In December 2005, a baby girl named Reet Kahlon was born at the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary, Alberta. Hospital records noted she was healthy, and after being discharged, she and her mother, Harsimrat "Simmi" Kahlon, disappeared from official view. Reet’s life was tragically short, and the circumstances of her death would remain a dark secret for nearly four years, part of a hidden history of sorrow and desperation that unfolded within a quiet Calgary neighborhood.
The harrowing
truth began to surface on October 4, 2009, when Harsimrat Kahlon's common-law husband, Harnek Mahal, came home to the basement suite they shared on Taracove Estates Drive N.E. He found the 27-year-old woman deceased on their bedroom floor. Her death was initially considered not suspicious and was later attributed to natural causes, specifically complications from a recent childbirth. The following day, as Mahal began sorting through his late partner's belongings, he made a series of horrifying discoveries. He found a suitcase that contained the decaying remains of a baby girl. It was Reet, still wearing the hospital identification bracelet from her birth almost four years earlier.
The initial discovery prompted a deeper search of the home, which uncovered an even greater tragedy. In another container, a box, investigators found the bodies of two more infants, a boy and a girl. The investigation that followed was complex and delicate, piecing together a timeline of secret pregnancies and hidden births. Police determined that Harsimrat, who was known as Simmi to her friends, had gone to great lengths to conceal her pregnancies from everyone, including her live-in boyfriend, her family, and her co-workers at a local law firm.
Investigators learned that while Reet was born in a hospital in 2005, the other two infants were born at home in the summer of 2009, while Mahal, a long-haul trucker, was away from home. Autopsies on the three babies were ultimately inconclusive, and their exact causes of death could not be determined. However, based on the circumstances and a psychological profile, police ruled their deaths as homicides and concluded that their mother, Harsimrat Kahlon, was the sole person responsible. The case was classified as a triple homicide, with Kahlon identified as a serial killer of her own children.
To understand what might have led to such a tragedy, forensic psychologists conducted a "psychological autopsy," examining Harsimrat's diaries, which were written in Hindi and Punjabi. Her writings revealed a long history of mental health struggles, deep depression, and feelings of worthlessness. A forensic psychologist involved in the case suggested she may have suffered from a borderline personality disorder. Despite her inner turmoil, she kept the remains of her children with her, a fact that investigators found both disturbing and unusual.
Because Harsimrat Kahlon died before her crimes were ever discovered, she was never charged or tried. The investigation concluded that she acted alone, and with her death, the case was closed. The father of Reet was never publicly identified, and hospital records did not list a father's name. Harsimrat had become estranged from her own family after moving to Canada from India in 1999 and had little contact with them in the years leading up to her death. The tragic case left a community in shock and a family grappling with the devastating secrets kept by a woman they barely knew.
