The body of a young mother missing for nearly two weeks was found Thursday slumped over inside her car, parked in the shadow of Philadelphia's busy 30th Street Station, as it collected parking tickets and snow.
Marple Township Chief of Police Tom Murray tells NBC10 Philadelphia the body of Nadia Malik was found inside her black Nissan along the unit block of S. 30th Street in Philadelphia around 12:15 p.m. Thursday. That is behind the Internal Revenue Service's Philadelphia headquarters and across the street from Amtrak's 30th Street Station.
Murray says police have been searching for the 22-year-old mother of two from Marple Township, Pa. and her car since family reported her missing on Feb. 9.
Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker says the woman's body was found slumped over in the passenger seat of the car, under a pile of books.
"There was a book bag with stuff dumped out and on top of her," Walker said.
An autopsy scheduled for Friday could help determine an exact cause of death.
Detectives said the car had first been parked on 23rd and Market Streets right outside of the PECO Energy headquarters. It remained in that spot for four days until it was towed by the Philaelphia Parking Authority to the spot along 30th Street.
Since Feb. 10, the car has been ticketed seven times leaving people to wonder how the body was not seen with so much activity surrounding the vehicle.
The reason, Walker says, is because the car has darkly-tinted windows and was covered in snow most of the time it was parked along the street.
It took a 911 phone call complaining about the car's parking spot and most recently, a tip caller who recognized the vehicle's description through media reports about the missing woman to prompt further inspection by police.
On Sunday, Malik's sister told NBC10.com she was on the phone with the woman, who was with her ex-boyfriend Bhupinder Singh at the time, when the phone suddenly cut off.
Singh, 25, was later arrested on a parole violation in Solon, Ohio. Authorities in Solon tell NBC10 they located him after tracing Malik's phone, which he was using. He has been questioned about Malik's disappearance, police said.
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Police have not implicated Singh in the woman's death, but he is awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania regarding the parole violation. He could be in the area as early as Friday morning.
Walker said there were no visible signs of trauma or signs of foul play. However, Murray tells NBC10.com police are treating Malik's death as suspicious until the medical examiner says otherwise.
Multiple police agencies continue to investigate the incident.
Malik leaves behind a 3-year-old son and 2-month-old daughter, her family tells NBC10. She was also a Pre-Med student at Temple University.
Photo: Nadia Malik
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
