An arrest has been made in the shooting death of a Nepali nursing student in southwest Houston last weekend.
Bobby Singh Shah, 51, has been charged with capital murder in the death of 21-year-old Muna Pandey, who was found Monday in her bed with multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the back of the head, KPRC reported.
Shah waived his appearance at a probable cause hearing on Thursday, and the magistrate ordered him to remain behind bars without bond.
On Monday, the leasing manager at The Reserve at 6363 called police and reported receiving a “no caller ID” phone call from a man who reported a “dead body,” KHOU reported. The manager went to Pandey’s apartment, found it unlocked, and discovered the body inside.
A friend told detectives that Pandey had a stalker about a year ago but lived alone and had installed a camera above the front door to her apartment that was motion-activated.
According to court documents filed with Shah’s arrest, her cell phone was not found, and a friend said that he had planned to go to a birthday party with Pandey Saturday night, KPRC said. He texted her when she didn’t show, but got no answer. Pandey’s manager at the phone store where she worked told police he communicated with her on Saturday and thought it was unusual that she didn’t respond the next day.
A neighbor reported hearing “loud thumping” at the apartment Saturday between 8:30 and 9 p.m.
On Tuesday, detectives got the password for Pandey’s security system and saw her and the man later identified as Shah approaching her front door at about 8:40 p.m. on Saturday. Pandey was carrying a shoe box, a shopping bag, a jacket, and a purse. The court documents say Shah was holding a pistol and repeatedly told her to open the door.
“What are you going to do?” Pandey asks him. He responded by ordering her to open the door again, while racking his pistol
She opened the door, and Shah shoved her inside and locked the door. An hour later, Shah is seen in the footage leaving the apartment, carrying the purse Pandey had been carrying in the first video.
On Wednesday, police released images from the security footage and quickly received a phone call from the owner of a restaurant where Pandey had previously worked. The owner told detectives that a man had recognized Shah and said he was a “consistent patron” of the restaurant. The man also said he had been talking with Shah about starting a business and provided copies of Shah’s driver’s license and a cell phone number.
A woman also called detectives and said she recognized Shah from the Grizzy’s Hood News Facebook page and from a “Sugar Daddy” website in 2012, telling police she recognized him from the security video “instantly.”
Shah is due in court again on Tuesday.
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[Featured image: Bobby Singh Shah/Houston Police Department and Muna Pandey/Facebook]
