HANOVER, Md. — A married couple who shared a night shift at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Arundel Mills Boulevard, the night of April 12th, 2015, Palak and Bhadreshkumar Patels’ lives collided with deadly consequences.
“Every dream, every aspiration Palak envisioned for herself and her family and her future were shattered in that instant,” said Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad.
Police say that the Patels’ work visas had expired, and the wife wanted to return to her home country of India, while the husband did not.
A telephone call brought the matter to a head.
“During their shift at the Dunkin' Donuts, Palak was on the phone with her family planning her return to India,” said Justin Mulcahy of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, “Bhadreshkumar became enraged and fatally attacked Palak that night.”
Justice denied in Dunkin' Donuts killing
Surveillance video showed the couple disappearing behind some racks in the kitchen, but only the husband would emerge less than a minute later before he abruptly left the business.
Patal’s body later showed signs that she had been killed with a sharp-edged object.
Investigators know he took a cab to a Best Western in Newark, New Jersey and later headed to a train station there, but that’s where the trail grows cold.
“There is a $250,000 reward for information that leads to his arrest,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge William DelBagno, “The FBI has received numerous tips from the community. All of those tips have been investigated.”
If you can help in this case, you can telephone 1-800-Call-FBI.
Police have no idea if the suspect left the country or not, but they’re convinced one thing is certain.
“As long as Bahdreshkumar Patel remains free, continuing to elude law enforcement,” said Awad, “no intimate partner involved with this evil degenerate will be safe until he’s taken into custody and brought to justice."
