Hanover Man On FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List For Wife's Murder

HANOVER, MD — It's been almost five years since Bhadreshkumar Patel, now 29, fatally stabbed his young wife, Palak Patel, during the night shift at the Dunkin' Donuts where they worked together, authorities say. The angry husband then fled the state, and maybe the country. Because of the nature of the crime, Patel remains on the FBI's top 10 list; federal investigators hope the public will help them capture Patel so he can be tried for his wife's murder.

According to the FBI, investigators believe Palak Patel wanted to return to their native India, but her husband did not. A relative owned the doughnut shop where they worked. Autorities suspect Bhadreshkumar Patel grew angry with his wife, who was 21 at the time, and stabbed her multiple times just before midnight April 12, 2015, in a back room of the shop according to footage captured on a surveillance camera. Customers were up front at the time of the incident.

Then Bhadreshkumar Patel walked across the street to the apartment they shared, grabbed a few items and some cash, hopped in a cab and headed to a hotel near Newark Liberty International Airport. He checked in about 3 a.m. and then left at 10 a.m. He boarded a hotel shuttle to Newark Penn Station and no one has seen him ever since.

“The best guess is that he didn’t want her to leave,” said Special Agent Jonathan Shaffer with the FBI’s Baltimore Division in a press release. “It’s possible that he thought he would be disgraced by her leaving and going back to India.”

The FBI believes he could be hiding with distant relatives in the U.S. or that he could have fled to Canada to return to India. Patel has ties to New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois and India. An arrest warrant was issued on April 13, 2015, charging Patel with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and using a dangerous weapon with intent to injure. A federal arrest warrant was issued on April 20, 2015, after Bhadreshkumar Patel was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

“Palak Patel was murdered in a depraved act of domestic violence,” said Timothy Altomare, chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, in a press release. “Numerous and overwhelming efforts have been made in attempts to locate Bhadreshkumar and none of the efforts to date have been met with success. The Anne Arundel County Police Department is extremely grateful for the close working relationship our department has with the Annapolis and Baltimore FBI Field Office. In cooperation with the FBI, the Anne Arundel County Police believe we will certainly locate Bhadreshkumar and provide justice for Palak that her family desperately seeks in order to find closure.”

“Domestic violence homicides tend to be brutal, and this one certainly was,” added Anne Arundel County Police Department Detective Kelly Harding in a press release. Harding has handled many domestic violence cases during her nearly 20 years in law enforcement.

We almost always are able to find the suspects in these cases, and they are usually full of remorse, asking ‘What have I done?’ They are not taking a taxi cab and crossing state lines to escape.”

Bhadreshkumar Patal is described as having brown hair, brown eyes, standing 5'9 and weighing 165 pounds. The FBI is offering $100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Patel. Anyone with information concerning Patel should take no action themselves but should immediately call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. All information can remain anonymous and confidentiality is guaranteed. Individuals calling from outside of the United States should contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

See More:

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