Husband of slain mother and 6-year-old in Maple Shade: 'I was in shell shock'
Hanu Narra says he was in "shell shock" when he discovered the bodies of his wife and son in their apartment on Thursday night.
Update (1:11 p.m. Wednesday):
Hanumantha "Hanu" Rao Narra, who found his wife and 6-year-old son stabbed to death in Maple Shade, can leave the United States to attend their funerals if needed. The bodies are expected to be sent back to India, where the Narras have family.
"He has not been charged with a crime. His movements are not restricted in any way by the criminal justice system," Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, said Wednesday.
Earlier story:
The man who found his wife and 6-year-old son stabbed to death in their Maple Shade, Burlington County, apartment last week had just come home from a work happy-hour party, according to family friends and an interview the husband gave on a YouTube channel.
Narra said police questioned where he had been that day and whether he had issues with neighbors or suspected anyone was responsible.
"They asked every single question, and then they let me go," he said in the video, which was published Friday, a day after the murders.
Authorities said his wife, Sasikala Narra, 38, and son, Anish Narra, 6, had been stabbed multiple times in the Fox Meadow Apartments just off Route 73, where police responded around 9 p.m. Thursday.
Hanumantha Narra, who goes by "Hanu," told philly.com in a brief call Tuesday that he was speaking to family in India and couldn't talk at the moment. He did not answer a call later in the day.
Anish was a student at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School in Maple Shade, where officials are mourning the tragedy.
"He was a beautiful child of God that we will miss dearly," Principal Carl Jankowski said Tuesday. "And our prayers are with the Narra family."
Friends of the family said they had many questions.
"The family is really devastated," said Mohan Nannapaneni, former president of the Telugu Association of North America, which is helping send the bodies back to relatives of both the husband and wife in India. Telugu is a language native to India that the Narra family speaks.
Nannapaneni said Hanu Narra and several of his wife's relatives viewed the bodies Monday at the Hindu Funeral Home in Highland Park, N.J., where a private service is expected to be held this week. Nannapaneni said the mother and son had stab wounds to their faces and hands.
Hanu and Sasikala Narra both worked at Cognizant, a technology services company. Hanu Narra's LinkedIn says he is also a consultant for Comcast. Officials at Comcast did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Cognizant officials confirmed Hanu and Sasikala Narra's employment with their company.
The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, which is leading the murder investigation, declined to comment Tuesday.