NEED TO KNOW

• Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son, Anish, 6, were found stabbed to death in their Maple Shade apartment after her husband, Hanumanth Narra, came home from work

• DNA from a company laptop linked Nazeer Hameed to a blood droplet recovered at the scene

• Hameed returned to India six months after the murders and is now the focus of an extradition effort

A New Jersey father returned home from work in 2017 to find his wife and 6-year-old son brutally stabbed to death inside their Maple Shade apartment — and now authorities have identified a suspect after an eight-year investigation.

Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son, Anish, were found inside their Hamilton Road apartment on March 23, 2017. Her husband, Hanumanth “Hanu” Narra, discovered the scene when he returned home from his job, according to a press release from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office (BCPO).

An autopsy later determined both victims died from multiple stab wounds, and Anish had been nearly decapitated; both victims also had defensive wounds, per the release.

Maple Shade Police Chief Christopher Fletcher later described the scene as “unimaginable.”

“There was carnage here,” he said, per the release. “A mother and a young child who spent their last moments fighting for their lives.”

Investigators determined a tiny blood droplet found at the murder scene did not belong to either victim and belonged to a male with Central Asian ancestry. The blood was later determined to be the same type as 38-year-old Nazeer Hameed, who lived in the same apartment complex as the Narras and worked for the same company, Cognizant Technology Solutions, per the release.

Hameed returned to India six months after the killings, where he remains, per the prosecutor’s office.

As the investigation continued, detectives identified him as a person of interest after learning he had been stalking Hanu Narra.

Investigators attempted for years to obtain a DNA sample from Hameed, the release noted. Indian officials later advised U.S. authorities that Hameed refused to provide one in October 2020. A mutual legal assistance request submitted in 2023 acknowledging receipt by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs was never fulfilled.

Detectives ultimately obtained Hameed’s DNA from a company-issued laptop after Cognizant complied with a subpoena, the prosecutor’s office said. A forensic examination of the keyboard produced a DNA profile consistent with the unknown blood droplet at the scene.

“This development provided strong physical evidence that confirmed what our investigation had already determined,” BCPO Lt. Brian Cunningham said. “Nazeer Hameed went to the Narra apartment and brutally murdered Sasikala and her son, Anish.”

Some Maple Shade residents expressed relief when Hameed was charged. “A lot of us here live by ourselves, and you want to feel safe,” an elderly neighbor who lived near the Narras’ home at the time told the Burlington County Times.

Eric Still, another resident, told the outlet that Hameed “should be brought back here for justice in America.”

Sasikala’s family attorney, Donald Browne, said the deaths devastated the family. “It was shocking more than anything else,” Browne told 6ABC Philadelphia. “A spectacular family — mother, father and child.”

The prosecutor’s office said the motive has not been definitively established, however, in the state of New Jersey, proving a motive is not required to secure a murder conviction.

“He committed this crime, there is no doubt in our minds that he is responsible,” BCPO Chief of Investigations Patrick J. Thornton said, per the release. “We are hopeful that he will be extradited. I can’t imagine the powers that be in India want to protect a man who nearly decapitated a 6-year-old child after killing his mother in front of him.”

Authorities in New Jersey are now working with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of State to seek Hameed’s extradition, the prosecutor’s office said.

Read the original article on People