After eight years, police say they’ve solved the ‘brutal’ killing of a Maple Shade woman and her son
Nazeer Hameed has been charged with murder in the deaths of Sasikala and Anish Narra, who were found stabbed to death in 2017 in their Maple Shade apartment.
For eight years, the mystery of who killed a Maple Shade woman and her 6-year-old son swirled in the South Jersey town.
The bodies of Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son, Anish, were found in their blood-spattered apartment by their husband and father, Hanumantha Rao Narra, in March 2017. They had been stabbed to death.
In the end, the mystery was unraveled by a single drop of blood, prosecutors said Tuesday as they announced who they believe was the killer.
Nazeer Hameed, 38, has been charged with murder and related crimes in the double stabbing. Authorities say Hameed fled to his native India after the killings, where he remains today.
Hameed worked at Cognizant, a North Jersey tech company with an office in Philadelphia, alongside Hanumantha Narra, and lived in the same apartment complex as the family.
Patrick Thornton, the chief investigator for the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, said he could not reveal any information about Hameed’s potential motives. But he said Hameed had stalked the family for some time before the killings and used his background in tech to hide his movements after the fatal stabbings.
Thornton said Hameed waited until Narra had left the apartment before attacking his family with a series of violent stab and slice wounds to their head and hands. Anish was nearly decapitated in the attack.
“These innocent victims were defenseless during the horrific attack,” Thornton said. “Veteran officers said this was one of the most brutal crime scenes they’ve seen in their careers, and they are still affected by the memory of it.”
Hameed’s indictment, according to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw, was the result of a yearslong investigation that involved local, state, and federal law enforcement.
And while she said Tuesday that she was pleased to share the news of the charges against Hameed, she stressed that the work for law enforcement was far from over. Hameed is still living in India, and prosecutors in Bradshaw’s office are awaiting assistance from federal authorities to extradite him to New Jersey.
“We urge the full cooperation of our two nations to send a message that those who commit crimes cannot escape accountability by crossing oceans,” Bradshaw said.
Hameed was initially considered a person of interest in the case, and later identified as a suspect in 2019, when investigators found a drop of blood at the crime scene that did not belong to the victims.
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For the next five years, detectives attempted to compel Hameed to submit a DNA sample, but were unsuccessful. The Indian government agreed to assist in the collection of the specimen, but never acted on that agreement, officials said Tuesday.
A break in the case came in 2024, when Cognizant, the tech company Narra and Hameed worked for, sent local prosecutors the laptop Hameed used. A sample of his DNA was pulled from the device, and was ruled to be a match to the blood found at the crime scene.
Authorities continued to investigate in the months that followed and, on Tuesday, publicly announced his involvement in the crime.
Bradshaw vowed to work with federal authorities and the Indian government to bring Hameed to America to face criminal charges.
“The passage of time does not lessen our resolve,” she said. “No border can stand in the way of justice, and the people of Burlington County deserve closure.”
The Narras immigrated to America from the Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh state, on India’s eastern coast.
After marrying, they moved to Maple Shade and later enrolled their son in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School. Teachers there called Anish “a beautiful child of God” in speaking to reporters after his slaying.
Hanumantha Rao Narra could not immediately be reached for comment.
Through a lawyer, Sasikala Narra’s family in India said Tuesday they were relieved to hear that the killer had been identified.
“They’re very appreciative of all the work by law enforcement,” Donald F. Browne Jr. said. “It took a very long time, but that’s how justice goes sometimes, and they’re very thankful that everyone kept fighting and kept trying to find the answer to this case.”