A wealthy Indian-origin couple and their teenage daughter were found dead in their USD 5 million mansion in Dover, Massachusetts, United States. It was suspected to be a case of domestic violence, according to media reports.
The bodies of Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife, Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter, Ariana, were found in their Dover mansion at about 7.30pm local time on Thursday, December 28, said Norfolk District Attorney (DA) Michael Morrissey. Dover is about 32km southwest of downtown Boston, the capital of Massachusetts.
Teena and her husband, who also went by the name “Rick”, had previously run a now-defunct education systems company called EduNova.
The DA, who described the “terrible tragedy” as a “domestic violence situation,” said that a gun was found near the husband’s body. He declined to say whether all three family members were shot dead — and by whom, the New York Post reported.
Couple had financial problems in recent years
Morrissey said that he was waiting for the medical examiner’s ruling, which was expected soon, before deciding whether to refer to the incident as a murder-suicide. The district attorney refused to speculate on a motive behind the deaths. The couple appeared to have faced financial problems in recent years, online records show.
The grim discovery of their bodies was made when a relative had stopped by to check on the family members, after not hearing from them in one or two days, the district attorney said.
He added, “There’s been no police reports, there’s been no problems, no domestic issues, no nothing at that house or in the entire neighborhood that I’m aware of.”
Referring to domestic violence cases in general, the DA said, “I hate to see it at any time. I think some of the tensions that people feel in relationships often come out around the holidays.”
In a statement, the DA’s office said: “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.”
Multimillion-dollar mansion had gone into foreclosure
The family’s sprawling mansion — estimated to be worth USD 5.45 million — went into foreclosure a year ago and was sold to the Massachusetts-based Wilsondale Associates LLC for USD 3 million, according to The Post. The Kamals had purchased the 19,000-square-foot estate, which boasts 11 bedrooms, for USD 4 million in 2019, according to 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, a safe community”.
Their company was launched in 2016 but was dissolved in December 2021, state records show.
Teena Kamal was listed on EduNova’s website as the chief operating officer of the company, describing her as an alumna of Harvard University and Delhi University in India. Online information show that she was also on the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts.
According to his biography on the EduNova website, Rakesh Kamal was an alumnus of Boston University and the MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as Stanford University. Before working at EduNova, he “held many executive positions in the education-consulting field”, the biography added.
Bankruptcy filed in September 2022, listing huge liabilities
EduNova marketed a “student success system” designed to improve the grades of students in middle school, high school, and college, reported The Boston Globe newspaper.
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.
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.