An anguished Queens mom begged her co-ed daughter to come home in one last exchange of desperate text messages before she went missing.
“Marisha Cheong u better call me or don’t ever call me again mom >:(,” read the Dec. 19 text, the first of many heart-wrenching pleas by mom Bibi Ali, 46, to her 24-year-old daughter who disappeared heading to class at Long Island University in Brooklyn.
Cheong responded cryptically, “mom am fine. I just need Little time to think. Am good.” That was the last time she texted her mom.
Cheong’s pajama-clad body was found Sunday, with one Ugg boot on and with her hands and feet bound with rope. The cause of death is pending.
Ali insists it was not her daughter texting her back.
Cheong’s boyfriend, Latchman Balkaran, an aspiring filmmaker, is considered a “person of interest” by police and has been questioned twice and released. He has denied any wrongdoing. His LinkedIn page says he attended New York Film Academy, but there are no records indicating he was a student there.