Windsor Police Service Arson Unit investigated that incident “and followed all possible leads”. Their investigation remains ongoing, and a suspect has not yet been identified.
Arson takes high priority: former police officer
Jake Shen, a criminal defense lawyer, said he understands Alishaa’s frustrations. But he said it’s too early to determine if the video should have been released sooner.
Shen, a former Toronto Police Service officer, said the speed of an investigation really depends on whether the officers are able to gather sufficient leads and evidence.
Shen said it’s difficult to investigate online threats, especially when local police have limited resources.
“But when it escalates to arson, that type of crime takes much higher priority, at least based on my knowledge, to be investigated,” he said.
Shen said police need to go through a chain of command to send out a media release.
“The investigation is still at an early stage and the officers are trying to collect as much evidence as possible, but there is also a possibility that they hit a road block,” he said of Nancy Grewal’s homicide.
“So they are right now reaching out to the public and seeing whether sufficient additional evidence will surface or not.”
Sister says the killing was ‘well planned’
Alishaa said police haven’t told her how many people they believe were involved in her sister’s death.
Police told her that her sister was stabbed in the back, she said, and the puncture hit her lungs.
“They told me that they stabbed her and she ran towards the door,” she said, but the door was already locked.
WATCH | Nancy Grewal provided this video to CBC News before her death:
Nancy Grewal told CBC News that this camera footage showed someone setting fire to her porch
Nancy Grewal told CBC News that this camera footage showed someone setting fire to her porch.
“The police told me the patient made the 911 call,” she said. “And they tell them ‘someone stabbed my PSW nurse, come soon.’”
Alishaa is urging anyone with any information on the stabbing or the arson attack to come forward.
“It’s all well planned. I’m sure about it.”
‘We need justice’
Alishaa Grewal said Nancy was a professional singer before moving to Canada in summer 2018. She said Nancy came here as a permanent resident with her ex-husband and they amicably divorced later that year.
Nancy eventually became a PSW, working at two companies in Windsor. She said Nancy worked in the UK in a similar position in early 2000s, which helped her get her Canadian certification.
She said it was Nancy’s dream to start a health-care business to hire more PSWs.
“She was a very kind-hearted, very helpful person,” she said. “She helped so many people in Windsor… She helped many, many women in Windsor who were going through domestic abuse.”
Alishaa said Nancy was also sending money back home to her mother and her niece’s education.
“Please investigate this seriously,” she said, in tears. “We need justice.”