Northern California man responsible for family massacre to be sentenced, officials say

Shankar Hangud, the Roseville man responsible for murdering his wife and three children in 2019, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 10.

The murders, which occurred two years ago Thursday, were a shock to the Roseville community. Hangud, 55, made national headlines after walking into the Mount Shasta Police Department, 230 miles north of Roseville, telling officers he had killed four people.

Roseville Police later found the bodies of his wife and two daughters in the family’s apartment on Junction Road. The fourth body, that of his son, was found in the trunk of a red Mazda sedan he parked outside the police station in Mount Shasta.

Police said at the time they believed Hangud killed his family during a weeklong crime spree, murdering his wife and daughters over the course of three days before he took his son to a remote part of Siskiyou County where he later killed him.

The victims were identified as Jyothi Shankar, 46; Varum Shankar, 20; Gauri Hangud, 16; and Nischal Hangud, 13.

Hangud initially pleaded not guilty to the murders in 2019 but last month changed his plea, entering a guilty pleas to three counts of first-degree murder for his three children and one count of deliberately aiding his wife in committing suicide.

“The deaths of these young victims touched this community very deeply, and although there are no family members left to see justice served, many in our community remember the victims from school or from their neighborhood,” Placer County Chief Assistant District Attorney David Tellman said in a statement. “I would encourage anyone who wishes to support these victims to attend the sentencing to observe the conclusion of this tragic case.”

Hangud is scheduled to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 10 in Placer County Superior Court Department 44.

This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 12:17 PM.