Report: Indian police make arrest in 2012 murder of South Tampa designer

TAMPA Mumbai police arrested a 26-year-old man wanted in the murder of South Tampa interior designer Wendy Albano in an overseas hotel room two years ago, newspapers in India report.

Albano, 51, a socialite who decorated homes for the rich and famous, was slain in her room at a chic hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, in February 2012.

Authorities began looking for an Indian man they suspected had stabbed her to death.

According to a report Tuesday in the Indian Express, police arrested Ritesh Singhvi, who authorities said had left the country for India hours after Albano's body was discovered.

"I think that there was a huge concern that he would just disappear, and that there wouldn't ever be any justice for her," said friend Maxine Stull of Tampa.

Singhvi had grown a beard and was living under an assumed name in a rented house when authorities caught up with him, the Indian Express reported, quoting a law enforcement official.

Singhvi had befriended Albano in 2010 through Facebook and she had gone to India to meet him twice between 2010 and 2012, the newspaper stated.

The two have been described as business partners. She had met Singhvi's family on a trip to India while trying to launch a design and fashion-import business.

Singhvi will be extradited to Bangkok, according to the Times of India newspaper.

At the time of her death, Albano had been living in a condo off Bayshore Boulevard with her six cats: Bobo, Bebe, Lily, Rudy, Philly and Nelson.

Read more:
Report: Indian police make arrest in 2012 murder of South Tampa designer