Does anyone have any theories regarding the disappearance of Dr. Sneha Philip, the yound resident who disappeared the day before 9/11 in lower Manhattan? Below is a description of the disappearance from the Charlie Project website. It's an intriguing (and obviously heartbreaking) case. What has baffled me is that while at the time it received a lot of media coverage, I have heard next to nothing about it for the last 5 years. It's baffling because cases like Natalee Halloway and Chandra Levy are covered endlessly by the cable news outlets.

Another aspect of this case that I have always wondered about is why the police could never locate the unidentified person with whom she was shopping immediately prior to her disappearance. This person was caught on the store security tape. Is it really impossible to find this woman? I bet if I walked into any mall in the United States, make a purchase and be identified. First, you would in all likelihood be taped entering the mall, either at an entrance or via the parking area. Parking area identification would be easy, as your car and possibly your license plate would be videotaped by security. Entranceway identification would be more difficult, but at least you could tell what direction the person came from and whether they walked or took a cab. Once inside the mall, cameras would likely reveal what stores you visited and whether you withdrew any money from an ATM. Obviously any credit card purchases at the store could be traced. You could identify a person upon exiting a mall and whether they got into a cab, the # of the cab and which way it headed. All this goes to my suspiscion/theory that the investigation must have revealed who the mystery person is. Also, friends/family could help identify the person. As a doctor in NYC, it is unlikely that Dr. Philip simply befriended and went shopping with a total stranger. Could it be that the police discovered that her disappearance was voluntary? The promienent theory is that she was walking home on 9/11, saw the WTC attack and rushed into the building to help. However, if this is the case wouldn't she be outside the towers helping triage people, rather than inside? Would police/fire allow people into the towers themselves while they were trying to evacuate them? And why didn't any of the personnel report seeing her? Your thoughts.



Philip was in her third year of residency in internal medicine at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Staten Island, New York in September 2001. She did not have to work on September 10 and decided to relax and go shopping. She left her apartment in Battery Park in lower Manhattan at 5:15 p.m.
Philip was last seen at 7:18 p.m. on September 10; she was captured on a security camera at Century 21 department store in New York City, New York. Her toenails were painted purple at the time of her disappearance. Philip was carrying two large shopping bags containing about $550 worth of lingerie, three pairs of shoes, and bed linens when she was seen on the security tape. She has never been heard from again and there was nothing in her apartment to indicate that she ever made it back there.

A clerk at Century 21 says she saw Philip shopping with another woman whom Philip said was a friend. Philip's companion is described as 5'2 and 115 to 120 pounds with short black hair; she is possibly of East Indian descent. She has never been identified.

Philip's husband arrived at their apartment between 11:00 and 11:30 p.m. that day and saw that his wife was not there. He was not assumed she was spending the night with her brother or her cousin, something she often did when he worked late. Philip's husband did not report her disappearance to authorities until the next day. All of her relatives later stated that they had not seen her.

Philip disappeared the day before the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City, when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center and caused the deaths of thousands of people. Philip's brother told the media that she was last seen running into the World Trade towers to offer her assistance after the attack. The story sounded plausible because Philip is a doctor and resided just blocks from the towers, but it was untrue. Her brother says he lied about the circumstances surrounding his sister's disappearance to attract attention to her case.

Philip's case is unsolved. There has been no activity on her credit cards since her Century 21 purchases. Her family believes any clues there might have been were obliterated in the chaos of September 11. Her husband thinks she may have spent the night of September 10 elsewhere and been killed in the terrorist attack while walking back to her own apartment. Police believe Philip may have left of her own accord, but her loved ones say she was not having any personal problems at the time of her disappearance. Philip's husband says they had a good relationship together and were planning on starting a family.

Philip was born in Karala, India and moved to America as a young child. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Chicago Medical School. Her loved ones held a memorial service for her in September 2002, a year after her disappearance. The circumstances surrounding Philip's disappearance are unclear.

This is very interesting. I have never heard of her. It is rather odd the shopping friend was unidentified, and that none of her relatives or coworkers seemed to know who the shopping friend was.

I am a fan of Um and this was an interesting case. My opinion is tha no foul play was involved. Downtown Manhattan is as secure as it gets. I mean police are ubiquitous. My theory is that she ran into an old casual friend maybe someone visiting the city. They did see her on a store video with another indian woman. She probably stayed at the hotel where her friend stayed. Next morning, she gets involved in that whole 9/11 thing and dies helping people.

But why didn't the friend come forward? If I went shopping with a friend, who the next day disappeared from the face of the earth, I would contact authorities to help in any way I could. And where is the stuff she bought? This case does need more exposure. SOMEONE knows what happened to her.

It is a very bizarre case. The friend could be a casual friend who just went to school with her and bumped into her in manhattan. I once was walking with a friend who is a Dentist and he bumped into someone he went to dental school in canada, in midtown manhattan. Once the person was aired on UM they could have got scarred if they were a perceived suspect. Especially since she hasen't been found. After a few years, you would expect if foul play was involved a body would show up. As far as the items, they could have been left in a hotel and after 9/11 be obliterated. I worked at that area and needed to carry ID to get to work. After the incident the area was quarantined and items were missing.

I do agree that the case needs more exposure. Someone must have seen her somewhere being it at the WTC or leaving with someone. I don''t buy the police story that she abandoned everything and went away to start a new life.

I've been fascinated by this case since I saw family members on the Today show just before the episode aired on UM. There really seems like there has to be more to the story here. Did you read the New Yorker article from last year?

I didn't read that article. If I was the family I would put her picture at all the Fire companies that worked on 9/11 and also all the nearby police preicincts. Perhaps, they can remember if she was at the WTC. There is also a theory that her friend never came forward since she also was a Medical professional and also died helping. If there was foul play what was the motive? No credit cards used so robbery is not implied. Also she had no enemies or extra love affair to inspire a crime of passion. This may remain an unsolved mystery.

http://nymag.com/news/features/17336/

Read that article, sorry it was in New York Times magazine I guess, not the New Yorker.

That is an interesting article. I always felt that UM often sugarcoated the life of people to not tarnish their legacy. It is possible that she lived a double life and did leave. But my bet is still that the WTC had to do with it. After 5 years, you would expect her to turn up one way or another.

Of course, this is on a slightly different level, but Jimmy Hoffa has never been found. And there have been LOTS of people looking for him. If her disappearance is due to foul play, there are lots of places where her body could be, where it wouldn't be found.

Possibly. I do agree that she didn't seem to be behaving like someone who was leaving. The stuff she bought at Century 21 wasn't indicative to me of someone who was getting ready to run off. Several shoes and linens, right? That article backs up what I always say when I hear a weird story: There must be more to this.

Yes, Crouton, there are lots of missing people who still aren't found years and years later. I don't think there is any reason to presume she would have turned up by now. I am puzzled why this case isn't getting more attention.

If there was foul play it must have been well prepared and someone she knew. Where did they kill her? How can they dump a body where no one can see it in an enormous city? I don't think she is alive. It's interesting that the family thinks survelience video shows her at the apartment lobby before the whole 9/11 thing. There are theories that she committed suicide and that maybe her brother or husband were involved in her disapperance. But here is a link to another board about this topic

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=175980

Yeah, I don't know. Doesn't seem like husband or bro have big enough issues w/ her to kill her. Even if she had sex w/ bro's gf, he's now married to her so that doesn't seem to be an issue. (or was it that she had his baby? I read that article a while ago. Anyway, seems like he doesn't have issues w/ gf so why would he w/ his sister?). I don't think someone about to commit suicide would have gone shopping. The lobby surveillance video sounds kind of weak to me, she has a fairly common build and hairstyle. The call to her husband's cell phone from the apartment while he was home seems like it must have been him. I mean, it sounded like a pretty small apartment. I can't believe she could have come home and called him while he was there.

It sounds like you think she died at the WTC. Per the Police, she was seen arguing with her husband in court. Her brother was in non-speaking terms with her. In addition, wasen't her bro the one who made up the insane lie that she was last seen helping people out of the wtc? Was he hiding something? Her family would be able to judge her body frame better then anyway. She was fairly tall and in shape, come to NYC and those two combinations are not fairly common. If she lived a double life maybe it was a lover that was seen in the store with her. How do you think she was murdered? What was the motive? Where did they hide the body in a city of millions? Was there more then one person involved to help hide the body? I believe three possibilities 1)WTC, 2) Murder, 3) Started a new life. But I believe the WTC is my opinion.

The doctor was E. Indian... Many east indian men need little reason to kill their wives.
The doctor is probably dead by the hands of her relatives.

A few years ago a beautiful young woman, raised in Canada, went to India and fell in love with a man who was not equal in "caste". She married him anyway. Her mother and uncle conspired to kill her, and did, because she dared to not follow their wishes for an arranged marriage, and for marrying beneathe her - bringing shame to the entire family.

How do you get rid of a body in a city of millions? Put it in a dumpster. It gets carted away to a landfill, where it is nearly impossible to find, even if it is known to be there. Put it in an abandoned building. Put it in an empty lot, under a bunch of stuff. Put it on an unused roadway--- wasn't there a Law and Order episode where the body was put on an unused elevated road, nearly covered by vegetation? Of course, in the show the body was found, but it might easily not have been. Chandra Levy's body was missing for months, and yet it was found in a park that many use.

The doctor was of East Indian descent but I believe she was from a Christian family (I might be wrong). But she definitely was totally American. Her husband was not East Indian at all. He is an Jewish American. I think the family being involved is highly unlikely. The only angle I'd pursue on that one is her brother, I'd like to know more about the story of Sneha having sex with his gf.

Yes, I agree. It's not that hard to get rid of a body.

No, I actually don't know what to believe. But I am inclined to go with foul play. I don't think the WTC. I think she met w/ foul play the night before. I don't know what to make of the brother lying. But it sounds like he was doing whatever he could to publicize her being missing. C'mon I lived in Manhattan, her build is not that unusual! Geez, there are plenty of tall, in shape people in Manhattan! I have no idea of the motive for killing her. But it does seem like she was a bit self-destructive. Maybe she made a bad choice and got caught w/ bad people? That she ran into the WTC seems unlikely, she didn't seem to be in a "helping mode" w/ the way her life was screwed up. Do we have any stats of good samaritans dying at the WTC? That would be interesting to analyze. I don't think many civilians regardless of having training as medical professionals, went running in. Now, I do know at least one hotel was destroyed and guests were killed in it, a Marriott? I actually have an acquaintance who died that way. He even sent e-mails later in the am that he was going to be evacuated from the hotel. He died there. I think the theory was that he waited too long to get out. I don't know. So yeah, some people died "collaterally" from the WTC. But I'm just not able to place her in the line of danger at WTC.

Here's what bugs me. She was loaded w/ shopping bags leaving Century 21 and that isn't far from her apt. Why didn't she go home to drop the stuff off? I think something happened not too long after leaving Century 21.

I am certainly not pretentious enough to come up precisely what occured. No one can be 100% certain. I was in a Law Firm about 7 blocks from the WTC when it happened. When the first building collasped it felt like an earthquake. The reality is many died spectator deaths. Meaning that they were looking up and watching and not going in the building. The fact that she lived in close proximity does raises the issue. As you aware the Century 21 is pretty close to the WTC. In addition, let's say she stayed at a friend's hotel room that night and awakened to the WTC incident. Also she could have been eating breakfast at Windows of the World with her buddy. Many people bought food at the WTC and didn't work there.

I don't rule out foul play at all. But in my opinion the assailant must have gotten her far from the downtown area. Sure it's easy to hide a body. It's happen plenty of times. Just recently a woman's body was found ashore in a suitcase near Queens I believe? But there has to be careful planning to kill someone in silence and then hide the body without someone noticing. furthermore, if it was her lesbian lover then it would be difficult to carry the body without an accomplice. Like I said if it was foul play they took her out of the area to make the killing and disposing of the body easier.

Finally, although unlikely we can't rule out she left on her own. I give it only a 5 to 10% chance. There have been cases where people have been estranged from their family for years. She was getting fired as a resident doctor and seemed to be bisexual and had problems with her husband. One need to look at the Alex Cooper case and go no further. In that case, the man left his car and possessions behind to start a new life. He reunited with his family after 5 or 6 years. But as I said I give that only a 5 to 10 percent possibility.

I saw something on some other website where someone said she was believed to be living in the Albany area under an assumed name and working in healthcare. Have no idea where that came from!