Market Woes Lead To Murder-Suicide

A California man depressed about the slumping stock market killed his wife, three sons and mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself in Los Angeles over the weekend, with police discovering all six bodies Monday afternoon.

Originally the man, an Indian-American named Karthik Rajaram, was only going to kill himself but later decided to murder his entire family as well, according to suicide notes found at the scene.

From the LA Times:

In a letter addressed to police, Rajaram blamed his actions on economic hardships. A second letter, labeled “personal and confidential,” was addressed to family friends; the third contained a last will and testament, Moore said.

The letter to police voiced two options: taking his own life, or killing himself and his entire family. “He talked himself into the second strategy,” Moore said. “That that would be the honorable thing to do.”

Authorities believe Rajaram killed his family and himself after seeing his finances wiped out by the stock market collapse, according to a source familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Jeez … these people lived in an upscale neighborhood, drove fancy SUV’s, lived the perfect life. Unbelievable.

Things are obviously getting bad out there, people, but let’s hope if anybody else decides to take the easy way out and kill themselves that they’ll at least “go it alone.”

This guy took three kids (19, 12 and 7 years old) with him, which is just inexcusable.