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The Hard Truth behind the Fric-Shamji Power Couple

From medical students to doctors, their private lives were not like everyone thought.

[December 2016 | Ontario, Canada]

The eldest daughter, just eleven, stood by her parents’ room door. She woke up from loud screams and ruckus from her parent’s room, but only her father was in sight,

“What is going on? Where is mom?”

He seemed frightened. He said,

“Go back to your room, it’s okay.”

The young girl did as instructed. What she didn’t know at the time was that her mother was beaten and strangled to death and stuffed into a suitcase.

Elana Fric and Mohammed Shamji

Elana Fric and Mohammed Shamji were the picture-perfect power couple, with Elana, a family physician, and Shami as a leading neurosurgeon. Mohammed performed over a thousand surgeries, and more than a hundred of them were life-saving. Elana wore multiple herself as a family physician, assistant professor of medicine at University of Toronto and a rising star in health policy at Ontario Medical Association.

The successful couple in their 40s was also blessed with three children, and all of them resided in a wealthy neighborhood of North York. Photos after photos of the family smiling as they traveled around the globe.

But, their 12 years of marriage were not rainbows and sunshine as portrayed on their social media. Elana had been suffering silently from domestic abuse. As the children were brought up in a household where fights often happened, they assumed it was normal in all homes. After all, the parents were always affectionate outside of the house, similar to what they observed of their friends’ parents.

How it all started

Even from a young age, Elana had great ambitions. Once, she sat on an empty first-class seat on her flight back from a school trip. When she was told to return to her seat, Elana told her parents,

“Wait until I grow up — I’m going to travel first class.”

Elana did live up to her ambition of being a doctor. She first met Mohammed in 2003 in a recreational room of their hospital. He’s a resident in neurosurgery, one of the most challenging surgical programs, at Ottawa Hospital.

After the round of pool games, Mohammed decided to ask her out for drinks. By the end of the night, Elana was drawn by his intellect and interested in him. But, in a surprising turn of events, Mohammed asked whether he could introduce Elana to another friend of his.

From the beginning of the relationship, many mutual friends found Mohammed was not as committed to the relationship as Elana was. Despite his shy and awkward personality, he was dating someone from medical school while being with Elana. He made little effort to get to know Elana’s circle of friends and lied that he was ill, and skipped Elana’s medical graduation. In truth, he was out hanging with friends. Even though Elana broke up with him twice, he convinced Elana to forgive him.

The toxicity in the marriage life

In 2004, Elana got pregnant. That put Mohammed in a pickle, as it was against his family’s Muslim faith to have sex before marriage, much less have a child out of wedlock. The two had two weddings, each respecting each’s religion and faith.

The small house on Scout Street slowly became Elana’s hell. He paid little attention to his newborn daughter and wife and busied himself with work.

His temper began to show; he verbally abused Elana with “f*cking bitch” and “mother a cow” for her post-pregnancy weight.

His behavior escalated in 2005 after Mohammed was accepted for a biomedical engineering PhD in Durham. He attacked her. Elana fled with her daughter to a friend’s house and refused to return until Mohammed temporarily stayed at his parents’ house. Even though Mohammed was charged with criminal charges for assaulting Elana, the two ended up reconciling, and the criminal charges were withdrawn with a few conditions in place. Mohammed was to seek counseling and treatment from a physiatrist, and he was not allowed to own any weapons.

In Durham, both Elana and Mohammed’s careers thrived. Mohammed managed to finish his 5 years PhD course in just 3.5 years, while Elana won a rare scholarship and was considered one of the top minds in her class. When both graduated from Duke, they moved back to Ottawa to work in the same Ottawa Hospital.

In the public eyes, they were the loving and powerful couple to be envious of. The two actively posted photos on social media, portraying a happy family supporting each other, successful careers, and wealth for a very comfortable life.

But, behind closed doors, Mohammed controlled what went online. His control extended to more than just social media; Elana constantly had to seek permission for what she did. He disapproved of his children mixing with other children that are not on par with their ‘family status.’

Even after Elana found out that Mohammed cheated on her when he was away in Calgary for his fellowship, Elana stayed in the marriage. Elana cherished him and the family they had. With Mohammed’s promise to end his affair, Elana was willing to give more to the relationship. She gave up her practice in Ottawa to move to Toronto, where Mohammed was offered to be a part of the neurosurgeon team at Toronto Western Hospital.

In 2013, they welcomed a baby boy to their family. Their relationship was just a yo-yo of violence and calmness. Friends of Elana began noticing injuries on her and Elana being inconsistent on how she had gotten it. Mohammed would call Elana multiple times to check on her when she was out with friends. Despite all that, Elana kept her happy demeanor on things and always spoke of how superior Mohammed was. Once Elana told a friend that her life was far from what’s depicted on social media and even labeled it as “Fakebook.”

The final straw

Finally, in late November 2016, Elana made good on her move on her prior threats to divorce and got a divorce lawyer. Perhaps it was her own affair with another man that made her feel that she was worthy of love and needed to move on from Mohammed. It was not healthy for her or their children.

Mohammed panicked and tried to fix it. He made promises again to stay faithful and apologized with a box of chocolate, but this time around, Elana was not swayed. Elana moved to her basement as her divorce lawyer sorted things out.

On the night she was killed, Elana made one call to 611. Possibly hitting the wrong number during the panic of the attack. Mohammed beat and strangled his wife of 12 years to death. He drove 35km north of Toronto and disposed of the suitcase of Elana’s body in the Humber River.

The next morning, Elana’s mother, Ana Fric, panicked when her daughter was unreachable. She had just warned her of Mohammed the night before, knowing his abusive nature and reluctance to accept the divorce. Mohammed explained that Elana left the family with her new boyfriend in the middle of the night. But, Ana contacted Elana’s neighbor and friend to check on Elana and noticed her car was still in the driveway. Ana called the local police. She and her husband, Joe Fric, immediately drove to Toronto that very same day and arrived at Elana and Mohammed’s house at 5 AM.

Mohammed was calm even with their sudden arrival. He ate the breakfast that Ana prepared and continued with his daily routine, and called up a divorce lawyer,

“My wife wants a divorce. I’m going to give her half of everything I’ve got. Here’s my name, call me.”

It didn’t take long for someone to discover Elana’s body. That morning, a fireman noticed a suitcase by the river and instantly knew something didn’t seem right.

In the suitcase, Elana was in her pajamas barefooted; her long, lush hair was chopped off in ragged, rough cuts. Her face was swollen, her body in bruises, and her neck and ribs were broken. The suitcase led straight back to Elana’s family as it still had a tag from her previous Croatia trip that had Elana’s home address.

Mohammed was arrested the next day. For 90 minutes in the police station, he maintained complete silence and was expressionless. In the end, Mohammed took the plea deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 14 years. Elana’s sister, Caroline Lekic, asked,

“Why did you do it? Why? You’re smart, you’re educated, and you had everything going for you. Why? You could’ve got divorced like millions of other people do, why didn’t you take that easier route than this? Was this worth it?”

His medical license is stripped away, but he could operate again after waiting a year to apply for his license again. Looking strictly at just his medical career, he was a very talented surgeon that saved many lives. Many patients spoke of how caring he was in their patient care and he was awarded by the hospital for it.

Aftermath

The 2 1/2 years of a custody battle for the three grandchildren and Elana’s real estate was rough for the Fric family finances. It was only possible with a Toronto lawyer Jean DeMarco helping for free.

The eldest daughter, Jasmine, spoke out 3 years after she lost her mother. She now realized and recognized the domestic abuse that her mother endured. Jasmine aims to be a prosecutor, bringing justice to the people.

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