FIRST ON FOX: “This happening to her feels so unfair in so many ways,” said the mother of slain University of Arizona student Julissa “Julie” Salazar.
Salazar, 19, was found strangled to death in her apartment near campus on Thursday.
Investigators say her alleged killer, Varun Batchigari, 20, from India, boarded a flight out of the U.S. and was captured by law enforcement in Berlin, Germany.
Reports say his alleged motive may have been tied to a breakup with Salazar.
Her mother told Fox News Digital that Salazar had “broken up” with the suspect before she was found dead.
“She had already had that conversation with him” about ending the relationship, said Salazar’s mother, who asked not to be identified.
Federal law enforcement sources confirmed to Fox News that Batchigari entered the U.S. on an F-1 student visa in January 2024.
In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said:
“Indian national Varun Batchigari is a foreign student who lawfully entered the United States and enrolled at the University of Arizona in January of 2024 under the Biden administration. As this is an ongoing criminal investigation, limited information is available at this time. Visas provided to foreign students to live, study, and work in the United States are a privilege, not a right. When you break our laws, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. ICE, like all our federal and local law enforcement partners, is focused on public safety.”
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Court records from Pima County, Arizona, indicate the University of Arizona Police Department charged Batchigari with assault on May 26.
Before his expulsion, he was a business analytics student who said, “I don’t see work as my purpose. I see it as a tool, something that helps me build a life I actually want,” according to a video he posted to his YouTube account.
In the video he posted in April, he said, “I want to travel, see different places, experience different cultures, and do that with someone I care about.”