Ep. 062 | The Murder of Geetha Angara
Geetha Angara, a 43-year-old senior chemist at the Passaic Valley Water Commission in Totowa, New Jersey, vanished on the morning of February 8, 2005, while performing routine water-sample calibrations. Her coworkers discovered an access panel ajar above a water tank, along with broken glass from her beaker, later found along with her radio and clipboard underwater. Her body was recovered on February 9 in icy water. The autopsy revealed she was alive when she entered the tank, with bruises on her neck, waist, and elbows—signs of a possible struggle—leading investigators to classify her death a homicide.
Given the plant’s tightly controlled access and no external intruders, suspicion fell on her coworkers; though three were identified as potential suspects, no charges were ever filed and the case went cold. An alternative theory, advanced by a Scottish pathologist, noted that cold-water drowning can mimic strangulation injuries, and some investigators later proposed that she may have tragically slipped through the panel during an accidental sample-collection procedure—though her family strongly disputes that scenario.
SOURCES:
Associated Press. (2005, February 11). Body found in water tank: Worker missing from N.J. treatment plant. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/6943376
Donnelly, T. (2005, March 21). Who killed Geetha Angara? People. https://people.com/archive/who-killed-geetha-angara-vol-63-no-11/
Hayes, M. (2015, February 8). Ten years later, Geetha Angara’s death still a mystery. NorthJersey.com. https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/passaic/totowa/2015/02/08/ten-years-later-geetha-angara-s-death-still-a-mystery/94945660/
Hughes, C. (2016, April 18). Mystery of Geetha Angara’s death inside a water tank still unsolved 11 years later. CrimeFeed. https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/mystery/mystery-of-geetha-angaras-death-inside-a-water-tank-still-unsolved-11-years-later
New York Times. (2005, February 14). Chemist’s death at water plant is ruled a homicide. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/nyregion/chemists-death-at-water-plant-is-ruled-a-homicide.html
Ozotech, Inc. (2023). The power of ozone in water treatment applications. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://ozotech.com/the-power-of-ozone-in-water-treatment/
Ozotech, Inc. (2023). Environmental benefits of ozone water treatment. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://ozotech.com/environmenal-benefits-of-ozone/
Ozotech, Inc. (2023). Benefits of ozone over chlorine in water treatment. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://ozotech.com/benefits_of_ozone_over_chlorine
Parascandola, R. (2006, February 7). New theory in chemist's death. New York Daily News. https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/new-theory-chemist-death-article-1.623904
Parascandola, R., & Sanders, A. (2007, July 9). Probe of water chemist’s tank death gets fresh look. New York Daily News. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/probe-water-chemist-tank-death-fresh-article-1.226072
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Water chlorination. In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_chlorination
