'Sanity Evaluation' Ordered for Suspect in Murder of College Student from Vienna

A judge on Monday ordered a ”sanity evaluation” for a woman facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of former Vienna resident Samanata Shrestha, 21, according to several news reports.

Shrestha was a graduate of James Madison High School who was a senior biology major at Virginia Tech University when she was found dead Feb. 7. 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 suspect in the case, Jessica Michelle Ewing, 22, of Easton, Md., was reportedly a friend of Shrestha’s; Ewing appeared in the courtroom Monday at Montgomery Court Circuit Court in Christiansburg. A hearing is set for Aug. 18 to determine a trial date for Ewing’s case.

Ewing was arrested Feb. 10 at the Comfort Inn in Blacksburg, the same day Shrestha’s body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag in the back seat of her Mercedes on a rural road in Blacksburg.

Ewing was originally charged with second-degree murder but was indicted for first degree murder last month after a grand jury heard evidence in the case. According to an article in the Star Democrat, Ewing was at the school on a music scholarship and was a member of the university’s marching band and was a fisheries science major. She is being held without bond at the Western Virginia Regional Jail, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.

The medical examiner’s office ruled the cause of death to be ligature strangulation, according to news reports.

PHOTO: Samanata Shrestha photo via Facebook