Sister of slain doctor struggles to cope with loss

Carolin Lekic struggles to cope with the loss of her younger sister, Elana Fric-Shamji, the popular Ontario doctor who was allegedly killed by her husband last week. 

Fric-Shamji's body was found in a suitcase near an underpass just north of Toronto. She died from strangulation and blunt-force trauma.

• Slain physician Elana Fric-Shamji had potential to be a 'great leader'
• A physician killed, her neurosurgeon husband charged with murder: 'How could this all happen?'

Her husband, neurosurgeon Mohammad Shamji, is charged with first-degree murder in connection to her death. 

Lekic describes her sister as a phenomenal mother, who was involved heavily in her children's lives. She says Fric-Shamji was a dedicated doctor who was loved by her patients.

She "had a lot of friends — a very lively person," Lekic said. She was "talkative and funny, just a sweet, sweet person."

Quiet personality, avid reader

The family lived in Windsor, Ont. before moving to the Town of Tecumseh in 1983. Lekic remembers her sister having a quiet personality as a young girl. An avid reader, Fric-Shamji was regularly nose-deep in a book.

She was also a dedicated cross-country runner, who loved athletics.

Many of Fric-Shamji's friends have changed their social media profile photos to an image of a female doctor holding a child with a purple ribbon.

Her co-workers at The Scarborough Hospital are also wearing purple ribbons to honour victims of domestic violence.

Fric-Shamji received concurrent degrees in the bachelor of science and bachelor of education programs from the University of Windsor. She went onto medical school at the University of Ottawa and later earned her masters in public policy from Duke University.

Friends were also shaken to their core when learning about Fric-Shamji's death, including Mona Shafey.

"She was a beautiful person inside and out," Shafey told CBC News. "I am devastated that this happened to her and am upset about the long lasting impact this will have on her family and children."

Lekic worries about her sister's children as well.

"I'm always going to have concerns for them. They don't have a mother," she said. "This is not the norm to have your parents taken away from you."