San Fernando Valley Man Murders Entire Family and then Himself

We all know how horrible the economy has become in the last few weeks, but for one unemployed man the fear of unemployment and his huge debt resulted in his shooting and killing his entire family in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles.

Karthik Rajaram, aged 45, murdered his 70 year old mother-in-law, his wife and their three sons. The police were sent to the house in Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in order to conduct a wellness check. These checks often occur when someone does not show up for work or a scheduled meeting. When the police arrived they found the entire family shot to death.

An investigation reveled that Mr. Rajaram had left three letters in sealed envelops. One letter contained a letter to police explaining that he had debated whether to just kill himself or to murder his entire family. He later decided that killing his family would be more honorable. The second letter was addressed to friends, and the last envelope contained his will.

The police state that Mr. Rajaram had previously worked as a financial adviser making over 1.5 million dollars per year. He lost his job several months ago and the financial pressure became unbearable.

“We believe this to be a murder-suicide,” said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Moore said. “It appears (the gunman) killed his family and then took his own life.”

Even though the pressures may seem enormous as our economy gets worse and people are unable to pay their mortgages or other bills, it is important to know that there are resources in our community to help. While times may seem tough and lonely, this a time for all of us to help each other out.

Sometimes desperate times result in people doing desperate things. White collar crime is often how people make ends meet when the pay check is no longer covering the bills. If for some reason you, or someone you know, has committed a crime in order to make ends meet, then please contact an white collar defense attorney right away. Theft or embezzlement by an employee will almost always result in being caught and prosecuted.

In the case of employers, many times if the employee returns the money then the employer does not want to prosecute and this is well worth the minimal cost of hiring an attorney.