An American woman was reported to have died after being beaten to death with a hammer last month in Nepal after a relief visit for the country's deadly earthquake, according to U.S. and Nepali police this weekend.
The US volunteer was identified as 25-year-old Dahlia Yehia. Since July 20, the American woman beaten to death had been renting a room in Pokhara, a popular tourist spot in the northwest of Kathmandu.
According to the Himalayan Times, Yehia was beaten to death with a hammer on August 7.
On Friday, Nepali police made the murder. The day prior, they arrested Narayan Paudel, 30, from whom the American woman had been renting her room. According to authorities, the two met each other through Couchsurfing, a website allowing travellers to hosts
Paudel is a local teacher in Nepal, and he was arrested after admitting to the killing. He said that he put her body in a sack and threw it into the Seti River. Yehia's body has remained unrecovered.
Paudel has not revealed his motive for beating the American woman to death. After the crime, he reportedly jumped off Pokhara police headquarters on Friday in an attempt to kill himself. According to Fox News, he suffered serious injuries but he had not successfully killed himself.
The American teacher beaten to her death in Nepal had been a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan. On August 6, she was reported missing to the U.S. Embassy in Nepal by family and friends who have grown concerned about her whereabouts, according to USA Today.
A Facebook page set up by Yehia's family in an attempt to find her confirmed on Thursday that she was dead.
"Recently, we received word from the US Embassy that Dahlia's life has been taken from us. We are devastated by this senseless loss of a beautiful life," Dahlia's family said in a statement on the Facebook page.
"For those who haven't had the joy of spending time with Dahlia, know that she is a giver, lover, and humanitarian, who devoted her life to others less fortunate both domestic and abroad," added the statement.
Yehia's last occupation was as an art teacher at Austin, Texas' Sci-Tech Preparatory Academy. Staff and students at the school learned she had died Friday.
The April 25 magnitude-7.8 earthquake in Nepal killed over 9,000 people, and left thousands homeless. The quake prompted help from foreigners, coming to the country providing relief efforts for the victims, according to Voice of America.
