Missing London Fanshawe student’s ‘devastated’ mom haunted by possibilities

The mother of a missing Fanshawe College student says she’s haunted by possible reasons why her daughter disappeared more than 10 days ago.

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Nidhua Muktadir, 19, reported missing Dec. 4, was last seen the day before on Hawk Cliff Road in Central Elgin, about five kilometers northeast of Port Stanley, Elgin OPP say.

A surveillance image released by London police shows Muktadir wearing a black jacket, purple hooded sweater, pink and white scarf and white running shoes, while carrying a white backpack and a suitcase.

“She seems to be going somewhere (in the image),” her mother, Samina Nasrin Chowdhury, said Friday in a phone interview. “She doesn’t need to go out with a big suitcase. . . . Is someone waiting for her somewhere or what?”

Though the area is about 40 kilometers south of London, London police searched Central Elgin because Muktadir was reported missing from London, Const. Matt Dawson said by email Dec. 5.

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Chowdhury said she’s considered many possibilities – from a boyfriend, to a temporary adventure to being at risk or entrapped somewhere – since her daughter vanished.

“I don’t know (why). That’s the thing haunting me a lot,” she said.

Muktadir is in her second year of nursing at Fanshawe and shares a dorm with other roommates, her mother said.

“We’re concerned about Nidhua’s well-being and hope she is found safe,” Fanshawe College officials said in a statement Thursday.

The only clue Chowdhury said she has is a note allegedly left by Muktadir on her computer that was found in the dorm.

“Police told us she left and has gone somewhere. . . . She wrote all these things in the note saying, ‘She’s not coming back anymore,’” Chowdhury said.

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Chowdhury last spoke to her daughter by phone Nov. 29 while trying to arrange a dental appointment for Muktadir.

“It was a fantastic conversation, believe me. She was so organized. . . . It was a nice conversation. I didn’t see she was depressed or anything like that,” Chowdhury said.

Chowdhury lives in Toronto and came to Canada from Bangladesh in 2010 when Muktadir was nine.

Whenever Chowdhury asked her daughter how she was doing in college, Muktadir would say, “It’s OK, and that (nursing school) is kind of boring.”

Muktadir’s father lives in Bangladesh and is flying to Canada, Chowdhury said.

“He’s also devastated. He can’t think his daughter went missing like this,” she said. “None of us are prepared for this kind of thing.”

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Chowdhury, who also has a 27-year-old son, said her family and friends are “in grievance.”

“I’m literally dying without her,” she said. “I’m devastated. We thought she might have drowned, but we haven’t found her yet. I hope the police find her somewhere.”

Chowdhury said police told her they’re “continuing the search, but are considering other possibilities.”

Until the police “say something,” Chowdhury remains hopeful her daughter will return and would like to tell her, “I love you, and I’m so proud of you.”

In a release Friday afternoon, Elgin OPP said the underwater search and recovery unit, West Region emergency response team and air search are part of the investigation.

The OPP had not responded to a request for updates at time of publication.

Police and relatives continue to seek the public’s help finding Muktadir and ask anyone with information to call OPP immediately at 1-888-310-1122, or by cellphone at *677.

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