Three friends, two deaths: Bodies of Kerala women killed in US return home

2 min readKochiUpdated: Sep 21, 2026 07:38 PM IST

The accused Baby was arrested on the same day of the attack and was booked for both murders. (Representational image/File)

The bodies of two women, who were allegedly killed in the US, arrived at Cochin International Airport on Monday, and the last rites will be performed later at their residences, officials told PTI.

Keralam-based US residents — Ann Mary Mathew, 35, and Anjana Hari, 35 were killed in separate attacks allegedly by their friend Anila Baby. The attacks happened within about 90 minutes of each other on August 28 in San Jose and Milpitas, two South Bay cities in the US state of California located less than 20 kilometres apart.

The accused Baby was arrested on the same day of the attack and was booked for both murders. Police at the airport told PTI that the bodies of Anjana, a native of Thrissur and Ann, a native of Kesavadasapuram in Thiruvananthapuram, were handed over to her relatives by around 11 am.

The bodies were brought to Kochi via Dubai after being transported from San Francisco to Los Angeles and NORKA Roots arranged the transportation.

Anjana’s funeral service is being held on Monday while Ann Mary’s last rites are expected to held on Tuesday at St Ignatius Church in Chingavanam, Kottayam, On Manorama report said.

According to the Milpitas Police Department, Ann Mary was found unconscious, unresponsive and was declared dead at the spot. Police alleged that Anila later ran over Anjana with an SUV and the motive behind the killings is being investigated, officials were quoted as saying in reports.

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