Overview
- Tucson first responders found 19-year-old Julissa Rubi Salazar unresponsive in her apartment after a family welfare check on Thursday, Aug. 6, and crews observed marks and scratches on her neck consistent with strangulation.
- Investigators say 20-year-old Varun Batchigari left Tucson the day of the discovery, flew from Tucson to Houston and then to Germany while planning to continue to India, and was detained upon arrival on an Arizona arrest warrant.
- Batchigari faces outstanding warrants charging first-degree murder and kidnapping and is in German custody awaiting extradition to Arizona for booking into the Pima County Adult Detention Complex.
- Tucson police credited coordination with the FBI, the FBI Legal Attaché in Berlin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service and Munich police in locating and arresting the suspect.
- Investigators allege Batchigari used Salazar’s phone and bank cards after her death and cite prior complaints and a May 26 assault case in Pima County, but those allegations have not been proven and the probe and extradition process are ongoing.