Irish tourist beheaded hung from tree at a Yoga center

Liga Skromane sought healing at a Kerala, India, yoga retreat but was drugged, raped, murdered, and left hanging headless from a tree by two men later jailed for life.

WEBDESK – MADIHA RAJPOOT – MEDIABITES NEWS

Seeking Healing in Kerala
Liga Skromane, a 33-year-old Latvian living in Dublin, traveled to Kerala in February 2018 with her sister Ilze. She hoped Ayurvedic treatment and yoga would ease severe post-traumatic depression. The sisters checked into a wellness center near Kovalam focused on meditation, herbal therapies, and mental recovery.

What began as a quiet search for peace became one of the most brutal crimes against a foreign tourist in the state.

The Sudden Disappearance
On 14 March 2018 Liga left the centre and never returned. Her sister later said she may have gone to buy cigarettes. When she missed yoga sessions, alarm grew.

Ilze filed a missing-person report and offered a reward. Early police attention was limited. Some officials initially considered the possibility of self-harm because of Liga’s mental-health history. Her partner, Andrew, and her sister rejected the idea from the start and demanded a proper investigation.

Body Found in the Mangroves
Nearly five weeks later, on 20–21 April 2018, fishermen discovered a highly decomposed body in a mangrove swamp at Thiruvallam, a marshy tourist area near Kovalam. The remains were headless.

Police determined the head had separated through advanced decomposition after the body had been suspended from trees or creepers. The cause of death was blunt force injury to the neck consistent with strangulation. Identification relied on clothing and DNA that matched her sister. The positioning of the body suggested an attempt to stage the death as suicide.

How the Crime Was Carried Out
Investigators established that two local men, Umesh and Udayakumar, both linked to drug peddling, befriended the vulnerable tourist. One presented himself as a tour guide. They lured her with marijuana, gave her stronger intoxicants, took her by boat into the isolated mangroves, raped her and strangled her when she resisted.

They then hung the body in vegetation to create the false impression of suicide and fled. Circumstantial evidence proved decisive: witnesses who saw the men with Liga, phone records, and the later sale of a jacket belonging to her. One of the accused had a prior record involving sexual offences.

Arrest and Investigation Hurdles
Police arrested the pair in early May 2018. Advanced decomposition severely limited biological evidence, forcing the prosecution to build the case on circumstantial proof, witness statements and the accused’s own accounts.

The family repeatedly criticised the slow initial response, arguing that faster action might have prevented the murder or at least preserved more evidence. The case exposed weaknesses in protocols for missing foreign tourists at wellness centres.

Court Conviction and Life Terms
In December 2022 an Additional Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram found both men guilty of rape, murder, abduction, wrongful confinement, destruction of evidence and narcotics offences.

Judge K. Sanil Kumar sentenced them to imprisonment for the remainder of their biological lives, explicitly ruling out remission or parole on the principal counts. Each was also ordered to pay a fine of roughly ₹1.65 lakh, with part directed to the victim’s family. The court declined to treat the case as “rarest of the rare” for the death penalty but still imposed the maximum non-capital sentence available.

Family’s Persistent Fight
Ilze Skromane led the campaign for justice, searching locations herself, engaging the media and refusing to accept early suicide theories. The conviction after more than four years brought a measure of closure.

The case later featured in the podcast “Bearing Witness” under the episode “Seeking Solace, Finding Tragedy.” That episode examined systemic delays in handling missing foreign tourists and the wider risks facing women who travel for wellness. Advocacy linked to the family has since focused on safer travel protocols, better mental-health support for patients abroad, and stronger coordination between local police and consular services.

Lasting Impact on Tourism and Safety
The murder sparked widespread public anger in India and added pressure for stricter measures against sexual violence. It occurred alongside other high-profile cases that influenced legislative changes, including expanded use of capital punishment in certain rape-and-murder situations.

Kerala’s reputation as a leading destination for Ayurveda and yoga tourism suffered temporary damage. Authorities and tourism operators have since stressed the need for improved safety briefings, tighter monitoring of informal guides, and faster missing-person responses. Campaigns against gender-based violence continue to cite the case as a reminder that significant work remains.

Even years later, the story resurfaces in media coverage, underscoring the continuing vulnerability of solo or recovering travelers in remote wellness settings. The life sentences delivered a clear judicial signal: those who prey on visitors seeking healing will face the harshest non-capital punishment the law allows.

The tragedy of Liga Skromane stands as a stark illustration of how a search for inner peace can be destroyed by calculated violence—and of the determined pursuit of justice that followed.