US: Deaths of Indian-origin couple, daughter in Massachusetts ruled murder-suicide

The deaths of a wealthy Indian-origin couple and their daughter in the US state of Massachusetts last week have been ruled a murder-suicide by medical authorities after autopsy.

Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife Teena Kamal, 54, and their college-going daughter Arianna Kamal, 18, were found dead in their USD 5 million mansion in Dover, Massachusetts on December 28, 2023. A firearm was found near Rakesh Kamal.

A press release issued by the office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey on Tuesday (January 2) said that autopsy results issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirm that Teena and her daughter Arianna were victims of homicide by gunshot.

Rakesh died from a “gunshot wound consistent with being self-inflicted”. The final autopsy report is likely to be completed in the coming weeks.

The release further said that while full forensic and ballistics testing of the gun has not been finalised, the firearm found with Rakesh is consistent with a .40 calibre Glock 22. However, the firearm was not registered in Rakesh's name and “he was not licensed to possess it,” the release added.

Massachusetts State Police have contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for assistance in determining the origin of the firearm. The incident remains under investigation by Dover and Massachusetts State Police.

No outside involvement

Last week, Morrissey said that the initial investigation indicated the incident was a case of domestic violence and did not initially indicate the involvement of outside parties.

Dover Police received a 911 call requesting a response to the Kamal residence at approximately 7:24 pm on December 28 by a family member who had stopped by to check on the family. The police found the Kamal family dead when it arrived on the scene. Investigators worked the crime scene through much of the night.

Dover is about 32 kms southwest of downtown Boston, the capital of Massachusetts.

Morrissey has said that there had been no prior police reports or domestic incidents tied to the home.

The family's sprawling mansion, estimated to be worth USD 5.45 million, went into foreclosure a year ago and was sold for USD 3 million, according to a report in The New York Post.

The Kamals purchased the 19,000-square-foot estate, which boasts 11 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, for USD 4 million in 2019, according to the records, and media reports.

The slain family members were the only ones living in the mansion at the time, the DA said, adding that the area, one of the richest in the state, was a nice neighbourhood and a safe community.

Family faced financial problems

Teena and her husband, who also went by Rick, had previously run a now-defunct education systems company called EduNova. The couple appeared to have faced financial problems in recent years, online records show. Their company was launched in 2016 but was dissolved in December 2021, state records show.

Teena was listed on EduNova's website as the chief operating officer of the company, describing her as an alum of Harvard University, and Delhi University in India.

According to his biography on the EduNova website, Kamal was an alumnus of Boston University and MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as Stanford University. Before working at EduNova, he held many executive-level positions in the education-consulting field, the biography added.

EduNova marketed a student success system designed to improve the grades of students in middle school, high school, and college, The Boston Globe newspaper reported.

Filed for bankruptcy

Teena filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in September 2022 listing between USD 1 million and USD 10 million in liabilities, filings show. The case, however, was dismissed two months later due to insufficient documentation. She was listed as one of the board of directors for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts.

Her online bio noted her more than three decades of working in the education and technology industries.

Meanwhile, the couple's daughter was a student at Middlebury College, a USD 64,800-a-year private liberal arts school in Vermont, where she was studying neuroscience, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Morrissey also said that a homicide had not been reported in Dover since 2020, and he has never worked a homicide case from that neighbourhood since he started his position as District Attorney 12 years ago.

Morrissey had said that it was very rare to have this kind of a violent situation almost in any community in Norfolk County, particularly Dover. It's a small, well-run community, but like everybody else, there are problems out there that can affect no matter where one lives, he had said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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