Murdered Sydney dentist Preethi Reddy had reportedly told her possessive ex-boyfriend of her plans to move on and start a new life and had advised him to do the same before her horrific death.

Detectives are still working to piece together exactly what happened to the much-loved Penrith doctor whose stabbed body was found stuffed inside a suitcase in the boot of her own car on Tuesday night.

What is known is her now dead ex-boyfriend, Tamworth dentist Harshwardhan Narde, drove 400 kilometres to attend a dental conference at St Leonards in Sydney’s north where he met up with Dr Reddy over the weekend.

Dr Reddy told Narde she had “moved on” and intended to “start a new life” with her new boyfriend, a police source has told the Daily Telegraph.

Her previous rejections had failed to deter the “obsessed” Narde, police believe.

“Something in him cracked and he became enraged­, he wouldn’t accept it was over and had not left her alone since she broke it off,” a source close to the investigation­ told News Corp.

“This is absolutely the definition of a crime of passion­. Preethi told him she had met someone else and that it was serious and she was moving to Melbourne.”

Dead ex-boyfriend did not have a violent past

In the early hours of Sunday morning, it’s thought Dr Reddy visited Narde’s Swissotel room in the CBD.

She phoned her family at 11am, telling them she’d head home after having a late breakfast. It was the last time they heard from her.

Investigators believe Dr Reddy visited Narde’s hotel to make it clear the relationship was over and he then stabbed her multiple times.

Narde did not have a violent criminal history or a record of domestic or family violence, a police source confirmed.

But it’s thought he put her body into a suitcase, loaded her into her car and dumped the VW Golf in Kingsford near the University of NSW.

Her family raised the alarm when she did not return to Penrith on Sunday night.

Narde was interviewed by police on Monday but not arrested.

Later that night on his way back from Sydney to Tawmworth he smashed his BMW headlong into a fully-laden semi-trailer on the New England Highway.

The driver of the truck was able to extricate himself from the fiery wreckage, but Narde was killed.

Less than 24 hours later police made the gruesome discovery of Dr Reddy’s remains.

Sister’s heartbreaking tribute

In a statement released on behalf of Dr Reddy’s family, her sister Nithya said: “Words cannot capture the pain we are feeling with the passing of my beautiful big sister”.

“Preethi was a bright light, loveable, kind, and protective of all whom were lucky enough to have been loved and cared for by her.

“Prior to this unthinkable event, she had been the happiest I’d ever seen her — she was living her best life.”

The statement added: “We ask that everyone keep that in mind that we are grieving and we need space to do that.”

Her colleagues at Glenbrook Dental Surgery in the lower Blue Mountains also posted a tribute on Facebook on Wednesday saying staff at the clinic were “in mourning” after hearing the news of her death.

An online profile from 2015 says Narde, or “Harsh” as he was known to friends, was working in NSW after being qualified as a dentist in Australia in 2013.

He graduated in dentistry in his native Bangalore, India, in 2009.

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