Hot News Mix: Friend Charged in Connection with the Killing of Nepali-American Virginia Tech Student

Samanata Shrestha was a Virginia Tech senior.
Samanata Shrestha was a Virginia Tech senior.

A missing Virginia Tech student was found dead last week, allegedly at the hands of a close friend.

Samanata Shrestha, a 21-year-old student at the university, was reported missing by her parents after they became worried after they hadn’t heard from her last Saturday. Concerned, they drove from their home in Vienna, Virginia, to Blacksburg to look for her. Police would later find her body inside her car.

Shrestha’s close friend and fellow VT student Jessica Michelle Ewing has been charged with her murder. According to search warrants filed in court, Ewing reportedly told several people that she “had done something terrible.”

This Roanoke Times piece gives a detailed look at what else was in the search warrants — including the fact that Ewing was said to have told a friend “I killed that girl.”

Keifer Kyle Brown, who graduated from Virginia Tech last year, is being charged with accessory after the fact after allegedly helping to move Shrestha’s body.

Virginia Tech’s president released a statement that read in part:

Those who knew Samanata Shrestha, a senior majoring in biological sciences from Vienna, Va., confirm her zest for school and love of Virginia Tech. One teacher described her as a “faculty member’s dream” because of her exceptional scholarship, love of learning, and “she always had a smile.” A University Honors student, Samanata had minors in medicine and society and psychology. She was inducted into Who’s Who Among American Universities and Colleges 2013. That an inspiring young woman would lose her life to violent crime hurts beyond belief.

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