Former Virginia Tech Student Pleads Guilty in Murder of Student from Vienna

PHOTO: Samanata Shrestha photo via Facebook

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Former Virginia Tech student Jessica Ewing, 23, pled guilty Thursday to and was found guilty of First Degree Murder and Concealment of a Body in the ligature strangulation murder of Samanata “Sam” Shrestha, according to the Montgomery County, Va., Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Shrestha, 21, was a graduate of Vienna’s Madison High School and a senior at Virginia Tech when her body was found Feb. 10, 2014 in the back seat of her Mercedes three days after she went missing.

A jury trial had been scheduled to begin next Tuesday but Ewing appeared before Judge Robert M.D. Turk in Montgomery County Circuit Court Thursday afternoon and entered her guilty pleas.

Ewing, of Easton, Md., has been in jail since her arrest on Feb. 10 last year at the Comfort Inn in Blacksburg and will remain in jail until her sentencing hearing. The sentencing hearing has been scheduled for April 21.

Ewing faces up to life in prison on the murder conviction and an additional five years for the concealment of a body conviction.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Mary Pettitt said, “Ligature strangulation is a very deliberate and personal method of murder. After eating the dinner that the victim prepared for her, Ewing pulled the ligature as Shrestha fought for her life, clawing at the ligature around her neck.”

Shrestha was a senior biology major at Virginia Tech University when she was found dead Feb. 7, 2014. She was the daughter of Dr. Manik Lal Shrestha and Rajshree Shrestha. They last spoke to their daughter earlier that day on Feb. 7, according to The Roanoke Times.

Samanata or “Sam” as she was also known, had wanted to become a doctor and had been accepted at Penn State College of Medicine. The couple reported their daughter missing Feb. 8 and drove to her apartment in Blacksburg that day, according to news reports.

The parents of both girls were in the courtroom Thursday, according to several media reports.

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