Indian-Origin Family Found Dead In Their $5Mn US Mansion

New Delhi: In what could be a domestic violence case, an Indian-origin man, his wife and their teenage daughter were found dead in their mansion in the US state of Massachusetts this week. Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife, Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter, Ariana, were found dead in their $5 million Dover, Massachusetts mansion on Thursday.

According to Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, a gun was found near Rakesh Kamal’s body.

He did not reveal if all the three family members were shot dead and who shot them citing that he is waiting for the medical examiner’s ruling before taking a decision on whether to rule the incident as a murder-suicide.

The New York Post in a report citing online records said the Kamals appeared to have faced financial problems in recent years. The mansion they were living in went into foreclosure (the mortgagor took possession of the property – and was sold to the Massachusetts-based Wilsondale Associates LLC for $3 million).

They bought the property, which has 11 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, for $4 million in 2019.

During the time of the deaths, the family members were the only ones living in the mansion. Teena and her husband, who was called Rick by his close associates, previously ran a Massachusetts-based education systems company called EduNova.

Rakesh Kamal is an alumnus of Boston University, the MIT Sloan School of Management and Stanford University and had an extensive career in education consulting and launched EduNova with his wife in 2016. The Boston Globe in a report said that the company marketed a ‘student success system’ that aimed to improve marks scored by students in middle school, high school and college.

The company performed well initially but was dissolved in December 2021.

Teena filed for bankruptcy in September 2022 – listing between $1 million and $10 million in liabilities, the newspaper reported, adding that the filing was dismissed due to insufficient documentation. She also served as one of the board of directors for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts and worked in the education and technology sectors for over three decades. She is an alumna of Harvard University and Delhi University.

Ariana, their teenage daughter, was enrolled in a neuroscience course at Middlebury College, a $64,800-a-year private liberal arts school in Vermont.

Their lifeless bodies were discovered by a relative who stopped by to check on the family members after not hearing from them for one or two days. The district attorney said there were no previous reports of domestic incidents tied to their home.

“There’s been no police reports, there’s been no problems, no domestic issues, no nothing at that house or in the entire neighbourhood that I’m aware of. This is very unfortunate and our heart goes out to the entire Kamal family on this terrible tragedy,” Morissey was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

“Although the investigation is at a very preliminary stage, the evidence available at this time does not indicate the involvement of any outside party, but suggests that this is a deadly incident of domestic violence,” his office said in a statement.