Arizona Student Julissa Salazar Strangled Days Before Planned Breakup, Boyfriend Caught Fleeing to Germany

Tucson police say a University of Arizona student is dead after her boyfriend strangled her inside her apartment near campus, then tried to flee the country before agents caught up with him in Germany.

Julissa Rubi Salazar, 19, was found dead around 4 p.m. Thursday, August 6, after officers responded to a welfare check requested by her family, according to the Tucson Police Department. She showed signs of trauma consistent with strangulation.

Detectives identified her boyfriend, 20-year-old Varun Batchigari, an Indian national, as the prime suspect. Police say he allegedly took her phone and credit cards after she died and sent messages to her mother that raised alarm within the family, according to KOLD, the Tucson CBS affiliate.

Investigators say Batchigari flew out of Tucson International Airport to Houston, then connected to a flight bound for Berlin, apparently trying to reach India. Tucson Police worked with federal agents to have him detained after he landed in Germany. He is expected to be extradited back to Arizona to face a first-degree murder charge and booking into the Pima County Adult Detention Complex.

A pattern investigators say went unreported

According to KOLD's reporting, Salazar had told people close to her that she planned to break up with Batchigari, in part because of his history of domestic violence and an alleged past sexual assault against her that she had not reported to police.

Court records reviewed by the New York Post show Batchigari already had an open criminal case in Pima County for assault, knowingly causing injury, filed May 26, months before Salazar's death.

A separate woman told investigators Batchigari had sexually assaulted her on Halloween. She said she never reported it at the time.

Salazar's roommates told KOLD they heard loud screaming from her room lasting several minutes on August 5, the day before she was found dead. The concerned roommates texted her afterward asking if she was alright, and according to reporting on their account, she replied that she was fine and it was just an argument. She was found dead the next day.

Visa status and a lost job

Batchigari had been enrolled at the University of Arizona studying business analytics before he was expelled following a fight, according to KOLD. He had also recently lost his job, which put him behind on rent and, according to the Post's reporting, jeopardized his visa status.

None of the sources reviewed indicate what visa category Batchigari held or whether federal immigration authorities had any independent contact with him before the killing. If a foreign national loses the job tied to his legal status and stays in the country regardless, it raises a question about whether existing visa-compliance checks are adequate. At the same time, there is no evidence in the record that any agency had specific advance knowledge that would have flagged him as a threat before Salazar's death. A prior open assault charge from May does not automatically trigger visa revocation or detention under current law, and no source here suggests it did or should have.

What's proven, what's alleged

Batchigari has been arrested and faces a first-degree murder charge, but as of now he has not been convicted, and the specific factual basis prosecutors will present has not been laid out in a court filing available to the public. The domestic violence history, the Halloween assault allegation, and the account of screaming from Salazar's apartment are all allegations from witnesses and family members relayed through police and local reporting, not findings from a trial.

The open Pima County assault case from May is a matter of public record, according to court documents reviewed by the Post, and shows Batchigari faced a pending charge for allegedly "knowingly causing injury" months before Salazar died.

What happens next

Batchigari faces extradition proceedings to return him from federal custody to Arizona, where he will be booked on the murder charge and arraigned. Prosecutors in Pima County will need to lay out formal charges and evidence at that point. Whether the earlier assault case, the unreported Halloween allegation, or any visa-related failures become part of a broader review remains to be seen. No agency has announced an investigation into how those earlier warning signs were handled.