Three Days After Her Disappearance: Danaa, 25, Found Dead in an Abandoned House
Three days after her disappearance, Danaa Laeticia Malabar, a 25-year-old mother of two, was discovered dead in an abandoned house located on Impasse Théodore Sauzier in Curepipe. She had been missing since Sunday, October 12, and was found with stab wounds to her abdomen.
Her husband, Jean-Luc Brandon Malabar, a 31-year-old known on TikTok, confessed to investigators from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) at Eau-Coulée. He claimed, "I never intended to kill her."
On Wednesday afternoon, he led the police to the location where he disposed of the murder weapon, a kitchen knife. He is set to appear in court on Thursday facing a preliminary murder charge. Authorities are investigating the case as one of infidelity and jealousy.
Vanessa, Danaa's mother from Eau-Coulée, is devastated. She revealed that Danaa had been enduring domestic violence for some time. The couple's relationship was strained due to what Vanessa described as her son-in-law's infidelity. On the morning of October 12, Danaa called her mother.
"At 5:45 am, my daughter called me and said she would come over. I told her to come. When she arrived, she told me she had been beaten by her husband on Saturday," the grieving mother recounted. She urged Danaa to stay with her. "I told her to stay here, because you are at your mother's house."
According to Vanessa, Brandon also came that day with their three-year-old son. However, disputes continued even at Vanessa's home. "She said she was looking for her phone and her husband. He was not letting her have it. She was upset about her husband, they had gone out together," Vanessa explained. Minutes later, her daughter reappeared. "She told me her husband broke her phone and damaged her SIM card."
However, Danaa informed her mother she was leaving. "She told me she was going," the mother said, unaware it would be the last moments with her daughter...
A Worrying Call
"Around 9:45 am, I hadn't received any news. I called Brandon, but he didn't answer. Later, at around 5:15 pm, he called me asking if I had found my daughter at home. I said no. He told me that during the weekend they had an argument, my daughter had left, and they passed by Impasse Théodore Sauzier, but he couldn't find her. His son was in his arms, and he said he couldn't keep up with my daughter. I told him to go to the station and file a report," Vanessa continued.
That evening, around 7 pm, she called her son-in-law again. He claimed he still had no news of his wife. "He told me he was going to Mahébourg station. When he left, he had a man who told him a police officer called me," the mother cried.
She suspected something was wrong: "Brandon wanted me to report my daughter's disappearance even though he was with her when she vanished. We found that suspicious."
Over the weekend, while Danaa lay dead in the abandoned house, Brandon Malabar posted a video on TikTok announcing her disappearance. He urged users to share his video in which he expressed concern for his wife, who had stopped responding. In the recording, visibly upset, he voiced his desire to find Danaa Laeticia safe. "I don't feel well at all, thank you for your help," he said in the video.
Very active on social media, Brandon Malabar has over 33,000 followers on TikTok, while his wife had around 28,000. The couple was known for their videos showcasing their camaraderie over popular songs. Following the search notice, other videos circulated on the platform showing Brandon Malabar with another woman, sparking numerous reactions among viewers.
"They Found Another Woman in the House"
On Monday, relatives visited the young woman in Beau-Vallon. "They found another woman in the house, no trace of my daughter," the mother reported. The search continued. On Tuesday, the family returned to the police station. The CID at Eau-Coulée initially detained the husband. During questioning, he eventually admitted his involvement in his wife's disappearance.
On Wednesday morning, he informed investigators that he had left the young woman in an abandoned house on Impasse Théodore Sauzier. The police subsequently discovered her lifeless body, which bore multiple injuries. During his interrogation, Brandon Malabar confessed to using a kitchen knife and insisted he did not expect her to die.
Danaa's aunts are devastated. "My niece was a victim of violence, but she never went to the police," one of them said in tears. She expressed outrage: "Brandon should pay for what he did; he is a bad man. My niece was not a burden for her mother. She should have left her at her mother’s house. I am very saddened. The police need to do their job. He killed my niece in front of her children. All three were together."
