A former Virginia Tech student who murdered her lover after she wore sweatpants on a date night was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Monday (1 June).

Jessica Michelle Ewing, 24, gave a detailed testimony about the ‘date night’ that lead to the murder of 21-year-old biology student Samanata Shrestha.

Ewing, who spent hours getting ready, said she was disappointed when she turned up at Shrestha’s apartment, wearing a dress and bringing wine and whipped cream, to find her in sweatpants and a T-shirt.

Shrestha eventually changed into a dress and they tried to lighten the mood by building a fort and having a whipped-cream fight.

They downed the bottle of wine and had sex, after which Ewing made a ‘poor teasing comment’ and called Shrestha a ‘spoiled bitch.’

Shrestha, who had a boyfriend, shot back that she was just ‘experimenting’ and ‘toying’ with Ewing.

‘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.’

Ewing then ‘reached her arm around her neck and held it there,’ strangling Shrestha in a chokehold. Blunt force injuries were also found on her head and body.

Ewing tried to cover up the murder but Shrestha’s body was discovered stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back seat of her abandoned Mercedes on 10 February 2014.

In February this year, Ewing entered an Alford plea to the first-degree murder of Shrestha. An Alford plea is where a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the prosecution has enough evidence for a conviction.

Ewing was sentenced to 80 years for first-degree murder and five years for transporting and concealing a body. She must serve out 45 years of the sentence before the remainder is suspended.