Immigrant family of four found dead in their California home

An Indian immigrant couple immersed in Silicon Valley's high-tech world and their two young children were found dead in their San Mateo, California home.

The family of four has been identified by family and friends as Anand Sujith Henry, 37, Alize Benziger, 38, and their 4-year-old sons, Noah and Neithan, according to the Daily Mail.

"Based on the information we have at this time, this appears to be an isolated incident with no danger to the public as we are confident the person responsible was located within the home," states a police report. "This investigation continues as detectives work to gather evidence, speak to witnesses and family members, and determine a possible motive."

San Mateo Police officers were dispatched to the 4100 block of Alameda de las Pulgas on the report of a welfare check. After arriving officers were met with no response, they searched the perimeter of the home and did not see any signs of forced entry into the house. Finding an unlocked window, officers entered the home and located four people dead; an adult male, an adult female, and two children.

"The male and female were located deceased from gunshot wounds inside a bathroom. A 9mm pistol and a loaded magazine were also found in the bathroom, according to police reports.

The children were found in another bedroom but the cause of death is still unknown because there were no signs of trauma to their bodies, say police. The investigation is continuing.

The couple were originally from Kerala. Anand. They lived in San Francisco before purchasing their $2.1 million home in San Mateo, a modest home in the high-priced Bay Area market.

Henry had worked as a Software Engineering Manager at Google for eight years and Meta/Facebook for 17 months before co-founding an artificial intelligence firm called Logits in 2023. He had earlier worked at Salesforce and had interned at Adobe Systems, according to his social media profile.

The reports also said Henry had filed for divorce in December 2016 but had reconciled before the birth of twins, Benzinger's mother was reportedly living with them before recently returning to India.

Police also acknowldged they had been dispatched to the residence several timse but did not go into dtail on the nature of those visits.

What makes this incident particularly disturbing is that it is the second such murder-suicide involving highly educated and financially accomplishedl Indian immigrants. In January, a similar incident in Massachusetts in occurred where Rakesh Kamal, 57, fatally shot his wife Teena Kamal, 54, and their college-going daughter Arianna Kamal, 18 before turning the gun on himself.

The Kamals had co-founded an education systems company called EduNova in 2016, but had dissolved it in 2021 after financial setbacks that undercut their affluent lifestyle in a $ 5 million suburban home.


The tragic stories appear to underscore the pressure on Asian and Asian American professionals trying to live up the model minority stereotype  as a model minority, to present themselves as successful and wealthy.
Indian-Americans have the highest average household income among all ethnicities in the US ($126,891, almost twice the US average of $65,316), but that topline would barely qualify as modest in the Bay Area and other affluent pockets in America.

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