A 22-year-old Indian student from Gujarat's Anand district died after a knife attack during an attempted robbery in St. Catharines, Canada, on May 15, 2026.
The Niagara Regional Police Service launched a homicide investigation after the incident at a local residence.
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Authorities found Vidhi Kalpeshbhai Megha deceased inside the home.
A 40-year-old local resident, Joshua St Omer, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and later charged with second-degree murder.
Megha had lived in Canada for four years, completing a business management course in Hamilton before moving to St. Catharines two weeks prior to the attack.
Her father, Kalpesh Medha, said the family lost contact after a video call on May 14, initially assuming she was traveling without cellular connectivity.
"We were told that she was stabbed to death on the spot… But she tried her best to fight back and save herself.
She succumbed to severe injuries, but she also injured her attacker," Medha said.
The family received official confirmation of her death from Canadian authorities nearly two weeks after the incident.
"We used to speak once every few days over video calls, but she promptly replied to text messages… When we kept trying to contact her and the text messages went undelivered, we thought she may have gone on some excursion somewhere without connectivity, but we were anxious… We had no idea about what happened to our daughter," Medha added.
Before her death, Megha had enrolled in a Personal Support Worker Honours program and was preparing to apply for a Canadian work permit and permanent residency.
"She was confident that after clearing an exam, she was going to secure PR soon… I told her, 'Very good, beta'," Medha recalled.
The family is working with relatives and government representatives to facilitate the repatriation of her remains to India.
"She had shifted from Hamilton to St. Catharines about fifteen days before the incident… So, maybe, people there were not that familiar with her.
She was determined to become independent and create a secure future for herself and her loved ones," Medha said.
Family members expressed frustration with the communication and cooperation from overseas officials during the repatriation process.
"It has been almost 15 days now and we have not been able to have a look at her body.
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I request that the Government complete the procedure as soon as possible and hand over her body to us.
The Govt and the police there are not answering us properly.
My brother is there and is in touch with everyone, but he is getting to know about things only through email.
Nobody is cooperating there.
I also urge the EAM to take quick action and hand over our Vidhi to us," said Megha's aunt.
The victim's father repeated the plea to Indian authorities to accelerate the administrative process so the family can conduct final rites in her hometown.
"My daughter is 22 years old; the incident happened in St Catharines in Canada's Niagara region. She was attacked with a knife.
My request to the government is that we must perform my daughter's final rites right here in India; therefore, please provide us with the body as soon as possible and send it here," said Kalpeshbhai Megha.
Gujarat Cabinet Minister and Borsad MLA Ramanbhai Solanki visited the grieving family to offer condolences and said he contacted the Chief Minister's Office and the Prime Minister's Office for assistance.
"The family is going through immense pain.
I am personally saddened that such an incident has happened to a young girl from our state," Solanki said.
The minister noted that cross-border coordination requires multiple administrative layers but emphasized that state officials are working to minimize delays.
"Since the matter involves another country, the process is slightly different and takes coordination at multiple levels.
We are making every effort to ensure that the formalities are completed quickly, and the body is handed over to the family as soon as possible," Solanki stated.
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The suspect, Joshua St Omer, remains in Canadian custody as judicial proceedings move forward.
