Family, including wife and 2 teens, killed in Northern California quadruple homicide identified

The four family members who were killed in a homicide spree that spanned nearly a week and two Northern California counties have been identified, the Placer County Sheriff-Coroner announced.

Shankar Nagappa Hangud, 53, is accused of killing his wife Jyothi Shankar, 46, his daughter, Gauri Hangud, 16, and his youngest son, Nischal Hangud, 13, beginning Oct. 7 in their Roseville apartment in the Carmel at Woodcreek West complex on Junction Boulevard. He later killed his older son, Varum Shankar, 20, somewhere between Roseville and Mount Shasta, where he surrendered to police Oct. 13 with his son’s body in the trunk of his Mazda.

Hangud pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder at his arraignment last month and remains held without bail in the South Placer Jail.

Roseville police learned of the killings after they received a call from the Mount Shasta Police Department after a Hangud walked into their station and turned himself in, police said in a news conference at the time.

A motive for the slayings has not been disclosed; however, tax records showed that Hangud faced a federal tax lien of $178,603 from the Internal Revenue Service this year.

Hangud was a data specialist and had worked for several companies in the Sacramento area, according to his LinkedIn profile. His most recent employment was in 2018 with a company called Social Interest Solutions, which provides IT services for state public assistance programs.

Court records show that Hangud’s only previous interaction with law enforcement was for speeding in Placer County in 2016 and Fairfax County, Virginia, in 2001. Before 2015, Hangud worked in the technology sector in the Bay Area and had previously lived in Texas, Maryland and New Jersey, according to public documents.

“This incident has touched the lives of many in the area,” Capt. Josh Simon told reporters at a news conference last month, adding that such a killing had not occurred in the Placer County city of 130,000 in his recent memory. “It’s a very sad, sad situation.”