On a Saturday night in November 2018, Dharmisthaben Patel, a 33-year-old woman, was fatally shot in what authorities described as an attempted carjacking and robbery in Albany, Georgia. The incident occurred around 10:44 p.m. in the parking lot of Devi's Convenience Store on Palmyra Road, a business she managed.
Patel and her husband, Bharat Ishvar Patel, were leaving the store and getting into their vehicle when they were approached by a lone assailant. Surveillance footage from the scene captured a male suspect, dressed in dark clothing, a hoodie, a mask, and blue gloves, attempting to open the driver's side door of the couple's car. As Bharat Patel tried to drive away, the gunman fired into the vehicle, striking Dharmisthaben Patel in the shoulder. Her husband immediately drove her to the emergency room, but she succumbed to the gunshot wound and died.
For more than two years, the case remained under investigation. Then, in January 2021, the Albany Police Department announced a significant breakthrough with the arrest of a suspect. Bernardo Litic Thompson, 31 at the time of his arrest, was charged with murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with Patel's death. He was subsequently held in the Dougherty County Jail.
The arrest was made possible, in part, by a witness who came forward with crucial information. According to the Dougherty County District Attorney, while the witness did not see the shooting, they provided investigators with details that Thompson had allegedly shared about his involvement in the crime after it occurred. This new information, combined with existing physical evidence, allowed law enforcement to finally make an arrest in the long-unsolved homicide of the mother of two.
