The horrific tale of Indian-origin man murdering wife and daughter in US, before killing self

Medical examiners in the US state of Massachusetts have declared the deaths of Indian-origin couple Rakesh Kamal, and Teena Kamal, as well as their daughter Arianna Kamal, to be a case of murder-suicide, after conducting their autopsies. According to NBC-Boston, Rakesh Kamal, 57, is alleged to have shot dead his 54-year-old wife Teena and 18-year-old daughter Arianna before turning the gun on himself inside their vast $5 million (Rs 41.64 crore) mansion in Dover, Massachusetts on 28 December, 2023. According to officials, a firearm that was not registered to Rakesh was seized at the scene. District Attorney Michael Morrissey earlier described their murders as a “domestic violence situation” and said there was no indication of any outside party’s involvement, despite the fact that a gun was recovered beside the husband’s body. However, until the medical examiner completed autopsies, the prosecutor refrained from declaring the tragedy a murder-suicide or even verifying that the three were shot, reports The New York Post. So, did Rakesh murder the family? What was the reason behind the murder-suicide? What else do the autopsy findings show? Let’s take a closer look. Autopsy findings The office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey on Tuesday said that autopsy results issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirm that Teena and her daughter Arianna were victims of homicide by gunshot. Rakesh died from a “gunshot wound consistent with being self-inflicted”. The final autopsy report is likely to be completed in the coming weeks. The release further said that while full forensic and ballistics testing of the gun has not been finalised, the firearm found with Rakesh is consistent with a .40 calibre Glock 22. However, the firearm was not registered in Rakesh’s name and “he was not licenced to possess it,” the release added. Massachusetts State Police have contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for assistance in determining the origin of the firearm. The incident remains under investigation by Dover and Massachusetts State Police. Last week, Morrissey said that the initial investigation indicated the incident was a case of domestic violence and did not initially indicate the involvement of outside parties. [caption id=“attachment_13571762” align=“alignnone” width=“2560”] The release further said that while full forensic and ballistics testing of the gun has not been finalised, the firearm found with Rakesh is consistent with a .40 calibre Glock 22. File image/AP[/caption] Dover Police received a 911 call requesting a response to the Kamal residence at approximately 7.24 pm on 28 December by a family member who had stopped by to check on the family. The police found the Kamal family dead when it arrived on the scene. Investigators had worked the crime scene through much of the night. Dover is about 32 kilometres southwest of downtown Boston, the capital of Massachusetts. Morrissey has said that there had been no prior police reports or domestic incidents tied to the home. Family was facing financial struggles The family’s sprawling mansion, estimated to be worth $5.45 million (Rs 45.36 crore), went into foreclosure a year ago and was sold for $3 million (Rs 24.97 crore), according to a report in The New York Post. The Kamals purchased the 19,000-square-foot estate, which boasts 11 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, for $4 million (Rs 33.30 crore) in 2019, according to the records, and media reports. The slain family members were the only ones living in the mansion at the time, the DA said, adding that the area, one of the richest in the state, was a nice neighbourhood and a safe community. Teena and her husband, who also went by Rick, had previously run a now-defunct education systems company called EduNova. The couple appeared to have faced financial problems in recent years, online records show. Their company was launched in 2016 but was dissolved in December 2021, state records show. Teena was listed on EduNova’s website as the chief operating officer of the company, describing her as an alum of Harvard University and Delhi University in India. According to his biography on the EduNova website, Kamal was an alumnus of Boston University and MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as Stanford University. Before working at EduNova, he held many executive-level positions in the education-consulting field, the biography added. EduNova marketed a student success system designed to improve the grades of students in middle school, high school and college, The Boston Globe newspaper reported. Teena filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in September 2022 listing between $1 million (Rs 8.32 crore) and $10 million (Rs 83.27 crore) in liabilities, filings show. The case, however, was dismissed two months later due to insufficient documentation. She was listed as one of the board of directors for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts. Her online bio noted her more than three decades of working in the education and technology industries. Meanwhile, the couple’s daughter was a student at Middlebury College, a $64,800 (Rs 53.95 lakh)-a-year private liberal arts school in Vermont, where she was studying neuroscience, according to her LinkedIn profile. Morrissey also said that a homicide had not been reported in Dover since 2020, and he has never worked a homicide case from that neighbourhood since he started his position as District Attorney 12 years ago. Morrissey had said that it was very rare to have this kind of a violent situation almost in any community in Norfolk County, particularly Dover. It’s a small, well-run community, but like everybody else, there are problems out there that can affect no matter where one lives, he had said. With inputs from PTI