Here is a true story about a murdered woman who helped identify her killer. On November 2, 2002, a Canadian realtor named Lisa Posluns, 38, was at her fifth-floor office in Yorkville, near Montreal. After working into the night, she called it quits, left her office and headed home.

She never made it.

Lisa’s sister had become concerned when she didn’t arrive home to her apartment. She called police and asked them to check Lisa’s office to make sure she was okay. The officers didn’t find Lisa at her office. They walked around the other floors to see if she was still inside the building. Once they looked on the ground floor, they found a disturbing site.

The officers found a puddle of blood outside a utility room. Afterward, they had a security guard open the closet. They saw a woman laying on her left side. She had one eye open and stared into eternity.

They had found the deceased body of Lisa Posluns. Officers also noticed blood on the wall and bloody footprints.

An unknown man had stabbed her seven times, cut her throat and then sexually assaulted her. Authorities began their investigation immediately. The first suspect was Rui Marques, the janitorial superintendent. He had keys and security codes to her office and remained a suspect until DNA cleared him.

However, Marques would help capture the killer, he just didn’t know it until months after the murder. He would have an unbelievable story for the police. Here is what he told detectives:

Four months after Posluns’ death, Marques was working in the same office building where Lisa Posluns was murdered. While applying a shine to a black tabletop, he saw a reflection on the table. He looked up and saw the ghost of Lisa Posluns. According to Marques, she said nothing. She pointed to the table and then vanished.

Originally, he didn’t tell the police because he didn’t want them to think he had lost his mind. Marques shared the ghost story with detectives during an interview about his employees. He immediately thought of a former employee named Nelson DeJesus, because he always wore black. Marques assumed when Posluns’ ghost pointed to the black table, she had given him a clue.

Marques told police that DeJesus had seen Posluns before and described her as “hot.” The police arrested DeJesus in March 2003. Authorities tested his DNA and matched it to Lisa Posluns. DeJesus had left DNA on her jeans and underwear.

The trial began in February 2006. DeJesus wouldn’t have much of a defense since he had left his DNA all over the crime scene. During the trial, the prosecutor explained Posluns final day:

After she had left her office, DeJesus approached her with a knife and handcuffs. DeJesus used his knowledge of the building to take her to a deserted part of the building. He then raped and killed her. Posluns’ blood was left on the handcuffs and knife. The bloody footprints also matched DeJesus.

On April 8th, DeJesus was convicted of raping and killing Lisa Posluns.

Still, I found it most interesting how the judge permitted Marques to mention Lisa Posluns’ ghost in court.

So is it possible for a murder victim to return as a ghost and then help find her killer? Rui Marques said he saw her ghost and he wasn’t inebriated the night he saw Posluns.

We don’t know if Marques truly saw her ghost, but it’s interesting how a black table made him think about Nelson DeJesus. Did Lisa Posluns’ spirit briefly return from the dead to help solve own case?

I am sure it’s a question only Rui Marques can answer.

Marc is a longtime resident of Clermont County and avid reader. He can be contacted through his website at www.themarcabe.com, through Facebook: www.facebook.com/themarcabe or his Twitter account @themarcabe. And be sure to listen to his podcast at www.spreaker.com/show/the-marcabe.