Jessica Michelle Ewing’s been sentenced to almost 50 years in prison after she admitted to the murder of fellow Virginia Tech student and hookup Samanata Shrestha. The reason Ewing committed murder? Shretha wore sweatpants to “date night.”
People reports that, aside from wearing sweats on their date (when Ewing had put on a dress and brought whipped cream for the occasion), Shretha made the mistake of telling Ewing that she wasn’t into anything serious and was just experimenting (as you do in college) after the two had sex. According to Ewing, this comment drove her into such a rage that she ended up strangling Shretha. “I loved Sam—I couldn’t believe she would say that I was some experiment to her,” Ewing said. “It hit me where I was most hurt.”
According to the Associated Press, Ewing has never pled guilty to the crime (which she admits to committing). Instead, she entered an Alford plea, which allows a defendant to deny guilt while agreeing that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict.
Ewing claims that she had no plans to murder Shrestha and that the killing was in no way premeditated despite disturbing texts that were found on Ewing’s phone about her “black heart.” She told the court that she’d been struggling with her own sexuality and revealed a past of sexual and physical abuse that might have contributed to the murder.
The Roanoke Times reports that Ewing was regretful about trying to hide the evidence of the murder and told the court that Shretha was an “amazing person who should still be here today.”
“If I could change it all,” Ewing said, “I would.”
Contact the author at mark.shrayber@jezebel.com.