The chargesheet against 32-year-old Anila Baby, the main accused in the murder of two Malayali women living in Northern California, indicates that the killings were executed with a “high degree of cruelty and viciousness.”
Charged with murder, the chargesheet notes that Anila has violated Section 187 (a) of the California Penal Code. Under the section, if the accused is convicted of first-degree murder, the penalty includes a term of twenty-five years in a state prison and a fine of upto $10,000.
The case summary further suggests that the accused was armed while committing the crime and that it was carried out with careful planning and professionalism.
The victims were identified as 40-year-old Ann Mary from Thiruvananthapuram and 35-year-old Anjana Hari from Thrissur. The women, including the accused, lived with their families in the Mill Creek Apartments on Dixon Landing Road. They were friends and had even attended an Onam celebration together.
Around noon on Friday, Anila allegedly called Anjana and asked her to meet outside their apartment building. According to The Mercury News, witnesses described Anjana as relaxed and smiling as she approached Anila’s car, giving them the impression that they were friends.
However, once Anjana stepped in front of the vehicle, Anila accelerated from a dead stop and ran over her friend. Witnesses, including Anjana’s husband Vijeesh, described a blue Toyota Highlander SUV fleeing the scene. The car reportedly hit three parked vehicles on the way out.
An affidavit by the Milpitas police detectives says that officers found Anjali suffering from “severe head trauma and bleeding.”
A few minutes later, the police were notified that an SUV recklessly drove past patrol vehicles and abruptly stopped in a nearby pharmacy’s parking lot. The police found Anila inside the vehicle, with visible injuries and blood on her arms and legs. The detectives described her as “incoherent” and “unable to answer questions.”
A traffic investigator later found no skid marks or tyre friction to indicate that Baby ever tried to brake, leading to the conclusion that the incident was intentional.
Subsequently, Vijeesh contacted Ann’s husband, Jacob, and informed him of the incident. Jacob, who was unable to get Ann on the phone, reached the apartment and found her dead with stab wounds. A knife was also recovered from beside her body.
Anila reportedly lost her job recently and has been mentally unwell, according to Malayalam media. However, the exact motive behind the murder is still being investigated.
Ann Mary was a software engineer and had been living in the US for around 10 years. She was married to Kottayam native Jacob and had two children, aged 12 and five. Anjana was a school teacher and moved to the US in 2021 with her husband and their six-year-old daughter.
