Porter Ranch financial manager kills himself and his family because of the economy

A Porter Ranch father of three, emotionally distraught over the economy murdered his family and then killed himself last weekend.  From the article posted today:

On Sept. 16, he bought a gun. He wrote two suicide notes and a last will and testament. And then, sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning, he killed his wife, mother-in-law and three sons, and took his own life.

"This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair, somehow working his way into believing this to be an acceptable exit," said LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore. "It is critical to step up and recognize we are in some pretty troubled 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.

Feel free to add your insight about this tragedy and/or the economy in the comments below.

-- Tony Pierce

photo by Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[GF-DENVER]

What a selfish horrible man. Money takes precedence over human lives - his family's lives at that. Our society places such value on ultimately worthless material items and posessions that our lives become secondary. It will be the ultimate undoing of life as we know it. My sympathy to the victims and their loved ones.

[DJ Kowalski]

Karthik Rajaram is a name that isn't "typical American." I think legal and illegal immigration is the real reason behind all the mayhem striking our shores. This selfish bum murders his family for his own self-aggrandizement.

[Kumar]

Who R legal and illigal immigrants Mr. Kowalski? It is so childish to blame everything on IMMIGRATION.

KOWALSKI - Name Meaning & Origin

Definition: One of the most common surnames in contemporary Poland, Kowalski is a derivative of the work "kowal," meaning blacksmith in Polish. Thus, this occupational surname and its derivatives are basically the Polish version of the English surname SMITH.

[karen]

Was he on any medication like Antidepressants???

[gary]

now if we could get the rest of the financial planners, stock brokers, real estate loan people, bank excecutives to put a bullet in their own heads and not their familes this would be a great start.

[Tina Thompson]

This situation should touch us all. It is not fair that the whole family had to suffer this one man's fate. There is a role in everything; everyone; we all must learn from this; try and help one another, if possible ...the desire to live, we must learn true love of self, true love of 'all things' in life, in the world to be adventuresome in many avenues, and now especially love; .... fierceness is needed to stretch to as many domains in life's enjoyments, ... to all, live, learn, and let us all try to be as helpful to everything, everyone as possible; it is needed, especially now; Peace, Tina.

[savita]

He was a selfish man. What was the need to kill his whole family? The brutal man killed his sons and wife who were nothing to do with his reckless financial decisions. In life money comes and money goes.. life is precious. If you are alive you can make money. If you loose money there is no end of the world.

[Simran Ahuja]

I am an immigrant(100% Legal). The way i looke at american life.. the people here are very hard working and good. But they likes to live in credit a lot. The people are becoming money minded but its not their fault. The economic system had made them so. A simple man cannot survive on simple salary here. Why is that so?? Why good education and medical is so costly? i failed to understand. I like this country. Looking at present bad financial scenario i am scared..how many people will going to suffer its effects?Many people has lost jobs and houses. What will they do?How their children survive? God give them strength and Hope to rebuild their life.Amen.

[Kay Holmen]

When we think of gun violence it is so easy to blame it on gangs, the inner city, or broken homes. This happened in a very upscale part of the Valley. Gun violence is an epidemic that has no borders, no color, no race and no religion. How did he get an assault weapon, which are banned in California? Why don't we ask ourselves why do so many people in our country look to guns to solve problems? What a tragedy.

[Kumar]

Life is more precious than color papers. You can earn back money but not the lost life. One must use wisdom before such an extreme step.

[B. Harry]

Mr. Kowalski, what in your mind is a typical American family/name? Don't you know that America is a nation of immigrants? You, yourself carry a Polish name, so what if a Native American accused you of bringing mayhem to our shores? Know your history/economy before throwing words of rancor.

I do agree with you that the man had no right to take the lives of his family for his own misguided reasons. Selfish, he definitely was.

[John Wagner]

I recall in 1958 Robert Young, Pres of Alleghany Corp that owned about half the US's Railroads committing suicide (sole) due to NY Central's cash problems. Same police cause and same reporting of cause of suicide. Young had $11 million in cash, securities that adjusted to today's US dollar is about $80 million.
Karen asks about anti-depressants wtih two answers -- yes or no. Autopsy will tell. If no, then OCD personality riddled with guilt and belief in re-incarnation may be a better callout than "Upset by finances".
If it's an understandable cause, it's usually not the cause. A strong case for education about mental illness including isolation/rejection induced paranoia. Every day connected physically or mentally with this wretched soul spiraling downward likely was a combination of sympathy and fear.

[Indian Guy]

This is a family with roots in India. It is astonishing that such and educated person/family would take such horrible step. With eastern values he might have inherited, he should have learned to let go of material things. But, these days, things are loved and people are used !

[roberto]

i knew Karthik Rajaram, i was his roomate back in 1986 while i was attending UCLA. At the time, he mentioned about his girlfrined who was 16 yars of age, but after graduating he would marry her. Showed me a picture of her. She looked very sweet. Karthik was motherless at the time, and his father was working for a bank in London and was calling almost everyday early in the morning local LA time and would wake me up..

What i remember of him was that he was very smart, he had highest GMAT score of his class. Something like 800 on math and 790s on verbal. He was normal decent human being. He was a bit tense and could say emotionally unstable but nothing out of the ordinary.

Later I heard that he did get his MBA, got marry to his girlfirned and has gotten a job, pay was somewhat lower than his classmates of similar satanding, which he attributed for being young (he was 23 then), having accent and may be due to his dark complexion.

I kew that he would be successful, and was expecting to hear about him as a new tycoon or something. I did not expect to hear about him this way, this very tragic way. It is very sad. The irresponsble and unethical sharks in New York wall street had ruined the life of a person and his family. Some dishonest and scums obviously made lots of money by engaging in unethical financial practices and now everybody has to pay a price, basically lower standard of living for ourselves and our chidlren. In case of Karthik, the price was too high.

Please be adivsed he was not a selfsih and horrible person. He was not illegal. He graduated from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) before coming to UCLA. He came with student visa and legalize the paper. He was brillant, to the point of being genius. America needs people like him. The horrible people are Wall Street and other New York financiers and scums who manipulated the market, misled people and engaged unethical financial practices that is creating this havoc in the market and claiming people's anxieties and lives.

[sp]

DJ Kowalski, who are you to write about immigrants like this? Think before you write. Put yourelf in that person's shoes before writing selfish etc. for him. What Rajaram did was completely wrong. Few very week moments come in the life and person takes a wrong decision in the life. Per my point of view, Rajaram did not kill his family because he was selfish but he thought about his family a lot. May be he did not want to keep his family alive after his own suicide to go through all these situations could have happen after his own death. May be he loved his family so dearly and took everyone with him so they do not have to suffer after him. Anyway, he did very wrong.

People who are in this type of situation need to learn a lesson from this. Talk to your family/friends and just get help from your loved ones. It is ok for you get into financial problem in the life. It is not good to be in that situation but also it is not the end of world. It is just money you have lost and you can get it any time sooner or later. Money can come and go in the life, but once your life is gone, nothing can work. So, relax, think, talk, or do whatever you need to do to take depression out from your heart and mind. Just let go off your EGO and ask for help.

[PRAKASH]

I pray for god be with those who lost those precious lives. I do not think this is a place for venting hatred towards immigrants or illegal immigrants. Please have some dignity in life.

[A. Cook]

DJ Kowalski, you should move to Poland because you don't have a "typical American" name either. America is a mixed country and that trend will only continue. If there are such things as "typical American" names, then they would be Anglo-Saxon (or at least from the British Isles) names; which makes me okay in that department.

[Raj]

I think Rajaram has taken an extreme and foolish step. We do not know the complete details of his trauma but I think there are 100s of better options. We should continue to live and serve and make this world a better place to live. At no point, money should become greater than life. Its gut wrenching to think of what the kids and family had gone through before death. My prayers are with the deceased family.

[Mani]

Thanks Roberto for your gentle comments. This is a very sad situation which we don't wish even for our worst enemies. We do not want tragic end for anyone, we all look forward to fun and peace in this world and this is not a solution for any situation. We can only pray God for their souls rest in peace.

[IITian]

I know Karthik Rajaram from High School in Chennai (then Madras), India. He was 2 years senior to me, and was in the same class (grade) as my elder brother.

My main recollection is that he was always in a hurry, darting around from place to place with a peculiar gait - he used to swivel on the ball of his feet. I also remember his disheveled, curly hair, pointed chin and intense gaze. Apart from his personal mannerisms, he was a perfectly normal guy, of well-above average intelligence.

Our paths crossed once again at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, from where he graduated in 1985. I joined in 1982, and was pleasantly surprised to find him there - with most of his mannerisms intact. He stood for election for one of the Student's Council positions, and was General Secretary for a year, if my memory serves me right. That would indicate that he was also popular amongst his peers, in addition to being smart. He did well in the GMAT (came pretty close to maxing out both sections) and went to UCLA for an MBA, which is the last I heard of him, prior to the latest tragic news.

My own hunch is that this is not an issue of money alone, but rather the loss of face in his family as a result of losing a great deal of the future financial wherewithal of the family. It seems from comments posted elsewhere that he loved his children immensely - maybe to the point of being a domineering control freak. I would guess that he himself was brought up under the control of a domineering father. The loss of patriarchal status in such a situation would be unbearable to people of that mindset.

He should certainly have got emotional counseling earlier in life, though I doubt it would have been of much use once things started going out of control as they did. He is the product of the totality of his upbringing and initial successes in achieving the American Dream - he could not have imagined that he could lose $2 million in a few years, after having earned it over two decades. Having lost the money, his sense of control would have eroded rapidly.

One other point: As has already been suggested, it's worthwhile to check for the use of prescription antidepressants like Zoloft. It removes the inhibitions from committing acts that the subject might only have fantasized about earlier, not acted upon. They should never be prescribed to potentially suicidal or homicidal people - it's a certain prescription for going postal.

[IIT-classmate]

I was Karthik's classmate at IIT Madras (Civil Engg) for 5 years. Yes, he gave one the impression of being vaguely absent-minded, but in a completely harmless sort of way, mind you. He was utterly guileless and devoid of malice towards others. I think it's fair to say he had no enemies.

Poor guy! I can still see his face before my eyes, his unruly mop of hair, his thin frame in a striped orange tshirt and shorts, shuffling his way along the hostel corridor in a pair of rubber slippers (flip-flops/thongs).

Ours was the last 5-year batch from IIT. The B.Tech. program was to be a four-year program from the next year. So our batch would have to compete for jobs, admissions to US universities and financial aid with an equal number of our juniors. How were we going to manage? Our "Year Rep" (Representative of our Batch of 1980 entrants) lobbied hard with the Institute's Director and the Dean of Academic Studies. Finally, officialdom relented. We were allowed to do one extra course every semester and complete the B.Tech. in 9 semesters (4 and a half years) instead of 10 semesters (5 years). So the conflict of batches was avoided, and our batch graduated neatly between our seniors and our juniors. My batchmates joined US universities for the Spring term rather than the Fall term. It was a win-win situation all around.

The Year Rep who lobbied so hard to engineer that win-win situation was Karthik Rajaram. Our entire batch of 250 students is indebted to him for that. It's such a tragedy that no one could engineer a win-win situation for him and his family.

I see a few comments here condemning Karthik for his 'selfishness' and for being such a 'horrible' or 'brutal' person. I pray that no one else has to suffer the psychological and emotional trauma that he must have had to go through. I don't know what he must have thought and felt in the days before he put his tragic plan into action, but I know that he must have loved his family very, very much. It's a twisted kind of logic, but to his mind at the time, it must have seemed preferable to either (1) breaking it to them that he had failed them as a husband and father on account of his financial failure, or (2) killing himself alone and leaving his loved ones to deal with a double tragedy, his own death and their sudden poverty. It was a lose-lose situation.

Karthik tried to make the best of a bad situation. We have the luxury of disagreeing with his decision. I wish there was something we could have done to help him. He did a lot for us. He was a good guy and a gentle soul. God rest all their souls in peace.

[sudhin]

I think this episode simply relates to American Dreams sometimes going awry. Coming from Indian background, it is a great psychological pressure if one does not make it big in america. This is a price Karthik Rajaram decided to pay

[dadr]

What a horrible and heart-rending story. I am pained for the family, the father included. Unfortunately, it is ultimately a selfish act, and I am not aware of an applicable Hindu religious or cultural bias that would condone such an action. Sure, he may have lost his job, but it sounds as if his wife was working in the meantime, which may have been emasculating, but it was likely only temporary. What seems different about this compared to other family murder-suicides is that the children were so much older -- one was in college? It is unspeakable to even think about how this crime may have unfolded, with three adults and two other children in the home.

[arun]

DJ Kowalski

Your comments are nothing short of offensive, and reek of ignorance. Who are you to dictate who's illegal and who's not? The fact that the name isn't one you recognize? In my books, anyone who enters here on a *valid* visa and retains his/her valid status is legal - Indian, Polish, Zambian, or whatever.

Anyway, coming back to this family: It's extremely tragic that such a thing happened, and that no one saw any signs of stress in Karthik's person.

[Sister Y]

Familicide - the killing of one's spouse and children - is far from uncommon. It is almost the exclusive province of males - women almost never do it, although women kill their children without killing their spouses at a rate much closer to parity with men. This suggests that familicide is an artifact of a sort of "proprietary" feeling toward the people who are killed.

From a paper by Daly & Wilson: "[W]hereas suicidal men not infrequently decide to take their wives and children with them, suicidal women almost never decide to “rescue” their husbands as well as their children. We hypothesize that this behavioral difference reflects a more general sex difference in proprietary constructions of the “family,” with men feeling proprietary primarily about their wives and secondarily their children, while women have strongly proprietary feelings about the children alone."

http://psych.mcmaster.ca/dalywilson/FamilicideSpouseChildren.pdf

[Thomas]

People who still live must learn from this tragedy. Five innocent and aspiring lives are gone. Unbalanced outlook on wealth and life is the root cause of this tragedy. We do not have any right to take others life, for whatever reason , it is a well conceived murder by an insensible man. Let nobody glorify him or sympathize with him.

[Scratch frm Baltimore]

Hey! This is very very sad! I do not like the way that people on here are talknig about immigrants and just because his name doesnt "sound American" he is an illegal immigrant because he killed his family. The main ones to do crazy stuff like this (as statistics show) in America are white people. Im not racist Im just telling facts. This should open up our eyes about how the government is turning the people of the USA crazy, to the point that a man feels as if the only way he can escape this economic situation is through killing himself and family. I am a 10th grader who is African American and i see the bad things that are happening to us. Its almost like we are going through another depression! Actually we are! This whole thing is wrong and i blame the government for turning a family man crazy! So do not jump to conclusions about this man being an illegal immigrant or a terorist! I blame the government and this is a wake up call to the whole USA that we must do something!

[First Generation Indian-American]

This is a sad example of the extraordinary pressures Indians place on themselves to succeed. Parents measure their success by the number of degrees they hold and by the education, positions, and status their children earn. This man must have felt that it was better for him to end his family's life than to allow his children and wife be labeled as a "bad" family. "Bad" family being the general term for a family that is unworthy of social acceptance because of poor education, poor financial status, or having rebellious children. This should serve as an example to the Indian-American community and to all people who stive for excellence that there is a price to pay in trying to be "perfect". My heart goes out to the family and to the community dealing with one man's selfish actions.

[Ano]

I believe Mr. Kowalski owes it to the intelligent readers of this paper for being so kind as to inform him of his ethnic background. Something tells me that his naivety about immigration only begets naivety about himself.

This is tragic and unfortunate to read, but also serves as harsh evidence of the financial times this country is (not) coming to terms with.

[Hurbert Bonsnouzenburger]

I think the economy is horrible right now. I am going for McCain and i know that if he becomes the President he will make the economy better. I would appreciate if any of you would vote for McCain. If you want to stop struggling with money and have a good life McCain is the answer. Have a Good Day!

[Ashish Jalota, Bangalore, India]

It was a very selfish act of Rajaram. One cannot be so mean in life in a way that because of one's crisis, he/she kills ones family. Life is more precious than anything else in life. May God rest their soul in peace for the foolish act of Rajaram.

[east coast]

I knew Karthik when we were just kids, and our fathers are good friends to this day. I was not going to comment on any of these blogs, BUT - Whatever demons possessed his soul and led him to commit this horribly tragic act, I cannot allow random strangers who knew nothing of this family to say nasty things about them. No parent is perfect and every life is marked by its own series of tragedies and triumphs that no one else knows about - his father is a wonderful man, and Karthik and his brother were raised lovingly, despite having lost their mother at a young age.

Though I have been out of touch with them for several years now (despite having ended up in the US as LEGAL immigrants at around the same time), i have been incredibly saddened by this news, and I can assure you that he has left behind devastated, yet very loving family and friends. There are grieving grandfathers, fathers, brothers, nieces, nephews and countless others, upon whom some of the cruel posts here inflict deeper wounds. Is that how you would want to be treated in your time of devastating grief?

My memories of him are of an energetic, handsome, charming teenager with a big heart and an intense personality. Clearly there were more broken mirrors in his life than any of us knew. And who can tell what those closest to him knew or sensed or feared, ans possibly felt helpless in their own way. What no-one disputes is his intense love for his family. And no-one disputes that this was an extraordinarily violent, tragic and needless act. We are all struggling to make sense of this, and i don't know if we ever will. As for the xenophobic, close-minded, judgmental, opportunistically politicking voyeurs on this blog - I would respectfully suggest that if you have nothing decent to say, just refrain. have some respect for the lives that have been lost, and the lives left behind that have been broken. And get a life.

Karthik, Subasri, Krishna, Ganesha, Arjuna and Mrs Sesharam - rest in peace, God bless your souls.

[Ram]

This is a setup either by Karthik Rajaram's business partner or some mafia.
LAPD should investigate it.
Blind statement is unacceptable.

[Colleague]

I have been struggling to come to grips with this tragedy, and it has been interesting to read comments by folks who knew Karthik from various stages of his life. I'd like to add my perspective from the years I knew Karthik (1997-2005) as a colleague. We knew each other well professionally and we were on friendly terms, but we were not close personal friends.

Karthik and I were consultants at PricewaterhouseCooppers within the same service area but in different cities. We got to know each other at internal firm meetings. He had the reputation of being very smart but eccentric. He had a passion for the entertainment industry, and his work was regarded as innovative and insightful. He worked with some senior partners in the firm and he was given the opportunity to present his work at national meetings.

Karthik was very funny. But his humor was irreverent and had a sarcastic edge. He was politically incorrect. This limited Karthik's career at PwC because many partners were uncomfortable with giving him prominent client facing roles.

Some years after we both had left PwC, Karthik and I connected again. This was after he had made a substantial sum from a dot com IPO. The venture had gone bust, but not before Karthik had managed to cash in. A big change I noticed in Karthik was his obsession with making money. I do not use this word lightly. He had been unemployed for a while, so he was living off his assets. However, he knew that his assets were not substantial enough to see him through retirement, so he needed income. This was not unusual. But what was striking was that Karthik didn't care what he did to make his money. All he wanted was to find a quick and easy way to make LOTS of it. In other words, to somehow replicate his lucky break with the dot com. He talked about this constantly. I got the impression that he felt a sense of entitlement with regards to wealth.

Karthik's behaviour became more erratic. He alienated several of his business partners during this time by not delivering what he had promised, and he got into a legal dispute which he lost.

I met Karthik's family once. His wife was gracious and lovely. Karthik was very loving towards his family.

I am filled with sadness at this tragic turn of events. In hindsight there were markers that Karthik needed counseling. I do not know if in fact he was receiving professional help. If he was not, it leaves us with "what if" question hanging.

Of course, the vast majority of people who exhibit the behaviour I have described do not go on to wipe out their families. But I do regret not saying something to Karthik. If I had been closer to him, would I have? I don't know ....

[Chandra]

My heart bleeds for the father in law who, at 76, has lost his wife , only daughter and grandchildren. I shudder to think what he is going through, and hope and pray that God gives him the courage and strength to get through this. May the souls of the Karthik's family rest in peace

[shx]

I knew Kartik as his senior at IIT. I guess he was like any other student, with his own eccentricities and peculiarities.
I dont think he was a genius neither was he an abnormal person. It is telling that perceived pressure can warp one's mind so as to commit such a gruesome act.

I grieve at that state of mind he found himself in, that he could plan this for a month -
I grieve at the black lonely coldness of his heart, and that there was nobody in his life who he could turn to.
To live for a month with his loved ones, thinking about such a plan , waiting for his son to come from college for the weekend. I grieve at the pain in that father's heart that made him kill his children

We lived in a students hostel ( dormitory) in IIT for 4 years. The hostel had about 180 students . Kartik was outgoing and friendly with many other students in senior/junior years and dorms. As another blogger has observed, he aspired to his peers recognition, and won it by being an active member of the student council. I recollect he was also secretary of the hostel/dorm council and used to bustle about organising hostel annual day etc. I am sure that the hostel warden and other faculty in IIT will recollect him as an active , nay activist, type of person.
I regret that he didnt have a single friend from those years whom he could talk to or who could counsel him, or to whom he could unburden himself. We often make strong and lasting friends mostly in our young years, and stick to them. THey often are our most trusted , even if we dont stay in daily contact.
I definitely didnt know him that closely, but it is a telling sign of the values in our lives that he couldnt reach out to anybody trusted

Friends, treasure your friends, reach out when u can. If they are in despair or in difficulties ,let them know that u are there at least to talk. Dont be put off by imagined slights or behaviors. Take one step, then take one more to reach out.
All of us have hangups and difficulties about asking for help when we are in trouble , but will probably be grateful if somebody reaches out. Sometimes we cant help materially or in a concrete way, but I think even the contact will help.

Let us forgive him his act of despair, and may God grant peace to their souls

[IITian]

Apart from the fact that his wife was still employed, he must have had a 401k and/or IRAs from the period he was employed at Sony and PwC. Assuming that he had not borrowed against those assets, he should still have had a $100k+ cushion in addition to tangible assets like the Lexus, Chevy 4x4, etc.

It seems to me that any prudent family could have managed to tighten their belts and squeeze through about 4-5 years with those kind of assets backing them.

[Reid]

What a terrible tragedy! Where was his support? Why did he need to kill himself in the first place. Economic Issues? What can we do to stop this? How can we help? Why didn't this man ask for help? We are in very bad times if this is the only way in which to solve a problem. Karthik Rajaram yes had a problem but there was no support network there to help him.

I am afraid that his workplace, communilty, neighbours and even schools failed. He was probably not a christian and thus didn't have the church either. Someone must have had knowledge. MY guess is that because he was of ethnic decent he may have been excluded from inherant community support networks. It is not uncommon for someone like this to panic and not think about there actions due to the emotion involved.

A question! I wonder what you would do in his situation given his set of circumstances. Ethnic background, family of six, no support network, finances/ bills, isolation. Put yourself in his shoes if thats allwhite with you!

[In the Area]

There are few discepancies with the incident that the police didn't sorted out yet. I live in the area and it is a very quiet area. (1) How did the other family members not hear the gunshots? The only plausible explanation is he drugged them all, and even then they won't all drop at the same time. (2) How did the neighbors not hear anything? Maybe they did but didn't think of anything. There would have been over 8 shots fired. Now some people may say he used a silencer, but as far as I am aware, those require special permits.
But this is a very shocking event, and I feel bad for the kids.

[Madhu]

My sympathies to the family members of Karthik Rajaram. I feel that what ever may be the difficult situation, he should have not done such a horrible and heinous act. By doing like this Karthik has insulted India as a whole and Gandhiji's non-violence policy. He has totally dissolved the the fundamental policy of Gandhiji's non violence. My question is is it difficult for an IITian with a good MBA to make a decent living?? Even if we take it for granted that all his the wealth is lost.
If such a highly qualified and well educated people resort to such hopeless activities then what should be the fate of ordinary people. My be if Rajaram happens to be president of a nation he would destroy the entire country on silly issues. I feel pity for him and i am deeply moved. I pray for the innocent family members. But i strongly oppose the act done by Karthik Rajaram.

[Suma]

I have been very much shocked by this news and I am aghast how anyone can do this. This led me to research and I think Karthik fits into the family annhilator category. Here is what I found...

Dr. Levin has provided a profile of the family annihilator as a middle-aged man, who appears to others (outside the family) to be a good provider, a loving father, and a faithful and loving husband. But he tends to be isolated, with no close friends or support system of his own, aside from his family. He has suffered with feelings of inadequacy and some form of long frustration. Ultimately, he suffers some catastrophic loss which leads to his crime. This trigger may be the loss of his job, or loss of money through a bad investment, but sometimes it is the impending loss of his wife. He doesn't hate his children, although he may hate his wife and blame her for his own problems. He has previously been a controlling man, within the family, but now feels powerless. Dr. Levin's belief is that the family annihilator wants revenge against his wife.

Maybe some of Karthik's friends can tell us more.

RIP

[IITian]

Karthik Rajaram fits the family-annihilator profile to a T, except that his wife was his childhood sweetheart. They knew each other from their teens or earlier, so it's hard to attribute hatred or revenge against his wife as a cause for going postal. The more likely motive is 'proprietary', i.e. he wanted to rescue her by taking her along with him.

Karthik also fits into the profile of a leader/representative of a group. He does well in leadership roles, but if that is denied to him for any reason, frustration builds. He has only Plan-A, and it has always worked in the past. When Plan-A fails unexpectedly, there is no Plan-B to fall upon, and suicide is the only option (this profile also applies to megalomaniacs like Hitler, some executives of corporations like Alleghany and Enron, some military leaders, etc.).

[Paul G]

A financial manager with an MBA from UCLA and managing his own finances to the exstent of selling his home only TO invest in stock market against the wishes of his beloved wife is poor manager. When he lost his job, while his investments in the market took a beating, he was not able to live with it. He should have been angry with the system or against his employer(s). He bought a gun a few weeks before killing his own family; delibereated for a while prior to his cowardly act without pursuing any other avenue to cope with the situation than diciding to kill his whole family.

We will not know the full details about his personal life leading to such a devious action. HIS SOUL CANNOT REST IN PEACE FOR WHAT HE DID TO HIS FAMILY. LET US PRAY THAT THE SOULS OF HIS FAMILY-VICTIMS REST IN PEACE.

Paul G.

[K]

Could a possible reason to this tragedy, like so many high school shootouts (white, black, asian, immigrant, non-immigrant) due to easily accessible guns....let this be a warcry against WEAPONS, lobby against GUNS / WEAPONS manufacturer who profit on selling us death based on our fear.

The reasons are complex, and with the pressures of a Great Depression coming, it could happen to ANY OF US and ANY OF OUR LOVED ONES.

A contributory reason could be psychological profile.

Yet another, drugs prescribed. In the USA now, for doctors to pay their mortgages, they have to try to get commission from pharmaceuticals (who have a lot of budget invested in the stock markets to market and sell new R and D drugs, instead of generics). Most doctors overprescribed.
I had acne and my doctor tried to prescribe me something that could cause suicide ideation. He cursorily told me to sign a disclaimer, I read the small notes of disclaimer "could cause suicide, not to hold manufacturer or physician responsible" and refused the drugs.

Another strong reason is religion: lack of a strong support in an America no longer grounded in Christianity but in materialism and general moneyism.

Social status is tied to money and not to moral goodness, contributions to community.

Ethnic / Cultural reason: possible belief in re-incarnation (Hindu) and self-sacrifice as Honor (Japanese)...face (Chinese / Indian), but mostly since Karthik was a Westernized man, the argument behind Euthanasia (Dutch, Western European, some parts of America)...that dying is better than suffering, and to kill those you love to minimize their suffering is acceptable....
Perhaps, he could no longer stand his loved ones suffering poverty in silence to keep outsiders from knowing their real sorry plight...

FINAL FACTOR - DEFINITELY THE STOCK MARKET CRASH / FORECLOSUREs. This family is the first but not the last victim...another woman just burned herself to death as WASHINGTON MUTUAL foreclosed on her home owned throughout generations....

We need more education in America...SANCTITY OF LIFE OVER MONEY....No more Iraq, no more scrambling for oil......no more killings..

More respect for life, relationships, love....no more guns....

More public shaming and outrage of "rich" people so that excessive selfish wealth (Bill Gates) becomes shameful (as in France) instead of being worship and idealised.

The American Dream was not like that...it's been distorted and it's all wrong...
immigrants will not move to America anymore..

Under Bush and the Republicans, it has become a REAL AMERICAN NIGHTMARE.....

Everyday of our lives has been filled with a continuing nightmare ever since Bush cheated and "won" the first election.

These people should be arrested and put behind bars for wrecking our lives!