A 27-year-old American woman, who had reportedly gone missing in Nepal, was in fact battered to death with a hammer allegedly by the man who had invited her to the country, it emerged on Monday.
The police have arrested the 30-year-old Nepalese--Narayan Prasad Paudel--who had befriended the Egyptian-American, Dahlia, on Facebook. Paudel had requested Dahlia to visit Nepal to help the victims of a strong earthquake that had claimed thousands of lives earlier this year.
According to The Daily Mail, Dahlia Yehia, who hailed from Kalamazoo in Michigan, wanted to help people in Nepal by rebuilding houses and assisting the injured.
Dahlia was living in Paudel's house in Dhital village near Pokhara on rent, when she was murdered. The man has reportedly told police that he killed the woman while she was asleep in her house.
Kathmandu-based English daily The Himalayan Times reported that Dahlia was hit with a hammer and a stick.
After killing the woman, who was an art teacher in Austin, Texas, Paudel reportedly threw her body into Seti river from KI Singh Bridge.
The motive behind the murder was yet to be ascertained, the police said. A search team has been searching the body in the river.
It was initially believed that Dahlia had gone missing in the mountains, following which the Trekking Agencies Association Nepal (TAAN) had sought information on Facebook about the woman.
The Kathmandu Post, citing Dahlia's family, had reported that she came online from Pokhara on Whatsapp on 6 August and that was the last time anyone heard from her. Dahlia had volunteerd with Secret Garden Disaster Relief, Kathmandu in July and arrived in Gorkha's Mutchok village on 1 August.
Two days later she left for Pokhara, where she was staying with Paudel. She was murdered within three days of her arrival in Pokhara.
