Mystery Deepens Behind Death of Flight Attendant Marilyn

Marilyn Dunstan a resident of New York City had worked as a flight attendant for Delta Airline. Mumbai was her regular stop over route. During one of her stay at Taj Mahal hotel on 14^th February of this year she was found dead under mysterious circumstances. The Mumbai police, after investigation had concluded her death as suicide, claiming to have found suicide note left in her room 312 at Taj Mahal Hotel.

Marilyn's sister-in- law Suzanne Dunstan Adams stoutly refutes the Mumbai Police version of suicide. Why so, as she explains in her candid interview I had with her on14th Sept via the net.

Can you tell us about Marilyn and her family background?

Marilyn was born in Cleveland Ohio. She was based in New York City until her death. She had room mate, a male named Tim. They were just friends. She was very attractive and appeared much younger then her age of 51.

How often has she visited Mumbai and did she have any local friends here?

Marilyn had a regular route to Mumbai with Delta airlines and no, she did not have any friends/contacts in India.

How could you substantiate your charge that Marilyn was raped and then murdered during her stay in Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on 14^th Feb. 2007?

I have the autopsy report of Marilyn's death. Also hearsay from crew members flying with her and staying at the hotel - Marilyn was found (two different versions) 1. With black bra and top and no panties on. 2. Completely naked with a shower curtain over her body

According to you what could be the motive of the police to treat this case as a suicide and not murder?

That is a hard question Rajen, it is so obvious that she was murdered and we are wondering why on earth they are stating suicide also. They said there were several suicide notes; we have never seen any such notes. Also Marilyn was in the habit of writing little notes on hotel stationary to send her family from wherever she was enroute with the airline, all over the world. We are almost positive that they are the notes the police are talking about. They were just notes to family (very usual for Marilyn). I wish I knew the motive of the police, they only thing I can think of is that they don't want bad publicity perhaps at the Taj Mahal. I hear some very wealthy people own it and it is a very popular hotel, hence they do not want bad publicity, I know I wouldn't want people knowing that if it were my hotel, People may become afraid to stay there.

What does the Taj Mahal official has to say on this case?

I have no idea there is a Taj Mahal official on the case. I am pretty much doing all this investigating on my own with very limited access to India.

If at all a rape incident had taken place then how come anybody staying in the nearby rooms of the hotel didn't hear any shout for help?

My opinion is the only one I can give you regarding this and it appears she had several contusions to the head which makes me believe she may have been approached from behind and knocked out. Also contusions on one hand making me think she may have tried to fight back. We can only speculate at this point. I would love to have the pictures from the crime scene which I am desperately trying to get.

What does her colleagues who were staying in other room at the time of incident had to say?

Shock, disbelief and very angry at Delta because Delta also made everyone sign legal papers stating they could not discuss the case as it was ongoing. Delta has been anything but helpful through all of this.

What was the reaction of her family when they heard of this incident?

Reaction of her immediate family (No husband, she was divorced 20 years ago). She had a boyfriend (pilot from Delta also) who she had been seeing for the past 6 months. He found out when he went to the airport with flowers for Valentines Day. The crew told him as they got off the plane. He was devastated and complete with utter shock and disbelief. Marilyn's mother was dying of cancer at that time and Marilyn was very concerned and always helping her mother. Also she bought her mothers house and was selling it. The day she put it on the market it got sold at her asking price. She was so excited about it and the actual deal was to be closed the day she returned from Mumbai, all she had to do was sign the papers. She really wanted to sell the house. Why would she commit suicide when everything was going so well for her and she knew her mother was so ill, surely she would not want her mother to go through losing a child when she herself was dying. By the way Marilyn's mother has passed since that time

Did Marilyn faced any problems in her personal life or was she undergoing any treatment for depression?

. Absolutely no problems. She was very happy in her new 6 month relationship with said pilot Jim Walsh. Depression, no way, nothing like that going on at all. She was taking Ambien at times for sleep, a lot of flight attendants apparently take it because there sleep hours are so screwed up and up and down so they have to be able to sleep for the flights they have.

Give us the present status of the case and what is your future course of action for getting justice to the victim and her family?

Rajen, at this point I am pretty much lost in what to do, I have a 20 year veteran of the FBI in N.Y. who was a close and personal friend of Marilyn helping. He is also a lawyer and is very professional so we have to do everything by the book, and it is hard, most of Marilyn's family are in Cleveland Ohio, the investigator I speak of is in N.Y. and I am here in Los Angeles, the other side of the country, we are scattered everywhere and money and travel are an obstacle. I want the case reopened taking out cause of death being suicide and I want them to question every hotel worker, every person who stayed at the hotel at that time, etc. I want the toxicology reports (they did a vaginal smear) where is it? We are still waiting for answers and it is hard to get them without coming to India which I certainly want to do finances permitting.

There is a tendency people staying abroad not to accept the Indian police version when ever a death of a foreigner occurs in this country? Does it have to do with cultural difference?

No Rajen, I love everything about India and its culture. I have never been there but since I was a teenager I have wanted to come there, I cook Indian food all the time, LOVE IT, and I respect the culture immensely. I am not accepting the police version because it is not what happened, Rajen. You have to believe me on this, I know people tend to not want to accept answers about suicide, etc. When they lose a loved one but this is not the case here. Marilyn had EVERYTHING to live for, and more and even the insurance company here have re opened their case for insurance policy for her family. It is a lot of money and they have everything to lose by not accepting suicide but they have because they know something is not right about all of this. Not only it is hard to do anything being in another country but there is also the Delta Corporate veil which makes it very hard to talk to the crew, etc. They have had to sign a paper taking a vote of silence pertaining to the case. How do you get answers from a corporation that big with all their legal departments, etc? As you may have now seen in the Mid-Day newspaper back on Feb 15th and various other newspapers, they were all completely wrong about what was written, the suicide notes, her being depressed and being the one in charge of all the finances of the entire family, etc. Not true, she has a lot of family and she was never in charge of taking care of them or her mother. This I know for a fact. I am part of her family.