Mom Arti Varma killed, daughter wounded in targeted stabbing attack in their Burbank home: Police
A stabbing attack that killed a mother and wounded her daughter in their California home earlier this week was targeted, police said Thursday, as investigators are working to establish the exact relationship between the victims and the murder suspect.
The women were repeatedly stabbed with a knife early Monday in their house in Burbank, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Officers responded to the home around 6 a.m. that day and found both suffering from stab wounds, Burbank police said.
The mother -- 59-year-old Arti Varma, who taught first-grade in Burbank -- died at the hospital, police said. Her daughter -- 25-year-old Meera Varma, a nationally recognized mental health activist -- remains hospitalized, prosecutors said Thursday.
The suspect, 30-year-old Sergio Fraire, was charged Thursday with murder, attempted murder and residential burglary in what prosecutors called a "vicious and unprovoked attack."
Fraire allegedly broke into the home early Monday while the women were sleeping and stabbed both victims in a bedroom around 6 a.m., according to the district attorney's office.
Investigators have collected evidence that the stabbing attack was not random, Burbank Police told ABC News on Thursday.
Detectives identified Fraire as a person of interest that day and officers served a search warrant at a Burbank home where he was believed to be staying Monday night, police said. He was apprehended and arrested.
He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Thursday and is being held on no bail. He is next scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on June 12.
If convicted, Fraire faces up to life in state prison without the possibility of parole or death. The district attorney's office said it will make a decision on whether to seek the death penalty at a later date.
"Arti Varma was a deeply beloved elementary school teacher who was senselessly taken from her family and community in an act of horrific violence, leaving an entire community grieving in its wake," Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement Thursday. "I extend my deepest sympathies to the victims' family, Bret Harte Elementary School’s staff, students and parents and the entire Burbank community."
ABC News' Alex Stone contributed to this report
