COLUMBIA, Md. — When friends of Nikitha Godishala learned the man wanted for her murder was in custody, they initially didn’t believe it. False hope in the weeks following her murder came from overseas.
But this time, it was true.
On Thursday, the Howard County Police Department announced that the near nine-month-long search for Arjun Sharma was finally over. Indian authorities had taken the 27-year-old into custody, who is now awaiting extradition back to the United States.
'She was so special': Friends remember Niki Godishala after her suspected murderer is caught
“It took a while for it to settle into relief. And I am relieved… but I am still focusing on the fact that this is not the end. It’s a beginning, and there’s a long way to go,” friend Jillian Thornton said. “Everybody loved her so much, who met her. She was so special.”
Sharma and Godishala had once had a romantic relationship, and even after a break-up, remained close. They had lived together at one point after, but Godishala moved out in Summer 2025.
Sharma reported her missing to authorities on January 2, 2026, telling police he had last seen her on New Year’s Eve at his apartment on Twin Rivers Road.
Before they could execute a search warrant, police say Sharma had fled to India.
Known as “Niki" to friends, they remember Godishala as an incredibly bright light, full of positive energy and love.
She moved to the U.S. for a tech job in Columbia all by herself but quickly made friends.
“She was so loving. Everyone she met, it felt like she was giving you a big bear hug,” friend Vanessa Pham said. “She deserved way better than this. She deserved to live a long and healthy life."
They also knew Sharma well, and did not think him capable of extinguishing her bright light, so young.
“Devastating doesn’t even begin to describe the shock, the betrayal, you know, it’s been really hard to come to terms with,” Thornton said. “I wish him nothing but suffering because, God, she just was so good. She was just good in the purest sense of the word, and she was good to him.”
“Definitely flipped a lot of lives upside down, this situation,” Pham says.
Friends describe their friendship as complicated, and that Sharma had “a mean sense of humor” towards Godishala.
“Sometimes it felt like he took it too far,” Thornton recalls.
Family demands answers after months of silence
Her family claims the motive for the crime was financial, that Sharma had lost his job and borrowed money from her, and owed debts to many others.
This detail has not been substantiated by local police.
Neither has the claim that her body was discovered inside a suitcase, which the family says they found out through media reports.
“We now respectfully ask the U.S. authorities for transparency, cooperation and answers. We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for what every parent deserves when their child is killed — the truth,” the family shared in a statement.
They continue to post updates on Instagram, calling for a thorough investigation and answers.
It’s unclear when Sharma may be extradited; according to the Department of Justice, the process varies in each case and could take months or even years.
Thornton credits Godishala’s family for never giving up that led to the breakthrough of Sharma's arrest.
“They’ve been navigating two governments, two justice systems. They made this happen. It’s not fair that they had to do this,” she said.
Family has called for stronger cross-border victim-family communication so that another family may not be left in the dark, like they say they've been.
Meanwhile, friends are keeping her spirit alive by pushing themselves out of their comfort zones, something they say that Godishala would always do for them.
“We want to live for Niki; we’ll always be doing something a little bit bigger, a little bit extra,” Thornton said. "After she died, I had one semester of nursing school left, and I was ready to quit, but I knew that she would smack me. I finished for her.”