The FBI is offering a reward of $50,000 for a man accused of violently murdering a coworker and her 6-year-old son at a South Jersey apartment complex nearly a decade ago.
Nazeer Hameed is wanted in connection with the killings of 38-year-old Sasikala Narra and her 6-year-old son, Anish, police said. They were both found fatally stabbed on March 23, 2017, inside their unit at Fox Meadow Apartments in Maple Shade, and they died from “multiple slash wounds to their necks,” prosecutors said, adding that the boy had been “nearly decapitated.”
Hameed, who was living in the U.S. on a visa at the time of his alleged crimes, apparently returned to his native India some six months after the murders, according to investigators. He was charged with murder in absentia last month, after DNA testing linked him to the crime, officials said. A motive for the killings, dubbed “brutal” by detectives, still remained unclear as of Wednesday.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy in a letter to the Indian government requested assistance in locating and extraditing Hameed back to the Garden state.
“This heinous crime shocked our state, and for eight years investigators pursued every available lead,” Murphy wrote.
“The Government of New Jersey stands ready to cooperate fully with the Ministry of External Affairs of India, Ministry of Home Affairs of India, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of State, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to facilitate the extradition process in accordance with both Indian law and the terms of our bilateral treaty, he continued. “I wish to convey my profound gratitude to Ambassador Kwatra, with whom I spoke last week, for his prompt attention to this matter and for the continued partnership between our governments.”