Case of motel owner’s murder is re-opened

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — New Port Richey, Florida police are using a new never-before released video to re-open the unresolved case of the murder of an Indian American motel owner, who was stabbed to death 20 years ago.

Chandrahas Patel was fatally wounded on January 12, 1998 by a man who attacked him in the office of the Green Key Beach Motel in New Port Richey. The attack took place at about 8:30 pm. Patel, 44, died less than an hour later at what is now Morton Plant North Bay Hospital, as reported by The Tampa Bay Times.

The unknown subject fled the area by unknown means. A witness observed the subject standing over the victim with a knife, according to a North Port Richey statement on Facebook.

Patel and his wife Villas owned the motel for more than eight years and lived there with their two children. On the night of the fatal stabbing, Patel’s then-teenaged daughter heard a commotion in the family’s apartment above the motel office and went downstairs to check on her father. She saw him struggling with a man she did not recognize. Her father told her to run upstairs and lock the apartment door.

After the father’s death, a motel employee told reporters no money was taken from the motel register.

The man who attacked Patel was described as a white male in his early 20s, standing between 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, with a heavy build, and wearing a black beanie cap.

Crimestoppers has offered a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

A new previously unreleased video could also provide new evidence, said the police.

Detectives want to see if there are any witnesses out there who are willing to come forward two decades later. The police have also identified another person of interest in the case, who could be a witness who was in the area when the crime occurred, or might know the suspect.