Monipally: The nursing community in South Florida paid its last respects to the slain nurse Merin Joy, 28, in the USA.
Members of the Indian Nurses Association in South Florida arrived with candles and flowers at the spot where she was stabbed to death, to pay their last respects.
The memorial service was later held online in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Relatives will receive Merin’s body, now kept at a funeral home in Miami, on Monday. It will then be kept for viewing at the Joseph A Scarano Funeral Home in Davie, Florida, from 2 pm to 6 pm US time (Indian time 11.30 pm, Monday, to 3.30 am, Tuesday). This is where colleagues will bid farewell to Merin.
The burial will be held on Wednesday at Sacred Heart Knanaya Catholic Church in Tampa.
Merin was the daughter of Joy and Mercy hailing from Marangadu, Piravom, who now reside at Monipally in Kottayam.
She was stabbed to death by her husband Philip Mathew (Nevin), 34, of Changanassery, in the parking area of the Broward Health Coral Springs Hospital when she was getting into her car to return home after her shift at 7.30 am (US time) on July 28.
Nevin was arrested by the police for first-degree murder. He is said to have been enraged by Merin’s attempt to get a divorce and move away from him. She was planning to shift to Tampa on August 15.