SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Roseville police said Tuesday they are investigating the gruesome slaying of four people by a man who killed at least three family members inside his Roseville apartment and traveled across Northern California with a fourth victim's body in his car before surrendering Monday more than 200 miles away and confessing to the crimes.
Capt. Josh Simon said that Shankar Nagappa Hangud, a 53-year-old Roseville resident, was in custody at the South Placer Jail after city detectives brought him back from Siskiyou County on Monday night and would face four charges of murder.
Hangud, who is being held without bail, refused any interviews.
"This incident has touched the lives of many in the area," Simon told reporters at a news conference Tuesday morning, adding that such a killing had not occurred in the Placer County city of 130,000 in his recent memory. "It's a very sad, sad situation."
Police offered few details of how the four victims were killed, saying that the crimes may have happened "over a few days' time span." Simon said police were asking for the public's help in piecing together the bizarre chain of events that led to their discovery.
"(The investigation is) less than 24 hours underway, there are many stones that have been unturned," he said.
Police said they were not ready to disclose a motive for Hangud's alleged acts; however, tax records showed that Hangud faced a federal tax lien of $178,603 from the Internal Revenue Service this year.
Police believe Hangud "drove from Roseville and traveled to unknown places in Northern California, and ended up in Mount Shasta," Simon said.
He said Roseville officers received a call at 12:11 p.m. Monday from the Mount Shasta Police Department after a man walked into their station and turned himself in. Police said Hangud parked outside the station and said there was a dead man in his car, a red Mazda 6 sedan. Simon said the victim in the car was a man of East Indian descent.
"The suspect himself drove to Mount Shasta police with one of the victims in his car and gave his confession," Simon said.
Minutes later in Roseville, officers went to Hangud's apartment and found three additional victims _ an adult and two juveniles _ though he did not describe how they were killed. Police also declined to identify the victims or give their ages other than to say they believed they were all family members of Hangud.
Hangud was a data specialist and had worked for several companies in the Sacramento area, according to his LinkedIn profile. His most recent employment was with a company called Social Interest Solutions, which provides IT services for state public assistance programs. The company, located at 1 Capitol Mall and operated by Oakland-based Alluma, declined to comment, but public records showed his employment there ended in 2018.
Court records show that Hangud's only previous interaction with law enforcement was for speeding in Placer County in 2016 and Fairfax County, Va., in 2001. Before 2015, Hangud worked in the technology sector in the Bay Area and had previously lived in Dallas, Maryland and New Jersey, according to public documents.
Simon said Hangud is the sole suspect and that police were still working to investigate the circumstances of the killings at the Carmel at Woodcreek West complex where he lived.
Police said disclosure of the victims' identities was pending until next of kin are notified. It was unclear whether the victims were immediate family or others related to Hangud.
