News & Blogs American Traveller murdered by couchsurfing host in nepal

[landpirate]

http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenint...veler-murdered-by-couchsurfing-host-in-nepal/

Young American traveler murdered by Couchsurfing host in Nepal

WITW STAFF
07.09.16

DAHLIA YEHIA (FIND DAHLIA -- FACEBOOK)


A Nepalese man has been convicted for the murder of a young American woman who stayed at his house in Pokhara, Nepal, after seeing his profile on Couchsurfing.com, a website that connects people looking for free lodging with hosts willing to take in lodgers. Twenty-five-year-old Dahlia Yehia had decided to spend the money she’d saved from working as an art teacher to travel for a few months throughout Southeast Asia.

After a successful trip to Thailand, Yehia left for Nepal with the hope of volunteering in a country still reeling from the 2015 earthquake that killed 9,000 people and left 2.8 million homeless. Upon completing her volunteer work, she left for Pokhara where she planned to stay with Narayan Paudel, now 32, a Couchsurfing user rated highly by other users — Paudel was even featured in a Nepali Times article on Couchsurfing in 2014.

Shortly afterwards, Yehia dropped off the radar. Yehia’s family reached out to Apple, who tracked her phone only to discover that someone had inserted a new SIM card into Yehia’s phone weeks after Yehia had gone missing. The new SIM card, it turned out, was registered to Paudel.

Police arrested Paudel for theft of the phone. After initially insisting that he didn’t know where Yehia had gone, Paudel admitted that he had “[thrown] her from the bridge.” Questioned further, Paudel admitted that he had smashed her in the forehead with a hammer while she slept, stuffed her corpse into a burlap sack used for storing rice, and dumped the body into the nearby river, police said.

After a bizarre series of events that included accusations of torture against the police and an alleged suicide attempt by Paudel, DNA evidence would identify blood found in Paudel’s apartment as belonging to Yehia. Paudel was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in early July. Yehia’s body is still missing.

 

[Deleted member 125]

shit that description of what he did to her gave me chills.

 

[spectacular]

psycho fuck. i've met some real creeps on that site, lots of people using it to get laid

 

[Deleted member 20]

I have had nothing but good luck on cs. I specifically hunt for perspective hosts with the keyword search to ensure compatability. I would rather surf with someone not popular an experienced on CS if the possibility to connect, converse and to share interests is there. I have never encountered anyone using CS for anything malicious or romantic in person. I have seen creepy descriptions but i simply dont respond.

I dont want to hear, well your a guy either. There is much too much of that old stereotype running around traveling circles; as if crazy psychos only target pretty girls. I have seen more blatant homosexual men who seem to use cs for luring in younger straight men more than anything.

We here about the bad apples of society and what online tools they use to comut crimes. With websites like craigslist and couchsurfing that bring people together there is a miniscule chance that that occasionally 1 of the millions who use these sites will be victimized. I think its unfortunate that this women is dead.

Most likely the vultures in the media will try to tarnish the image of such a great nonprofit enterprise to bring people together now that they have their smoking gun. Its radical to not rent a hotel room and to stay with real people these days or to open up your home to strangers. Our ever expanding globally connected society thinks that if it is not monetized it must be wrong.

Murder is wrong anywhere but it does happen everywhere, ramdonly or targeted or as an opportunity. We must keep our wits about us while hitchhiking, couchsurfing and camping. I do not know if there were any red flags that this victim could have picked up on and or altered this fatal outcome?

My instincts have never failed me so just because i am staying with a host that seems sane and safe; i still must remain vigilent. Who knows if there was some sort of sexual lust or romantic rejection that triggered this guy to go full on hammer wielding psych? Its not so far fetched that this pretty girl chose a host who wanted more than to simply host a traveler.

I love CS and will continue to use it.

 

[Koala]

Fucking hell that's terrible and so sad.

Ive had a few male CS hosts hit on me/make romantic and sexual moves towards me and my other girl friend while surfing. I think it's so inappropriate. there was absolutely no sign in talking to them beforehand that they might have ulterior motives like that. It's totally just something that us girls/women face their whole lives growing up (catcalling, getting approached, unwanted physical contact) and something one would never understand unless they are a woman in society now.

Never had a violent encounter, just as a woman you definitely have to be extra vigilant and be ready to confront someone at any time

 

[Matt Derrick]

I dont want to hear, well your a guy either. There is much too much of that old stereotype running around traveling circles; as if crazy psychos only target pretty girls.

i agree with you on not blaming CS, but this statement comes off as slightly ignorant. even the best statistics point out that many more women are sexually assaulted or raped than men, so yes, in the vast majority of cases, crazy psychos do target 'pretty girls' more than men.

some stereotypes exist for a reason; just because you don't experience it doesn't mean it's not happening.

 

[Deleted member 20]

even the best statistics point out that many more women are sexually assaulted or raped than men, so yes, in the vast majority of cases, crazy psychos do target 'pretty girls' more than men.

I think that there could be many more undocumented sexual assaults happening between male victims & male attackers that simply go unreported. We very much live in a machismo culture & if a straight male was assaulted by another male there is a strong possibility that it would never be reported.

I actually just discussed this attack with a feminist lesbian today who defended her statement with; that we live in a "rape culture" and I could never identify with that of a victim; only as that of a male attacker. I think if we want equality we must not paint all women as helpless victims & all men as skilled personal defense experts & or potential attackers. Sure it does seem that men are more likely to be the attackers in attacks on either sex in crimes of passion. Are all men responsible for the acts of some? Are we insinuating that all women are more helpless than their male counterpart just doesnt seem fair. In the context of hitchhiking & or couchsurfing I think we all (M&W) are exposed to a similar level of risk. I think that with experience as budget travelers here on STP we most certainly hone our gut feelings that something isnt right; thus preventing attacks before entering into a vehicle, situation or dwelling with someone.

The crimes of rape & murder are heinous all though the OPs post didnt mention anything about romance or rape, i did since I have learned of some types on CS while searching for hosts.

I only suggested that I have seen some CS users who seem creepy & are using CS for sexual exploits. I dont know what happened in Nepal. Is it possible that this murder had no sexual assault or lust involved? Am I to believe that a hammer to the skull would not kill even the largest most toughest male couchsurfer while he was sleeping just the same as this woman? Would him being male act as a protective forcefield against psychos with hammers? Are women somehow am easier targer? I dont think so.

 

[Comedy]

This is really sad. I really enjoy CS.

 

[etpyh]

I think that there could be many more undocumented sexual assaults happening between male victims & male attackers that simply go unreported. We very much live in a machismo culture & if a straight male was assaulted by another male there is a strong possibility that it would never be reported.

I actually just discussed this attack with a feminist lesbian today who defended her statement with; that we live in a "rape culture" and I could never identify with that of a victim; only as that of a male attacker. I think if we want equality we must not paint all women as helpless victims & all men as skilled personal defense experts & or potential attackers. Sure it does seem that men are more likely to be the attackers in attacks on either sex in crimes of passion. Are all men responsible for the acts of some? Are we insinuating that all women are more helpless than their male counterpart just doesnt seem fair. In the context of hitchhiking & or couchsurfing I think we all (M&W) are exposed to a similar level of risk. I think that with experience as budget travelers here on STP we most certainly hone our gut feelings that something isnt right; thus preventing attacks before entering into a vehicle, situation or dwelling with someone.

The crimes of rape & murder are heinous all though the OPs post didnt mention anything about romance or rape, i did since I have learned of some types on CS while searching for hosts.

I only suggested that I have seen some CS users who seem creepy & are using CS for sexual exploits. I dont know what happened in Nepal. Is it possible that this murder had no sexual assault or lust involved? Am I to believe that a hammer to the skull would not kill even the largest most toughest male couchsurfer while he was sleeping just the same as this woman? Would him being male act as a protective forcefield against psychos with hammers? Are women somehow am easier targer? I dont think so.

I wouldn't say that we live in a (male) "rape culture", but I still have to say, that I never experienced any sexual sketchy situations myself, nor have heard from many (in fact only one) male that got into some sort of sexual harassment on the road. Looking on the female site, I know more frightening stories, that happened during the period of one weekend to a single female, than I know to all of my male travel friends during their whole time of traveling.
I mean I am all against this frightening of female travellers of rapists that are around every corner, but from my (indirect) experiences you have a lot more reason to be worried (on this aspect) if you are a woman than if you are a man.
If you just look on the physical element of potential confrontations you definitely have some disadvantages if you're a woman, if you ask me. I am not a big guy or anything, but I am pretty confident, that I could fight the average guy just long enough to be able to get away, while I am pretty sure that I could keep the average female from getting away if I wanted to.. So figure what this means for a woman.