Trinidad woman dies of broken heart after failing to find missing husband

A woman in Trinidad and Tobago died after she failed to find her 68-year-old husband, who went missing about two months back. As per reports, Maureen Villaruel- a resident of Arima Constituency, was in utter shock after her husband of many decades went to cash a pension cheque and never returned. The news of the "missing husband" made rounds on social media across the island in December 2023, when authorities discovered that Leon Seemungal was not in fact missing but living a lavish life in a well-off apartment. He reportedly cut down all his connections with his wife, saying he had "no intentions of going back to her".  The elderly woman could not bear the loss of being left alone by her husband of 20 years and eventually died of a "broken heart" on Tuesday.

Villaruel's daughter also said that her mother was in acute depression from the day her father left her and was grieving. She had also assumed that her husband was abducted as he had gone to cash $73,500 pension cheque.  Even after the revelations that her husband was alive, Villaruel could not believe that he left her to live another life; she still travelled to the far-flung community of Blanchisseuse, thinking that he had been held captive against his will in a hut for his “big money”.

Her death came as a shock and emotional trauma for many people across social media; people are scolding the "husband" for making the wife go through a tragic emotional imbalance, leading to death. Many people posted on Facebook, that she at least deserved a closure from her husband. A user named Niesha Archibald wrote,"Gosh poor tanty died of a broken heart. At least Mr Seemungal owed her the right of letting her know where he was, instead of having her worry about him But unfortunately, he didn't care enough with his selfish self,".  The public is in outrage, calling Maureen Villaruel's husband ungrateful and selfish for making her go through all this, leading to her death. Another user said " For 20 years she wasted her life behind this ungrateful man i'm sorry for your pain,".

Notably, after the news broke down that the husband was not missing, but in fact hiding from Villaruel's then the elderly woman was made fun of across social media. Many people in her community laughed at her, making jokes about her unfortunate condition. This as per the deceased's daughter also had a great impact on her mental health, causing her trouble in managing the condition.

"Poor lady died of heart break... she almost killed herself searching for him! People laughed and tried to embarrass her for doing what anyone would do if their loved one was missing. People not nice in this country nuh! I hope allyuh happy now," wrote another social media user.