Indian woman, son murdered in the US: 8 years later, a laptop leads to the killer

In a significant development, authorities in the United States have announced charges against an Indian national in the 2017 New Jersey double murder of a mother and her six-year-old son.

More than eight years after the incident, prosecutors on Tuesday stated that Nazeer Hameed has been charged with murder and related offences, CBS News reported.

The brutal stabbing deaths of Sasikala, a 38-year-old Andhra woman, and her six-year-old son Anish took place in their Maple Shade, New Jersey, apartment on March 23, 2017.

A key piece of evidence, a single drop of blood found at the crime scene, was matched years later to a DNA sample obtained from Hameed's company-issued laptop. As per the prosecutors, Hameed, who lived within walking distance from the victims' home, was a colleague of Sasikala's husband at a New Jersey-based company.

But he returned to India six months after the murders. The investigators are now working with the Department of Justice to extradite him to the US to face charges.

During the time of investigation, officials collected various evidence at the scene. A single droplet of blood did not match the Narra family. Authorities then considered Hameed a person of interest.

After years of investigation and Hameed's refusal to provide a DNA sample in India, officials obtained a court order in 2024 for his company-issued laptop. A DNA sample from the laptop matched the unknown blood droplet from the scene, leading to the charges.

According to Lt. Brian Cunningham with the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, "We worked with our federal partners and authorities in India to approach Nazeer about giving a DNA sample. Nazeer Hameed declines that request."

“Ultimately, a DNA contributor was able to be obtained from the laptop, which matched the DNA from the unknown blood droplet from the crime scene," Cunningham was quoted as saying by CBS News.

While the specific motive is not definitively known, investigators believe Hameed may have had a vendetta against the victims' husband and had been stalking him for a significant amount of time before the murders.