Kollam (Kerala)/New York (US): A young wealthy Indian-origin family, including a couple and their 4-year-old twin boys, was found dead at their home in California, USA with police suspecting it was a case of murder-suicide.
The victims, hailing from Kerala, have been identified as Anand Sujith Henry (42), his wife Alice Priyanka (40), and their twin sons Noah and Neithan. The incident took place in San Mateo, California on Monday, police were quoted as saying by local news reports.
Relatives of the family in Kerala's Kollam district told ETV Bharat that Priyanka's mother Juliet had returned from the US and reached Thiruvananthapuram on the morning of February 12 (Indian Time). She had spoken to Priyanka informing her that she had landed in India. However, Juliet could not reach her daughter later in the day and there was no response to WhatsApp messages as well.
Concerned she sent a relative in the US to Anand's house. The relative became suspicious and dialled 911 on Monday spurring a welfare check at the location. The police arrived and checked the exits of the home and found no signs of forced entry. "Unfortunately, we located four deceased people inside the home. One adult male. One adult female and two children," said Jerami Surratt, public information officer with the San Mateo Police Department.
Sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said police believe the children were smothered, strangled, or given a lethal overdose because there was no sign of trauma on their bodies. The man and woman were found inside a bathroom, according to police. They both had gunshot wounds. A 9-millimeter pistol and a loaded magazine were found in the bathroom, police said. The deaths appear to be an isolated incident, and there is no danger to the public, police said.
Relatives of the family told ETV Bharat that the couple had filed for divorce at the San Francisco court in 2016. The two went through in 2017 but the two got back together soon after, following which the twins were born. Anand worked as a software engineer and Alice was a senior analyst. The couple had relocated from New Jersey to San Mateo County after purchasing the house in 2020 for $2.1 million, local reports said.
"The children did not have any gunshot wounds. Unfortunately, they were found deceased, so that will be part of the autopsy, to figure out the cause of (the children's) death," Surratt said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
"We are confident the person responsible was located within the home," police said in a statement. "This is not a normal call for anyone. It's tragic for the family, the community, the officers..," said Surratt.
Anand was the third son of the former Principal of Fatima Mata National College Kollam, Dr G Henry. After his marriage to Alice Priyanka, who was a native of the Kilikollur area of the district, Anand went to America and never came back home with his family. The relatives suspect that the deceased couple must have been going through some family issues due to which they took the extreme step.
This incident is eerily similar to the December 28 case where a wealthy Indian-origin couple and their teenage daughter were found dead in their USD 5 million mansion in Massachusetts. Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife, Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter, Ariana, were found dead in their 11-bedroom and 13-bathroom mansion last month.
There have been seven deaths of an Indian or Indian-American in the country in recent months. On February 10, a 41-year-old Indian-origin IT executive died after suffering life-threatening injuries during an assault outside a restaurant in Washington. Before that, Syed Mazahir Ali, an Indian student was attacked by robbers in Chicago. Earlier, 25-year-old Indian student Vivek Saini was fatally attacked in Georgia state's Lithonia city by a homeless drug addict.
Another student identified as 19-year-old Shreyas Reddy Beniger was found dead in Ohio. However, local authorities have ruled out foul play. Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University, was found dead in a nature preserve in Indiana on February 5. Another Indian student, identified as Neel Acharya at Purdue University, Indiana, was confirmed dead days after being reported missing on January 28. Akul B Dhawan, an 18-year-old at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was found dead last month with signs of hypothermia. (With agency inputs)
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