Hyderabad: Software engineer Nerusu Lakshmi Nivasa Rao, a 46-year-old native of Vuyyuru in Krishna district, who was accused of a triple-murder was convicted by a United States court.
The Oakland Country Circuit Court in Michigan found him guilty of first degree murder of his wife N. Jayalakshmi, son Siva, 12, and daughter Tejasvi, 14, by slashing their throats, in Novi, Michigan.
The court has posted the sentencing to July 3. Under Michigan law, for first degree murder, Rao will be imprisoned for life with no chance of parole. Rao showed no emotion when he heard the verdict.
After committing the murders on October 13, 2008, Rao escaped to India. America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the help of the AP CID, executed the international warrant pending against Rao in 2013, after a manhunt lasting four years. He was arrested on February 20, 2013.
It is alleged that Rao had stabbed his wife 59 times. Rao had pleaded insanity, but medical tests by psychiatrists found he is mentally competent.
He told the jurors: “I don’t remember ... I must have been insane... I woke up on the floor of my home after the killings.”
The prosecution argued that all the victims had severe head and neck wounds and domestic problems had led to the triple murder.
