Man Who Turned Up to Northern California Police Station with Dead Body in His Car Has Been Identified
A California man who allegedly confessed to murdering multiple members of his family has been identified.
Shankar Nagappa Hangud, 53, turned himself in to the Mt. Shasta Police Department on Monday after arriving at the station with a dead body in his car, authorities said Tuesday.
After being detained in Mt. Shasta, California, Hangud was transported back to the Placer County Jail, as the murders took place in Roseville, on four murder charges, the Roseville Police Department said in a statement on Facebook on Tuesday.
The statement contained the same information that Roseville Police Capt. Josh Simon shared with reporters during a press conference on Tuesday.
Hangud, a data specialist, is being held without bail and refused to be interviewed, the Sacramento Bee reported on Tuesday. It is currently unclear whether or not he has a lawyer yet.
While police said that Hangud is the “sole suspect in the four homicides,” a motive is not yet being released because of the ongoing investigation.
“The motive is something I think you’ll find that comes out as a result of the investigation,” Simon told reporters at the press conference.
“There are crime scenes that have been processed, the suspect has been interviewed, but there’s a lot of stones that have been unturned that these detectives still need to look into before making a real determination about what the motivation was, what led the suspect to do the things that he did,” he added.
“Based on the information we have thus far, it appears the victims are members of the suspect’s family,” the police’s statement said, adding that while they are not releasing the victims’ identity, “we can confirm the four victims consist of two adults and two juveniles.”
In addition to the body found in Hangud’s car — which police have said is adult male of East Indian descent — three more were found in his apartment in Roseville. Police have not yet released any of the victims’ cause of death.
Police noted that the investigation is “evolving” and is “less than 24 hours underway” and called for the community’s help pinning down the timeline.
“It appears the victims were killed by this suspect over a few days’ time span, we’re still working to put that timeline together,” the statement said.
The Roseville police department’s statement went on to explain that so far, they know that Hangud left his Roseville residence with the adult male victim within the last week, driving in a red Mazda 6 sedan with the license plate 7ZJH479.
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After leaving Roseville, they “traveled to unknown places in Northern California and ended up in Mt. Shasta,” which is where Hangud turned himself into police.
Police are urging anyone with information on Hangud’s whereabouts within the last week or informtion about his family to call the Roseville Police Department at 916-746-1059.
“Roseville is an extremely safe family oriented community. This incident has touched the lives of many people throughout the area,” Simon said at the press conference. “This is an evolving investigation that’s less than 24 hours underway. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we work to share more information as it becomes available.”
