Amazing things can happen when communities work together.
Missouri City police have worked tirelessly in their quest to find justice for slain college student Ashok Bhattarai who was murdered in late September as he worked the nightshift at a Missouri City convenience store. Days later police identified and arrested 17 year old Raymond
Whitcher for the murder, a junior at Elkins High School.
Surveillance footage viewed by police led to the identification of Whitcher. According to police, images on the surveillance footage showed a gunman shooting Bhattari. The weapon Whitcher is believed to have been wielding during the murderous rampage is an AK47 replica that shoots
.22 caliber rounds, said police at the time.
Just days after the murder, a multi-agency Dive Team recovered a weapon used to kill Ashok Bhattarai. “At the request of the Missouri City Police Department, the dive team conducted a three-day search of a lake at Independence Park, 2621 1/2 Court Road,” said Sugar Land police
spokesperson Doug Adolph. He said, “Divers scoured an area the size of a football field in zero-visibility water before locating a rifle on Sept. 28.” However that information was only recently released to the public.
At the time of Whitcher’s arrest, Missouri City police Captain John Bailey said Crime Stopper tips were instrumental in the apprehension of Whitcher. “Once he started flashing large amounts of cash around school, we started receiving calls,” said Bailey. Along with flashing cash,
Whitcher purchased a car using some of the money stolen from the store. According to police, seven days after the murder Whitcher purchased a 1996 Chrysler Concord using 12, 100 dollar bills. During an investigation into a traffic accident involving Whitcher and that car, Whitcher confessed to
the murder.
