Slaying victim identified as Va. Tech student
http://www.wtop.com/149/3560870/Slaying-victim-identified-as-Va-Tech-student

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Authorities have identified a slaying victim in Blacksburg as a Virginia Tech student.

Virginia Tech says Blacksburg police identified the victim as Samanta Shrestha, a senior from Vienna.

The university said Tuesday in a posting on its website that Shrestha was a biological science major with minors in psychology and medicine and society.

Police told media outlets that 22-year-old Jessica Michelle Ewing of Blacksburg is charged with murder and 23-year-old Kyle Brown of Blacksburg is charged with accessory after the fact. Police have not provided details about the slaying.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger says in a letter to the university community that one suspect is a Virginia Tech student and the other is a recent graduate. He didn't say which one is a student and which is a graduate.

A Vienna resident and VA Tech student was murdered over the weekend. Samanata Shrestha was a senior honors student. A VA Tech student has been arrested and charged with murder. A VA Tech grad has been charged as an accessory after the fact.
http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/blacksburg-police-searching-for-car-in-murder-investigation/-/20128466/24386916/-/6fbspb/-/index.html

BLACKSBURG, Va. -
Blacksburg Police Lt. Nate O'Dell said in an email update late Tuesday afternoon that the department's investigation began as a welfare check on Virginia Tech student and murder victim Samanata Shrestha.

This means someone called police, worried that something might have happened to Shrestha. From there, O'Dell said it became a missing persons case and quickly thereafter a murder investigation.

Let's talk about the victim, Samanata Shrestha, a senior biology major from Northern Virginia. There are reports that her body was found inside a black Mercedes Monday, somewhere on the outskirts of Blacksburg.

The Collegiate Times, a student-run newspaper at Virginia Tech, is quoting a family member who says the medical examiner told them there were marks around Shrestha's throat, indicating she'd been strangled. I spoke with the medical examiner's office and they told me Tuesday quote "no one from this office has discussed anything with the family."

Now the suspects;

Montgomery County jailers tell me that Jessica Michelle Ewing, a student at Virginia Tech- still officially enrolled- was transferred Tuesday to the Western Virginia Regional Jail in Salem. I'm told the jail prefers to keep female prisoners just long enough to be arraigned and meet with their lawyer. That task has been completed and Ewing has been moved, charged with second degree murder.

Keifer Kyle Brown, a Virginia Tech graduate, remains at the Montgomery County Jail, charged with being an accessory after the fact.

Visitation hours for Samanata Shrestha are Wednesday from noon till 2 at McCoy Funeral home in Blacksburg.

Virginia Tech says there will be a candlelight vigil Thursday night at 7 at the War Memorial Chapel.

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A Blacksburg murder victim has been officially identified.

Samanata Shrestha has been identified as the victim. She was a Virginia Tech student.

Shrestha was a senior at Virginia Tech and was majoring in biological sciences. She was from Vienna and was an honors student.

"One teacher described her as a “faculty member’s dream” because of her exceptional scholarship, love of learning, and “she always had a smile,'” Virginia Tech president Charles Steger wrote in a statement.

A current student at Virginia Tech and a recent grad have been charged in connection to Shrestha's death.

Jessica Michelle Ewing, 22, was arrested Monday and is charged with second-degree murder. Ewing is a Virginia Tech student. She has been transfered to the Western Virginia Regional Jail in Salem.

Keifer Kyle Brown, 23, is charged with accessory after the fact "by receiving, relieving, comforting or assisting Jessica Ewing after knowing that such person had committed a completed felony." Brown is a 2013 Virginia Tech graduate.

According to Mark Owczarski, assistant vice president for news and information at Virginia Tech, a University vigil for Samanata will be held Thursday night.

The Shrestha family invites the university community to a visitation for Samanata at McCoy Funeral Home in Blacksburg. It will be held on Wednesday, February 12 from noon-2 p.m.

Two Virginia Tech student organizations, Epsilon Sigma Alpha and the Nepalese Student Association, will host a candlelight vigil on Thursday, February 13 at 7 p.m. It will be held on the lower terrace of War Memorial Chapel, weather permitting. If the weather causes cancellation, the updated time will be posted to Virginia Tech News http://www.vtnews.vt.edu and updated here on wdbj7.com.

Here is Steger's full letter to the university community:

Dear members of the Virginia Tech Community,

It is with heavy heart that I confirm that our community has been visited with a tragedy.

A currently enrolled student has been charged with the murder of another currently enrolled student, both of whom reside off-campus. Also, a recent graduate has been charged with accessory after the fact.

At times like this, we are at a loss for words to explain or understand such a heinous act. We know such crime should not happen in a special place like Blacksburg, yet we also know from our own history and that of similar towns throughout our nation that crime can visit even the most placid communities.

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.

We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family and will assist in any way possible. No amount of words can counteract their grief, but know that the university administrators and everyone within this community feels this pain.

I ask that you care for each other – indeed, be on the lookout for each other in this stressful time. Know that the university has the resources to help you cope with your responses and emotions as we all process the tragic loss of this vibrant young life. I urge you to counsel your colleagues and fellow students and to seek help if at all necessary. Individuals or groups with special needs are encouraged to contact the Cook Counseling Center at 231-6557 and/or utilize the resources noted at the bottom of this email.

Sincerely,
Charles W. Steger

Those in the university community who may wish assistance or desire counseling support may contact:

Cook Counseling Center at 540-231-6557
Dean of Students Office at 540-231-3787
Office of Residence Life at 540-231-6205
Human Resources / Hokie Wellness at 540-231-9331
Employee Assistance Program / Anthem at 855-223-9277
Employee Assistance Program / Aetna at 888-238-6232
Employee Assistance Program / Kaiser Permanente at 866-517-7042
Referrals to a campus cleric may be done through the Dean of Students Office at 540-231-3787.

===================

Original story from Monday, Feb. 10, 2014

A Virginia Tech student and a recent graduate have been charged in connection to a murder in Blacksburg.

22-year-old Jessica Michelle Ewing was arrested Monday. Ewing is charged with second-degree murder. Virginia Tech officials confirmed that Ewing is currently enrolled at the university.

23-year-old Keifer Kyle Brown is charged with accessory after the fact "by receiving, relieving, comforting or assisting Jessica Ewing after knowing that such person had committed a completed felony." Brown is a 2013 Virginia Tech graduate.

According to an arrest warrant, the victim is Samanata Shrestha. She was a Virginia Tech student and a member of Epsilon Sigma Alpha, a service organization.

Brown and Ewing are being held at the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Jail without bond.

Both Ewing and Brown are former members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. Lt. Col. Don Russell said the Corps found out about the murder, and the alleged involvement of the former corps members, through social media.

Ewing and Brown both lived off-campus, according to the Virginia Tech Police Department.

The murder investigation began Sunday. Around 10 a.m. Monday, the Blacksburg Police Department recovered an abandoned black 2004 Mercedes linked to the homicide. Investigators asked for the public's help in finding the car earlier Monday. A citizen called Monday morning after spotting the car.

Investigators have not released any other details about the investigation.

Virginia Tech is offering counseling for the university community. Here is the news release:

Noon: Blacksburg Police have arrested two individuals for the alleged murder of a Blacksburg resident. The suspects, Jessica Michelle Ewing and Keifer Kyle Brown are in custody. There is no immediate threat to the university community.

One suspect is a Virginia Tech student; the other is a recent graduate. The suspects live off campus in the Town of Blacksburg.

Those in the university community who may wish assistance or desire counseling support may contact:

Cook Counseling Center at 540-231-6557
Dean of Students Office at 540-231-3787
Office of Residence Life at 540-231-6205
Human Resources /Hokie Wellness at 540-231-9331
Employee Assistance Program / Anthem at 855-223-9277
Employee Assistance Program / Aetna at 888-238-6232
Employee Assistance Program / Kaiser Permanente at 866-517-7042
Referrals to a campus cleric may be done through the Dean of Students Office at 540-231-3787.
Virginia Tech Police would like to remind all community members of the following:

Be aware of your surroundings and trust your instincts.
Report all suspicious people and circumstances immediately.
Call Virginia Tech Police Department immediately to report all suspicious people and circumstances.

Suspects:
Jessica Ewing and Keifer Kyle Brown
Attachments:

The victim:

Samanata Shrestha
Attachments:

Not many details. Is this going to be another Amanda Knox type situation?

The killer was hot, too bad she will spend the rest of her life in cage with no cock anymore....why did she have to do this, she could have just come over any became my fuck buddy for the next 40 years, oh well what a waste....next chump step up!

I think you are confused.

The accused killer is Jessica Ewing. She is definitely NOT hot. Just from her face I would say she's a 200 pounder easy.

The victim.....not bad, maybe a 7-8.

Just chop their heads off(Saudi) or shoot them in the back of their heads(China)

OOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPSSSSSSS...............

I FORGOT. THIS IS AMERICA WHERE REAL JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIM DOES NOT EXIST. THESE LOWLIFES WILL GET LIFE IN PRISON NO PAROLE AND WE PAY FOR THEM FOR A LONG TIME. SAD HOW THIS COUNTRY IS JUST ONE BIG PUSSY WHEN IT COMES TO TRUE JUSTICE.

R.I.P SAMANTHA

Funerals are a great place to pick up chicks

or shoot them in the back of their heads(China)

you must be talking Fairfax fairfaxdemocrats.org

they've shot allot of unarmed people "becasue they were crazy" (ie, democrats owed them money)

i've seen on tv chinese police going out of their way to not shoot

i think you lying

--------------------------------------

when they held me w/o a trial 30+ days and force injected me with god knows what

one woman there claimed she was just about to purchase a home and they seized her. she was angry.

another claimed she was in real-estate, just had sold a home, and was owed money for the fee. she was seized.

either of them act funny and they are jailed for "not being good in the hospital"

in other words democrats ripped them both off and threaten them: according to their story

-----------------------------

mine can be confirmed with papers. theirs. who knows.

while there i witness the foreigners and blacks torturning a young southerner girl

they kept putting blacks in her room and in the morning she'd be screaming saying the (nigger) had been poking her with a needle

she'd at times cry on the floor and say "why? why me? i was in HS and had a nice boyfriend"

they harassed and frustrated her until she lashed out. at which point they prosecuted her for lasching out

-----------------------------------

and that, you peices of shit, is how facists get their way

Stabitha Wrote:
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> Not many details. Is this going to be another
> Amanda Knox type situation?


Re: Amanda Knox
Posted by: Stabitha ()
Date: March 25, 2013 03:58PM

Not only hot but apparently into kinky 3 somes with other chicks. As long as I got a face, she has a place to sit. I dont care who she killed.

So the murder was a VA Tech 2013 graduate, and she murdered the victim...For what? Also if the victim was from Vienna, why is she being buried in Blacksburg?

Three charged in murder of Virginia Tech student Samanata Shrestha
Cops have arrested student Jessica Ewing, recent grad Keifer Brown, and Blacksburg resident Michael Heller in connection with the homicide. Samanata Shrestha was just 21 years old and had dreams of going to medical school.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/va-tech-student-samanata-shrestha-murdered-fellow-student-report-article-1.1611420#ixzz2tTj3LdoW

Samanata Shrestha was a senior and honor student at Virginia Tech. She majored in biological sciences, with minors in psychology and in medicine and society.
The Virginia Tech community is struggling to come to terms with yet another tragedy, after cops arrested three in connection to a promising young student's death.

Samanata Shrestha, a 21-year-old biology major, was identified as the victim of a homicide that took place this weekend, Blacksburg police confirmed to The News.

Details of the grisly murder are still emerging. But cops have already arrested three people for their involvement in the crime.

The Nepalese Student Association and the Epsilon Sigma Alpha fraternity are holding vigils in Shrestha’s honor.

22-year-old Jessica Michelle Ewing was charged with one count of second-degree murder. 23-year-old Keifer Kyle Brown, a recent graduate of the school, and 23-year-old Michael Christian Heller, a Blacksburg resident, were both charged with Accessory after the Fact. Cops accused Brown of helping to transport, conceal or alter the dead body, the Roanoke Times reports.

The relationship between the suspects and the victim, as well as a motive for the killing, was still under investigation on Wednesday, Lt. Nathan O'Dell confirmed to The News.

The case began as a simple welfare check. Her parents, Dr. Manik Lal Shrestha and Mrs. Rajshree, last heard from their daughter on Friday. But they couldn’t reach her on Saturday. Police started a homicide investigation on Sunday, sending out an alert for a black 2004 Mercedes.

The car, which belonged to the victim, was found on Monday. Virginia Tech’s school newspaper Collegiate Times is reporting that Shrestha was found in the car with marks around her neck that indicated that she was strangled. Police have not confirmed that report.

Ewing and Brown were arrested on Monday morning. Heller's arrest was made on Wednesday.

Ewing is a senior at the school, double majoring in fisheries science and biological sciences. Brown graduated last August with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. They are both being held without bond. Brown is in the Montgomery County Jail, but Ewing has been transferred to the Western Virginia Regional Jail.

In an open letter to the community, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said that one teacher described Shrestha as a “faculty member’s dream” because of her love of learning.

“That an inspiring young woman would lose her life to violent crime hurts beyond belief,” Steger wrote.

Shrestha was a senior from Vienna, Va. The honors student had dreams of going to medical school.

The Epsilon Sigma Alpha fraternity at Virginia Tech and the Nepalese Student Association are holding a candlelight vigil for Shrestha on Thursday. The woman was an active part of both these organizations.

The death is particularly tragic for the young woman’s family because Shrestha’s parents are still recovering from the death of another child.

In December 2008, the parents lost 22-year-old daughter Manisha Shrestha to a motorcyle accident in the family’s native country of Nepal.

Keifer Kyle Brown and Jessica Ewing
Attachments:

Virginia Tech student, 21, 'shot dead and stashed in sleeping bag by fellow student and her friends'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2558722/Two-Virginia-Tech-students-charged-shooting-dead-aspiring-med-student-21-stashing-body-sleeping-bag.html

Jessica Ewing, 22, is accused of murdering Samanata Shrestha, 21, a biology major who had just been accepted into Penn State College of Medicine

The student was reported missing by her parents Saturday morning after they couldn't get hold of her

Finally, on Monday, police discovered Shrestha's body wrapped in a sleeping bag in the back seat of her abandoned car, a black 2004 Mercedes

Keifer Kyle Brown and Michael Heller allegedly helped Ewing stash the body and have been charged with accessory after the fact

Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the shock slaying, nor do they know how the suspects knew their victim or if they in fact did


A Virginia Tech student and two of her friends have been charged in the brutal murder of a fellow female student who had just been accepted into medicine school.
Jessica Michelle Ewing, 22, is accused of killing Samanata Shrestha, 21, a popular senior, some time after 7 a.m. Saturday in the Blacksburg area.

Keifer Kyle Brown, a 23-year-old who graduated from the college last year, allegedly helped Ewing stash the body, and has been charged as an accessory in the murder.

Another friend, Michael Christian Heller, a Blacksburg resident, was also arrested and is accused of helping to cover their tracks.

Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the shock slaying, nor do they know how the three knew their victim or if they in fact did.
The biology major from Vienna in Northern Virginia, who friends and family called 'Sam,' was reported missing by her concerned parents Saturday morning. They told police they hadn't heard from her since Friday and couldn't reach her.

'Something was wrong; that was my immediate reaction,' her mother, Rajshree Shrestha, who tragically lost another daughter in a motorcycle accident five years ago, told ABC News. 'Me and my husband said, "This is not right."'
The complaint sparked a widespread search for the missing student.

Finally, on Monday, investigators discovered Shrestha's body wrapped in a sleeping bag in the back seat of her car, a black 2004 Mercedes. The car was abandoned on the side of the road.
University Herald is reporting that the victim was shot dead, however the school newspaper, the Collegiate Times, reports that she was strangled.

Ewing was arrested Monday and has been charged with second-degree murder. Brown who was also arrested Monday faces accessory after the fact charges for helping to conceal the body. Heller was arrested Wednesday and is also charged with being an accessory.

Ewing is a senior at the school, double majoring in fisheries science and biological sciences, according to the Collegiate Times.

Brown graduated last August with a degree in interdisciplinary studies and Heller never attended the college but lives in the area.

Ewing and Brown are both being held without bond. Brown is in the Montgomery County Jail, but Ewing has been transferred to the Western Virginia Regional Jail. Heller was released on $3000 bond.

'We have no idea what is the motive,' a family friend, Ram C. Kharel, told the Washington Post.

Shrestha was a popular senior who was majoring in biology and minoring in medicine and society and psychology.


She aspired to be a doctor, her parents said, and shortly before her death she had received some exciting news.

'Her dream had been fulfilled,' her mother told ABC News. 'She wanted to become a doctor and she has been accepted to the Penn State College of Medicine.'
Blacksburg Police Department Lt. Nathan O'Dell wouldn't comment on the ongoing investigation, but insisted he'd do all he could to ensure the those charged are convicted.

'We lost a very beautiful and intelligent person from our community and the Blacksburg Police will be very thorough and meticulous with our investigation to ensure the three we have charged are convicted in connection with this murder,' he told ABC News.

The death has shaken the campus community and Shrestha's classmates were organizing a candlelight vigil in her honor, and a memorial fundraiser was being set up to benefit an organization where she volunteered.

'That an inspiring young woman would lose her life to violent crime hurts beyond belief,' Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said in a statement.

'We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family and will assist in any way possible. No amount of words can counteract their grief.'

He added: 'We know such crime should not happen in a special place like Blacksburg, yet we also know from our own history and that of similar towns throughout our nation that crime can visit even the most placid communities.'

Shrestha's academic adviser, Jack Evans, described the student to University Herald as eager to learn. She was 'like a wet sponge and just gobbled it all up,' he said.

Ewing and Brown are scheduled to have preliminary hearings on April 17. Brown has a bond hearing scheduled for February 24.

Stunning: The beatiful and intelligent student, known as 'Sam' is pictured with her boyfriend
Attachments:

A parent's worst nightmare, two times over for these parents. My deepest sympathies to the loved ones of this poor girl. May she RIP.

What university leads the nation in homicides over the last ten years?
VA Tech ? I would never send my kid there.

Fail



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2014 12:05PM by Stabitha.

All Hokies go to Heaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What university leads the nation in homicides over
> the last ten years?
> VA Tech ? I would never send my kid there.


They either die or stay and become a pretentious douchebag.

Ralph Pootawn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All Hokies go to Heaven Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What university leads the nation in homicides
> over
> > the last ten years?
> > VA Tech ? I would never send my kid there.
>
>
> They either die or stay and become a pretentious
> douchebag.

Let's see there's been a mass shooting, a beheading, it's more like "Murder University".
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