Indian National Accused of Arizona Girlfriend’s Murder Entered US on Student Visa: Federal Sources

The man accused of murdering his teenage girlfriend in Arizona allegedly tried to cover his tracks, flee the country and vanish overseas.

Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News the accused killer, 20-year-old Varun Batchigari, is an Indian national who entered the United States through Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 8, 2024, on an F-1 student visa.

After the alleged killing, authorities say Batchigari boarded a flight from Houston bound for India with a layover in Germany, where he was arrested after the FBI alerted local authorities.

The FBI is now working to extradite him back to Arizona to face a first-degree murder charge.

Batchigari is charged with murdering his 19-year-old girlfriend, Julissa Salazar, who Tucson police say was strangled Thursday inside an off-campus apartment near the University of Arizona.

Investigators allege Batchigari stole Salazar’s cellphone and credit cards after the killing, then sent a series of text messages to her mother while posing as the victim in an apparent attempt to conceal the crime. The messages raised concern among Salazar’s family, prompting a welfare check that led officers to discover her body.

A felony warrant paints a picture of escalating violence, a deteriorating relationship and mounting personal troubles in the months leading up to Salazar’s death.

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