Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Raghunandan Yandamuri is accused of killing the 10-month-old infant and her grandmother last October.
Prosecutors will reportedly seek the death penalty for Raghunandan Yandamuri, the accused killer of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her grandmother, according to WPVI-TV (Action News). 61-year-old Satayvahti Venna, who was babysitting for Saanvi, was murdered in the family's Upper Merion apartment last October. Saanvi was abducted from the apartment and later found dead in a sauna room at the apartment complex. Yandamuri, 26, gave authorities a detailed confession in which he described murdering the elder Venna during a botched scheme to ransom Saanvi to her parents for $50,000. Yandamuri had lost $15,000 gambling in the week prior to the murders.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Losses preceded alleged ransom scheme
- POLICE & FIRE
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
The man accused of killing a 10-month-old girl and her grandmother in an Upper Merion apartment tower in October had reportedly lost $15,000 gambling at casinos in the week before the crime. The Associated Press reports that 26-year-old Raghunandan Yandamuri told authorities about his gambling losses in a videotaped statement he made following his arrest. The statement was played at his preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning. Authorities have said the murders of Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, were part of a botched ransom scheme in which Yandamuri planned to demand $50,000 from Saanvi's parents for her safe return. Several copies of a ransom note were found at the murder scene. The Montgomery County …
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Raghunandan Yandamuri remains held without bail at the Montgomery County jail.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Saturday, November 24, 2012
The man accused of killing an infant girl and her grandmother in an Upper Merion apartment last month may face the death penalty. Phillyburbs.com reports that the Montgomery County district attorney's office is considering seeking a death sentence for Raghunandan Yandamuri, who allegedly killed 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, on Oct 22 in a botched ransom plot. Yandamuri remains held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Lower Providence. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 28. Yandamuri has reportedly been assigned as a "mitigation counsel," whose job it would be to defend him against the death penalty. Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kevin …
