Indian-origin software engineer identified as suspect in family murder-suicide in US

PTI

New York, February 16

Anand Henry, an Indian-origin former Meta software engineer is suspected of killing his wife and twin sons before turning a gun on himself in a gruesome murder-suicide in the US state of California, according to authorities.

Henry, 37, and his wife, Alice Benziger, 36, were found dead in the bathroom of their home in Alameda de las Pulgas on Monday morning, according to the San Mateo Police Department.

A 9mm handgun registered to Henry was lying on the bathroom floor by their bodies.

“Our investigation shows Benziger succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds, while Henry suffered from a single shot,” police said in a statement on Thursday.

The 4-year-old twin boys, meanwhile, did not die from gunfire. They showed no signs of trauma, and authorities have not yet determined their cause of death.

Police allege that Henry was responsible for all four deaths.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Henry used to work at Meta as a software engineer and before that for Google in a similar role. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He was working in artificial intelligence at the time of his death, according to his profile. Benziger worked for Zillow as a data scientist, according to her profile on LinkedIn.

The couple, hailing from Kerala, both attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Police said there was no history of violence at the home — the only time they came to the house was when the family reported seeing a mountain lion in the backyard.

According to court records, the husband filed for divorce in December 2016 but apparently did not go through with it.

But when people who knew the family could not get in contact with them over the weekend, police responded to the scene to do a wellness check, according to the department.

The suspected murder-suicide is believed to have occurred on Saturday afternoon, the police said.

“Our investigation into the motive for this tragedy continues. While we can't undo this horrific incident, we would like to share with our community both domestic violence and mental health resources, because there is help and/or assistance out there, and something like this does not need to happen again,” the department said. 

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