A migrant on a student visa who is accused of killing his teenage girlfriend in Arizona allegedly tried to flee the country, cover his tracks, and disappear overseas, but was ultimately busted in Germany. He was passing through Europe on his way back to India. According to federal law enforcement sources, the accused killer, Varun Batchigari, 20, is an Indian national who first arrived in the country on Jan. 8, 2024.
After the alleged killing took place, authorities said that Batchigari got on a flight from Houston that was bound for India with a layover in Germany. It was during that layover when he was apprehended by local authorities who had been alerted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI is now working to have Batchigari extradited back to Arizona where he will be charged with first-degree murder.
The Indian national is accused of murdering his 19-year-old girlfriend, Julissa Salazar, who police in Tucson say was brutally strangled to death inside an off-campus apartment located near the University of Arizona. Investigators say Batchigari stole his girlfriend’s cellphone and took her credit cards following the murder. Even more heinous, he sent a series of text messages to the victim’s mother, posing as her daughter.
The texts were an attempt to cover up his crime, however, they prompted the Salazar family to call police and request a welfare check that led officers to discover her body. A felony warrant for Batchigari’s arrest indicates there was a pattern of escalating violence, a deteriorating relationship, and personal issues that led up to Salazar’s murder, according to a report from Fox News.
The warrant revealed that Batchigari had been previously involved in an assault case that was investigated by the police department located at the University of Arizona. Several witnesses that were interviewed by investigators said they saw Salazar move out after having issues with Batchigari in late 2025 and was planning to end the relationship because of a history of domestic violence.
There are other allegations in the warrant of multiple witnesses describing prior violent behavior. One individual told authorities that Batchigari sexually assaulted her at a Halloween party, but said she never reported the incident to law enforcement. Another said that Batchigari had been booted from the University of Arizona after a fight and later lost his job, which led to financial troubles and concerns that his student visa might be revoked.
Fox News reviewed records and found that Batchigari maintained lawful immigration status at the time of the murder, despite being expelled from the university. Immigration law states that international students on F-1 visas must be enrolled in order to keep their legal status, which is why it is unclear why Batchigari didn’t have his immigration status changed.
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A spokesperson from the Tucson Police Department told Fox News that there were no new updates beyond any of the information that has already been released to the public. Fox reached out to the University of Arizona to confirm Batchigari’s enrollment history and if Salazar was attending classes there, but they did not receive a response.
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