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Edmonton murder victim was supposed to visit parents hours before she was killed

Hours before police say she was brutally slain, Nadine Skow was supposed to visit her parents at their home in Beaumont, Alta.

She had just come back from a camping trip and wanted to see her three-month-old niece.

"But she had come back with a cold," her mother Helen Skow said. "And so she didn't want to come over."

Nadine stayed home that Sunday night but kept texting her mother throughout the evening, asking for pictures of the baby. The next morning Harvey Skow, Nadine's father, sent her a text.

Nadine never replied. Unusual for a woman who called her parents at least once a day.

Harvey and Helen kept calling Nadine all day Monday but the phone kept going to voicemail.

"And when it was still going to voicemail Tuesday morning, I said to Harvey, 'there's something wrong,' Skow said.

Harvey Skow phoned Nadine's co-workers at work and asked them to check on her. That's when they discovered her body in her apartment near 106th Avenue and 104th Street.

Nadine had been stabbed multiple times. The killer allegedly mutilated her body by removing her organs.

Silva Koshwal, 38, Nadine's ex-boyfriend, is charged with second-degree murder and offering an indignity to a human body.

Koshwal made a brief appearance in court Friday via closed circuit television from the Edmonton Remand Centre. He gripped the collar of his orange coveralls throughout his entire appearance.

His case was put over until next month so he can find a lawyer.

New condo

Helen Skow said her daughter was optimistic and looking forward to the future. She was passionate about travel, had a wide network of friends, and loved her work with troubled youth.

Nadine had just purchased a new condominium near Commonwealth Stadium. She had her apartment packed up and ready for the move.

"She always told everybody she was on top of the world," Helen said. "She was at the top of her game right now in life."

Helen Skow said she had no indication that her daughter was in danger. Nadine had been to their house with her ex-boyfriend.

Skow said Koshwal wasn't working before he split with Nadine and may have been drinking too much. But the break-up didn't raise any red flags.

"When she left...she didn't feel in danger," Skow said. "She came to live with us after they split. And they divided up their stuff, you know, amicably. So to my knowledge there was nothing."

The Skows are now planning a funeral Monday and trying to come to terms with the death of a daughter who was "larger than life."

"I'm having a hard time dealing with how she died," Helen said. "Right now that seems to be what goes through my mind all the time, is the violent death that she went through."

"It will take some time. We have a lot to deal with. It's going to take us awhile."