Wanted by the FBI: Top Ten Fugitive Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel

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Video Transcript

Mollie Halpern: This surveillance video shows newlyweds Bhadreshkumar and Palak Patel for the last time as husband and wife.

The newlyweds moved from their native country of India to begin their marriage in the United States—eventually settling in Hanover, Maryland, where they each took jobs at a donut shop.

On April 12, 2015, the couple was working side-by-side on the night shift.

Palak was on the phone telling a family member that she wanted to go home to India.

The pair’s visas had expired.

With family still on the line, Palak and Bhadreshkumar walked to a back room, where Bhadreshkumar stabbed his wife over and over again.

Anne Arundel County Police Detective Kelly Harding.

Kelly Harding: Palak was young, the scene was very brutal, and she died in a horrible way. That’s the kind of person that we’re dealing with—that he could murder his wife and then the next minute, just calmly walk away.

Halpern: Patel walked to his nearby apartment, where he changed clothes and grabbed cash and his passport. He then took a taxi to a hotel near Newark Liberty International Airport. FBI Special Agent Jonathan Shaffer.

Jonathan Shaffer: So then he checks into that hotel approximately 3 a.m., and then around 10 a.m. that morning, he checks out of the hotel, gets in the hotel shuttle, where the driver says that he drove him to Newark Penn Station. At that point, we lose track of where he goes.

Halpern: Investigators hope adding Bhadreshkumar Patel to the FBI’s popular Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list will bring in the tip needed to track him down. 

Harding: I am certain that with the public’s help, that we will finally bring him back.

Halpern: An up to $100,000 reward is available for information leading to Patel’s arrest.

Patel has ties to Kentucky, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, Illinois, and Canada. Report tips to 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.

With Wanted by the FBI, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.