One year ago, prosecutors in Loudoun County, Virginia, had to drop murder charges against a man accused in the January 2018 killing of an Aldie mother and her adult son. But since then, no one else has been arrested or indicted to stand trial in the fatal shootings of Mala Manwani, 65, and Rishi Manwani, 32.
On Aug. 23, 2018, prosecutors dropped charges against Brian Kuang-Ming Welsh, 38, of Herndon, after forensic testing showed the bullets recovered from the victims’ bodies didn’t match the barrel of Welsh’s handgun.
In a search warrant made public after charges were dropped, a Loudoun County detective wrote that investigators believed Welsh’s brother or father modified his handgun after the Manwanis were killed on Jan. 31, 2018.
Within six weeks, a multi-jurisdictional grand jury was hearing evidence against Welsh. At the time, law enforcement sources said he remained the sole suspect for the murders in the Tomey Court home.
Yet, a year later, investigators and prosecutors have not developed enough evidence to recharge Welsh or anyone else in the killings.
“After being locked up for five months awaiting forensic testing, which the court refused to expedite, Brian Welsh was properly released from jail and reunited with his family,” Welsh’s attorney, Tom Walsh, told WTOP.
“Mr. Welsh maintains his innocence and is attempting to move forward with his life,” Walsh said.
WTOP’s requests for comment from Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman were not immediately returned. A spokesman for county Sheriff Mike Chapman referred inquiries to Plowman’s office.
Welsh told detectives during a search that he had been buying oxycodone from Rishi Manwani, had amassed a lot of debt, and was distributing drugs he bought from Rishi Manwani.
Without confirmation from prosecutors or the sheriff’s office, it is unclear whether Welsh remains a suspect.
