Two Indian-origin women, a mother and daughter, were attacked in a horrific knife attack inside their home in Burbank, killing mother Aarti Verma, 59, a primary school teacher. His daughter Meera Verma, a well-known mental health activist, was seriously injured, but both women were reported to be stable after being taken to hospital. Meera’s father was in India when the knife attack took place. A 30-year-old man, Sergio Freire, was arrested as a person of interest in the case.Due to Freire being a local, many details emerged about him, but it has not yet been established whether Freire knew Varmaas, or what motivated the stabbing.The stabbing incident occurred around 6 am on April 20. Freire was located in a house less than three miles from Vermas. Both mother and daughter were quite famous in their area. 25-year-old Mira Verma is nationally known as a mental health activist who has worked with Oprah, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris.A local report suggested that Freire grew up in the Burbank area and some called him an athlete and an excellent student. Freire’s former teammate Andrés PulgarÃn expressed surprise and said that they were all very shocked when they found out. “He was a classic honor student, which you don’t really expect from someone like that,” Pulgarin told KTLA.After the early morning stabbing, the police started investigation and an arrest was made at 10 pm. The police department said, “At approximately 10:00 p.m., members of the Burbank Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team served a search warrant at a residence in the 500 block of East Palm Avenue in Burbank, where Mr. Fryer was believed to be living. He was taken into custody without incident, and evidence related to the crime was recovered.”“The relationship between the suspect and the victims, if any, is being investigated, as well as the motive,” the department said.
