The Province 

Killer of mother of three could strike again, her father-in-law fears

A year to the day after a young mother was brutally murdered in her Surrey home, family and police are urging anyone with information about her death to call police.

Amanpreet Kaur Bahia, 33, the mother of three young girls, was found dead in a pool of blood on Feb. 7, 2007, with her one-year-old daughter sitting nearby.

Her middle daughter, then three, was upstairs watching television, and her oldest, who was nine, was at school.

It was her eldest daughter's birthday, one day after her middle daughter's birthday and two days after the 12th anniversary of her wedding to Baljinder Bahia.

"No charges, no suspects," said Cpl. Dale Carr, head of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which is made up of officers from different police departments.

"But homicides take a great deal of time to investigate. Suspects don't surface immediately."

He urged members of the Indo-Canadian community to report any details, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, they may have heard in temples or meeting places.

"It could be the ninth piece of a puzzle that we already have eight pieces for," he said.

Amanpreet's cousin Harpal Sandhu said yesterday, "We want . . . anyone [who] knows anything to please come forward."

She said Amanpreet -- whose mother and the mother of Harpal's husband, Bhupinder Sandhu, are sisters -- is missed "a lot. We're so upset."

Harpal Sandhu said family and friends expected charges soon after the murder and now, after a year, don't know what to think.

She said she doesn't know who could have killed her cousin.

Baljinder Bahia, who worked at the family's Cloverdale blueberry farm at the time, said at the funeral last year he was a suspect, along with the whole family, and said he was working to clear his name.

But Carr said police never named him as a suspect, "nor would we."

He said those in the Newton neighbourhood where Amanpreet was killed shouldn't worry about a killer.

"That doesn't [mean we] believe it's a family member," said Carr. "It's to suggest it's not random."

Didar Singh Bahia, Baljinder's father, said the family has leased out its blueberry farm and no longer operates it, out of fear.

"Who was there to kill her and who can kill us?" said Didar, who lived in the home where Amanpreet was killed but had gone to the

doctor with his wife that morning.

He said: "I have no enemies. This kind of thing never happened in my life."

Didar said he had no idea who might have killed his daughter-in-law: "I'm not one to point a finger."