Abstract
In March of 2007, a Filipino domestic worker named Felisa “Fely” Garcia was found hanging from her closet in her rented room in the Bronx in New York City. The New York Police Department (NYPD) officers who came to assess the crime scene found four suicide letters after they collected her body. One letter stated that Garcia sustained abuses and harassment from her erstwhile employer, Werner Oppenheimer; she noted that she had apologized for something that offended Oppenheimer to no avail and that this conflict was one of the main reasons for her death. Although the letters left gaping questions about the conditions under which Garcia chose to take her own life, the scene of the crime led the NYPD investigators, and later the New York Philippine Consulate, to cease any further investigation on Garcia’s case, specifically her situation with her employer. After the NYPD’s autopsy report was released stating that there was “no foul play, rape or physical abuse” found on Garcia’s body, Consul General Edgar Badajos reiterated the finding in an official statement urging Garcia’s family, friends, and the public to focus on the repatriation of her body (Villadiego 2007).
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© 2015 Valerie Francisco
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Francisco, V. (2015). The Transnational Family as a Resource for Political Mobilization. In: Kontos, M., Bonifacio, G.T. (eds) Migrant Domestic Workers and Family Life. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137323552_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137323552_12
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