California woman charged with double murder after two friends killed in 90 minutes

An Indian-origin woman in California has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after allegedly stabbing one close friend and running over another with an SUV within the span of a couple of hours.

Anila Baby, 32, is accused of killing Anjana Hari, 35, and Ann Mary Mathew, whose age is listed in different official records as either 35 or 39. All three women had moved to the US from Kerala, India, and were described by relatives as close friends. Only the day before the killings, they had celebrated the harvest festival of Onam and watched a movie together.

The double tragedy unfolded on 28 August across two South Bay cities, Milpitas and San Jose, located less than 20 kilometres apart.

The Milpitas parking lot attack

According to court documents, the violence in Milpitas took place shortly before noon in the parking lot of the Mill Creek Apartments on Dixon Landing Road, where both Baby and Hari lived.

A witness told investigators that Hari was walking through the lot when she spotted Baby's blue Toyota Highlander. She appeared relaxed and friendly, walking towards the SUV as if she was about to get inside. There was no argument.

But as Hari stepped in front of the stationary vehicle, it suddenly accelerated. The heavy SUV ran her over, leaving no tyre marks on the asphalt to suggest the driver had tried to brake. The vehicle then slammed into three parked cars before speeding out of the complex. Hari died at the scene from severe head injuries.

The San Jose stabbing

Around two hours later, at 1:53 pm, police in neighbouring San Jose responded to a call on the 700 block of Linda Vista Street. Inside a house there, Ann Mary Mathew’s husband discovered his wife lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

Investigators found that Mathew had been strangled and stabbed. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Although some early US media reports suggested Mathew was attacked before Hari, the exact timeline and sequence of the two killings are still being pieced together by investigators.

The arrest and charges

Shortly after the Milpitas incident, police found Baby sitting inside her damaged SUV, which was parked near a Walgreens pharmacy about a mile from the apartment complex.

According to the police report, Baby was incoherent, unable to answer questions, and had blood on her arms and legs. She was taken into custody and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail.

Baby was initially charged only in connection with Hari's death. However, on 8 September, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office filed additional murder charges after linking her to the stabbing in San Jose.

At her first court appearance in San Jose on 10 September, Baby did not enter a plea. She is scheduled to return to court on 17 November, where she faces a potential sentence of 50 years to life if convicted.

The San Jose Police Department said the motive and circumstances surrounding the killings remain under active investigation. Grieving family members have speculated that employment-related stress may have played a role, though police have not confirmed this.

Meanwhile, the Kerala state government, the Indian Embassy, and local Malayali community associations in California are coordinating to help repatriate the bodies of Hari and Mathew to India for their final rites once forensic procedures are complete.