Courtesy of Kailas Brahmbhatt

Jayeshkumar Brahmbhatt, shown with his wife, Kailas, was shot to death Feb. 28 in an attempted robbery at the store he managed.

The Roanoke Times | File May

Kailas Brahmbhatt is mourning the loss of her husband. She plans to scatter his ashes in the Ganges River.

It was a little more than a year ago that the Brahmbhatt family moved into their new house.

Jayeshkumar Brahmbhatt and his wife, Kailas, helped design the brick ranch and watched with the excitement of first-time homeowners as it went up in North Roanoke County.

They'd worked and saved for the house in the seven years since they moved to the United States from India.

The Brahmbhatts and their two daughters moved into the house in November 2007.

Three months later, Jayeshkumar Brahmbhatt was shot and killed during an attempted robbery at the Roanoke convenience store he and his wife managed.

Kailas Brahmbhatt knew then that without his income she couldn't afford to keep the house.

While she and her two daughters grieved, Brahmbhatt worried about selling the house.

It was on the market for six months before the family worked out an agreement with SunTrust Bank. The bank would take ownership of the house, but the Brahmbhatts would lose their down payment.

"I think they [the bank] understood," said Asit Inamdar, Kailas Brahmbhatt's nephew, who worked with the bank.

SunTrust spokesman Hugh Shur said he could not discuss the specific agreement but did say that the bank works with individuals who have experienced life-changing events, such as the death of a spouse.

Kailas Brahmbhatt and her two daughters are now living in a two-bedroom apartment in Richmond.

"It's good that the three of us are living together," said Shruti Brahmbhatt, Kailas Brahmbhatt's older daughter. "It's kind of like she's supporting us and we're supporting her."

Both daughters were already in Richmond attending Virginia Commonwealth University. Their mother moved there in May.

Jayeshkumar Brahmbhatt wanted nothing more than for the girls to have college educations and well-paying jobs.

Shruti Brahmbhatt, 22, is working toward a pharmacy degree. Aanal Brahmbhatt, 20, is in school to become a dental hygienist.

Shruti Brahmbhatt said that her mother has been cooking and cleaning for her daughters, and that she worked for the first time since her husband's death at Phillip Morris in the packaging department.

She recently quit that job so she could travel to India for three months, where she's visiting family. Before she returns to Virginia, she will spread her husband's ashes in the Ganges River.

"She's getting much better," Shruti Brahmbhatt said of her mother. "We're here to support her."

Hours after Jayeshkumar Brahmbhatt was killed, police arrested Calvin Bond Watson, 51, of Roanoke. His trial on capital murder and other charges is scheduled to start Feb. 2.

Beverly Ricardo Mangum, 54, was convicted earlier this month of first-degree murder and attempted robbery in Brahmbhatt's death. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors have said that Watson was the gunman and Mangum acted as a lookout for him.

Atul Patel, Brahmbhatt's employer and good friend, has sold the One Stop Market in the 1700 block of Williamson Road Northeast, where Brahmbhatt was killed.

"I couldn't take it," Patel said. "Every time I had to go there, it reminded me of him."

Patel said that he still sends the family money every month to help pay for the girls' education.

"They are there to fulfill their dad's dream," he said.