BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A judge has ordered a sanity evaluation for a woman accused of killing a Virginia Tech student.
Media outlets report that Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Colin Gibb ordered the evaluation Monday during a hearing for 23-year-old Jessica Ewing.
Ewing is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 21-year-old Samanata Shrestha. Shrestha’s body was found in the back seat of her car, wrapped in a sleeping bag, on Feb. 10 in Blacksburg. The medical examiner’s office determined that the cause of death was ligature strangulation.
Ewing also is charged with transporting or concealing a body.
She originally was charged with second-degree murder. That charge officially was dropped Monday.
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