Murdered Estonian model to be buried in Malaysia, says report

The late Regina Soosalu had been holidaying on Pulau Rawa, Johor, before her death. – Facebook pic, July 15, 2014.

Murdered Estonian freelance model Regina Soosalu will be buried in Malaysia, the Star reported today.

Soosalu's family made the decision to allow her friends in Asia to pay their last respects to her.

The report said the funeral is expected to be held later this week or sometime next week.

"We are still unsure when the funeral will take place," a close family friend told the Star.

"However, funeral rites will be conducted after Thursday.

"We decided against bringing Soosalu's remains back to Estonia as it is costly and we are not wealthy," the friend told the Star via email.

The model was found murdered on July 1.

An earlier report had mentioned a foreign airline quoting up to RM120,000 to bring Soosalu's body back to Estonia.

"It has been two weeks since Soosalu died. We want to conduct the ceremony as soon as possible and to be by her side," the friend said, as quoted by the Star.

"The family has yet to decide whether to conduct the funeral in Kuala Lumpur or Johor Baru."

Soosalu's family and friends have uploaded various images of her childhood and teenage years on a community Facebook page dedicated to her life.

The page, “In loving memory of Regina Soosalu 7/Dec/1984-1/July/2014”, has garnered over 2,100 likes with hundreds of messages of condolences and other posts uploaded by her family and friends.

Meanwhile, Johor CID chief Datuk Hasnan Hassan said police had not set any date to return Soosalu’s body to the family as investigations into her death were still ongoing.

Officials had initially thought the model, who had been holidaying on the island of Pulau Rawa off Johor, had drowned.

Her death was later classified as murder after investigators found “suspicious wounds” on her body.

Seven men, including her boyfriend Tunku Alang Reza Tunku Ibrahim, were questioned over Soosalu’s death.

On Tuesday, the police said two of the detained men had been released, but it is understood the member of the Johor royal family was still in custody.

- TMI