0:03

Venu Sankara was close to his sister,

0:05

Sassy. They were best friends. He

0:07

told reporters after the murders. And

0:10

even though they lived eight thousand miles apart,

0:13

with Venue in Hyderabad, India, the

0:15

siblings kept in touch by phone

0:17

and email. Then you look forward

0:20

to Sassy's updates from America. But

0:22

Sassy's family says that sometime in

0:25

twenty fourteen, About three

0:27

years before she and her son, Anish,

0:29

were killed. Susie's letters

0:31

home took a dark turn.

0:41

This is Venu talking to the Indian

0:43

news media shortly after the murders.

0:46

He says, she used to share

0:48

all her sorrows with me on the phone. That

0:51

is why I am suspicious of my brother-in-law.

0:53

She has sent two to three messages

0:56

regarding this since twenty fourteen. I

0:59

also shared it as evidence.

1:02

One of the emails was shared online.

1:05

Sassy wrote it in Broken English.

1:07

We're going to have an actor read the whole

1:09

thing with just a few small edits

1:12

for clarity. I'm

1:16

feeling so bad and sad. I'm

1:19

not able to digest that. Hanoi

1:21

is loving another lady. Bharjit

1:24

from CTS. I'm

1:26

crying like anything daily. Sometimes,

1:30

I feel like dying, but After

1:33

seeing anish face, I'm surviving.

1:36

Daily, I'm talking with mommy without showing

1:38

my pain. But every

1:41

day I'm crying like anything because

1:43

of the incident above. My

1:45

heart was broken. He loved

1:47

me and married me.

1:49

And how can he do this? After

1:52

showing all the proofs that he and she

1:54

have chat, he says he did

1:56

not make any mistake. No guilt

1:58

at all, having wife and a

2:00

five year old, he was bringing

2:02

another woman and does not make

2:04

him

2:05

shame. So not sure what

2:07

to do. For everything I believed

2:09

him, I never expected he will

2:11

cheat me like this. So

2:14

now it's clear why Susie's family

2:16

is suspicious of Hanu. According

2:19

to this letter, he was openly having

2:21

an affair.

2:23

And she thought his family

2:25

was out to get her. His

2:28

parents and sister and

2:30

brother-in-law Everyone are

2:32

so cunning and dangerous. They

2:34

will not share anything, especially

2:37

mother-in-law, very very dangerous.

2:40

She's the one who will prepare the plans.

2:43

She uses us to make them rich.

2:46

She will also spoil Hanus thoughts

2:48

by telling the bad opinion of

2:50

our parents and you and

2:51

me. Call me when

2:53

you are free. I'm so

2:56

upset. And

2:59

then Sasi closes the letter

3:01

in telugu. I'm

3:08

not telling mom because it

3:10

will hurt her.

3:13

I'm Tinkoo Ray. And I'm Benadaire.

3:16

This is Strangeland two,

3:19

murder in Maple Shade. Episode

3:41

seven, the letter.

3:48

Throughout this investigation, we've been

3:50

trying to find out about assessing who

3:52

she was and what her life was like.

3:55

But at every turn, she's remained

3:57

a ghostly presence, a face

3:59

without a known past or identity.

4:03

She was just quiet, just, you know,

4:05

like a decent mother and proud

4:08

mother.

4:09

Sassy worked from home. And didn't leave

4:11

the house much. I

4:12

think she really hustled. I know she was

4:14

good at her job, but

4:18

I think Anish was her life, you know?

4:21

I don't know I don't know much. The

4:23

few who interacted with her in Maple Shades

4:26

say, Susie was a good mother, but

4:28

they didn't really know

4:29

her. I

4:30

would see her just come up to the school, you know, always

4:33

she was always in the back of the classroom. She was always

4:35

quiet. So So his mom was

4:37

always fairly

4:39

quiet, so I didn't have any lengthy,

4:43

interactions with her. She

4:45

was reserved, but

4:47

kind. And apparently, she

4:49

was holding back a lot of turmoil

4:51

in her private life. Up

4:54

to now, we've only heard vague impressions

4:56

of Sassy. With the letter,

4:59

we hear what was really going on

5:01

inside her head. Susie's

5:03

beside herself, because

5:05

she says, Hanoo's having an affair.

5:09

She pulls herself together for Anisha's

5:11

sake, but she doesn't see any

5:13

resolution. Because to her,

5:15

Hanu hasn't demonstrated any

5:18

remorse about the affair.

5:20

And then when you thought Sassy's

5:22

situation couldn't get any worse, she

5:24

describes the problems with her in laws.

5:26

Hana's family is turning Hana

5:29

against her and talking bad about her family.

5:32

And his parents are getting rich off them.

5:34

We don't know what she means by that, but

5:36

she could be referring to diary demands. Susie's

5:39

got a lot on her mind. And

5:41

for me, one of the most surprising things

5:44

about the letter is that Susie

5:46

chooses to write in English. It's

5:49

puzzling because it's such an intimate

5:51

letter, and she could have conveyed her emotions

5:53

better in Thilagoo, her native language.

5:57

But I think it's a deliberate choice.

5:59

Maybe she was creating a paper trail for

6:01

authorities in case the

6:04

worst happened. Maybe

6:06

she was performing a small act of

6:08

defiance. Despite all

6:10

she's going through, Sassy's still practicing

6:12

her English, because she's determined

6:14

to master the language of her new home.

6:18

It tracks with what her family says about her.

6:21

They call her ambitious and independent.

6:24

They say she always dreamed of living

6:26

abroad and knew that her professional skill

6:28

set was her ticket out So

6:31

she worked hard, she earned a postgraduate

6:33

degree in computer science, and

6:36

her family says, Sassy was

6:38

thrilled when Xi and Hanu got the chance

6:40

to move to America for

6:42

work. But the life she

6:44

found in America was not the

6:46

one she dreamed of. I

6:49

remember when I first moved to the US

6:51

and the growing pains I felt while

6:53

adjusting to a new life. Even

6:56

though I grew up in England.

6:58

For me, there was no culture shock and

7:00

I spoke fluent English. I

7:02

also have family living here. But

7:05

it's still not easy to make new friends

7:07

and settle down in an alien place.

7:10

I can't imagine what Sussi must have

7:12

experienced. Coming to New Jersey

7:15

straight from South India. The

7:17

language barrier, the culture shock,

7:19

the isolation. Plus,

7:22

the marital conflict, and

7:24

all without any support. It's

7:27

a uniquely immigrant experience. And

7:30

for that reason, it's one that doesn't

7:32

get talked about.

7:39

To give voice to women like Sachinara,

7:42

we wanted to hear from other telugu

7:44

women about what it was like to leave their

7:46

homeland and start over.

7:48

So I drove to the Old countryside Balaji

7:51

temple in Monroe, New Jersey. It's

7:54

a small town in Central New Jersey,

7:56

with a sizable Indian population. The

7:59

biology temple is a huge facility,

8:02

still under construction, that will serve

8:04

hindus in the Tri State area.

8:07

The building is Grandios with marble

8:09

floors and columns. Dozens

8:11

of gold statues of Hindu gods,

8:14

and hundreds of Indian people in attendance.

8:17

You can see the priests now They're

8:20

dressing one of the idols,

8:22

so one of the deities in

8:25

silk shawls. Jewelry,

8:28

which is probably made of gold. In

8:32

the sanctuary, priests chant

8:34

and give food offerings to a Pantheon

8:36

of Hindu deities. And when

8:38

I arrive as a special ceremony,

8:41

Vawasavi Kanyaka Baremes Roy,

8:43

a goddess who represents bravery and

8:46

perseverance. I

8:50

start talking with a mother and daughter

8:53

named Ratna and Ankitarveda. They're

8:56

originally from Andre Pradesh, the

8:58

same state Sassy and Hanoi are

9:00

from, but have now been in the US

9:02

for about fifteen years. When

9:05

I came here, that was the, like,

9:07

the law I've moved the far as to distance. I have

9:10

ever

9:10

traveled. So far, it has been

9:12

it has been the repurchase struggle in the beginning

9:14

to especially to change my dressing

9:16

was the biggest struggle because I have never

9:19

owned pants or any restaurant there in

9:21

my life when I was in India. Rakna

9:23

immigrated to the US to work in

9:25

tech when she was a young mother. Anquita

9:28

was just six at the time. The

9:30

family was welcomed by the Indian community,

9:33

but it was still hard on Ruthna. There

9:36

was little to no support for women, and

9:39

pervasive culture of silence surrounding

9:41

women's issues, everything from

9:43

marriage to menstruation.

9:45

I think we there's a need for our organization

9:48

for supporting women in the specific

9:50

problems. Like, maybe our views

9:52

are or any kind of social issues

9:54

they are filling up. The way we were brought

9:56

up, we all run away from our problems,

9:59

or we try to hide them, and we try to

10:01

show the good picture outside. So

10:04

that should change. And I think we need to

10:06

educate women to change their

10:07

mindset. I think many times

10:10

we forget just how isolating it

10:12

is because a lot of times, like, families

10:14

come here and it's often because of the visa

10:16

of the husband. I

10:18

mean, I'm not saying this is true in all cases, but

10:20

it does happen in an overwhelming majority.

10:23

Anquita remembers seeing how difficult

10:25

it was for her mom. And lots of

10:27

other women in the Indian community.

10:30

In a new country living alone,

10:32

it's really difficult to meet people when you're still

10:34

getting used to the culture. So it's

10:36

an incredibly isolating time.

10:38

And, like, while the spouse might be

10:40

meeting you people through work, there's really

10:42

no built in circle for them.

10:45

Anquita is now a med student. And

10:48

while in college, she attended lectures

10:50

on feminism. She says

10:52

that one of the biggest struggles for Indian

10:54

women IS HAVING A LIFE OUTSIDE

10:56

OF THE

10:57

HOME. IT'S LIKE IF KNOW A LOT OF PARENTS

10:59

ARE DRIVING THEIR KIDS TO LIKE MUSIC

11:01

CLOSES WHERE DANTS OR PIANA OR WHATEVER,

11:03

LIKE as simple as capitalizing on

11:06

that time that they're already spending out

11:08

of the house to kind of have

11:10

a side group or, like,

11:12

an opportunity for them to engage with each

11:14

other just so they're

11:16

not kind of, like, feeling guilty for prioritizing

11:19

themselves. I think that's, like, the biggest barrier

11:21

is like not guilt

11:23

in being a parent, especially being a mom,

11:25

and say, I'm doing something just

11:27

for me. According

11:30

to press accounts, Susie's family tried

11:32

to convince her to return home to India

11:34

when her marriage to Hanu started going south.

11:37

But she refused. Susie put

11:39

her own happiness aside for the

11:41

sake of a niche, the family said. It

11:44

was her dream to buy a house in the

11:46

US and to give niche the opportunity

11:48

to become a doctor. But

11:51

staying in the US likely meant

11:53

sticking it out with Hanu.

11:55

So next, we're going to talk to an expert

11:57

who helps us read between the lines of

11:59

Susie's letter. And we discover

12:02

that there are hundreds of other women in

12:04

New Jersey just like Sassy.

12:07

That's next after the break.

12:19

According to the National Coalition against

12:21

domestic violence, Nearly

12:23

half of all women who are murdered in

12:26

the US are killed by their

12:28

intimate partners. The

12:30

stack got me thinking, How did

12:32

we get here? How does abuse

12:34

escalate to murder? So

12:37

I reach out to Narni Pala. She's

12:39

an expert in gender dynamics and domestic

12:42

violence within South Asian communities. We

12:45

share Susi's letter with her. To

12:47

glean some insight into what she

12:49

may have been going through in the years

12:51

leading up to her death.

12:54

I'm crying like anything daily.

12:58

Sometimes, I feel like dying,

13:00

but after seeing anish face,

13:03

I'm surviving.

13:06

Do you see familiar themes

13:08

in this letter? Yes.

13:11

Unfortunately. Novee

13:13

runs a New Jersey non profit

13:15

called

13:16

Manavi. For thirty seven

13:18

years, it's provided counseling, legal

13:21

help, and support services to

13:23

survivors of abuse. To

13:26

her, Susie's story is

13:28

all too familiar. This

13:30

was or could

13:32

be our daughter, sister,

13:35

mother. So it

13:38

really is

13:40

heartbreaking and and gut wrenching to

13:42

to hear. Those words

13:46

I feel that we as a community, failed

13:49

her. But Manavi

13:51

is a little different than other

13:53

domestic violence groups. It

13:55

focuses specifically on women

13:58

from India, Bangladesh,

13:59

Pakistan, and other South Asian

14:01

countries. Back in the day

14:04

when I was an advocate. I I myself remember

14:07

thinking that, you know, most people

14:09

may not believe that these things happen in

14:11

the US. But they

14:14

do.

14:16

Monavi serves three hundred to four hundred

14:18

people each year. Many survivors

14:20

of domestic abuse struggle with feelings

14:23

of isolation and lack of agency.

14:25

But for immigrants, The barriers

14:27

to getting help can seem insurmountable.

14:31

Imagine how you would feel if

14:33

you don't speak the language. You

14:35

are totally unfamiliar with

14:37

all the systems in this country

14:39

and the very person who brought

14:43

you here and who is your

14:45

life partner and who you should trust

14:48

is the abuser

14:50

Think about it. Just take the

14:52

language barrier. If you don't speak

14:54

English, then handling

14:57

immigration issues dealing with law

14:59

enforcement, even seeking help

15:01

from a friend or neighbor can be

15:03

extremely difficult, if not

15:05

impossible. So Monofi's

15:08

twenty four hour helpline has

15:10

staff who speak Hindi, Panjabi,

15:12

telugu, urdu, and more.

15:15

Manavi workers are also fluent

15:18

in the cultural nuances of the demographics

15:21

they

15:21

serve. The South Asian

15:23

male may be the dominant

15:26

person within the relationship. Now that could

15:28

be because they control

15:30

the immigration status. For the South

15:32

Asian survivor or it

15:34

could be that they control the finances or

15:37

it could be that they are the ones

15:39

who are more fluent in the language in a foreign

15:42

and more familiar in navigating the

15:44

court

15:45

system, the legal system, whereas

15:48

the survivor may not be.

15:50

We should note we've come across no solid

15:52

evidence of Sassy being physically

15:54

abused, but her letter indicates

15:57

psychological and emotional trauma.

16:00

Daily, I'm talking with mommy without showing

16:03

my pain, but every

16:05

day I'm crying like anything, Novenet

16:08

says it's common for abusers to

16:10

control the money. So getting

16:12

out of a troubled relationship isn't

16:15

as simple as just leaving. Though

16:18

Sussi made ninety four thousand dollars

16:20

a year, her mom said, Hanu

16:22

took her

16:23

paycheck. And dowseries

16:26

open the door for even more abuse.

16:29

We've had situations where their clothes,

16:32

jewelry, all their belongings everything

16:34

that they may have been given by their own family.

16:38

All of those are taken away by

16:40

the in laws. And I wanna highlight here

16:42

an important point that

16:44

within South Asian community, abuse

16:46

is not limited to the spouse. We

16:49

see time and time again that the

16:51

abusers are

16:53

very often the in laws and the extended

16:55

family too. In her

16:57

letter, Sassy describes Hanus

16:59

family as cunning and

17:02

dangerous.

17:03

Especially mother-in-law, very,

17:05

very dangerous. She's the one

17:07

who will prepare the

17:08

plans. She uses us

17:10

to make them rich

17:13

It sounds like Sassy felt threatened, more

17:16

of these gained up on by Hanoi and his

17:18

family. So why didn't she leave?

17:21

Novenet says self sacrifice is

17:23

common in South Asian communities where

17:25

women stay in marriages again

17:28

for the sake of the children and

17:30

to avoid the stigma of divorce.

17:38

I'm not telling mom because

17:40

it will hurt her. It's

17:43

very very difficult for

17:45

the survivor to articulate, to

17:48

process, to seek services. And

17:51

in situations where they have the courage,

17:54

to write a letter like

17:56

the survivor did. Sometimes

17:58

it's too late, unfortunately.

18:06

This letter is the only first hand

18:08

account we have of Sassy's home life. We've

18:11

tried repeatedly to identify friends

18:13

you may have had. We've repurchased family

18:15

members both in the US and abroad,

18:18

but everyone is staying quiet. So

18:20

it's proving impossible for us to know

18:22

the details of what actually went on

18:24

behind closed doors. But

18:28

there is still that upstairs neighbor,

18:30

Abdul Salam. He's the one

18:32

who told reporters in New Jersey that he

18:34

often overheard Hanyu mistreating Sassy.

18:38

Remember, journalist Kevin Shea from

18:40

n j dot com. Salam

18:42

told us that the couple

18:44

argued when they rode a car, he used

18:46

to make her sit in the back seat even if it was

18:48

just the two of them. So it's

18:50

pretty clear we have defined

18:52

Abdul Salam. That article

18:55

identified him as the upstairs neighbor,

18:57

which is the same thing Christine told

18:59

thus. Though she called that upstairs

19:01

neighbor, blah blah. Christine

19:04

also gave us this one important

19:06

detail. He worked backwards. You

19:08

know, he he was a a

19:11

stalker. Like, you know what I mean? And ShopRite?

19:13

ShopRite is local grocery chain. So

19:16

with this and all the other clues we've gathered,

19:18

we start reaching out to any Abdul

19:21

Salam we can find in the South Jersey area.

19:24

But it's a really common name. There are

19:26

a lot of Abdul salams, and we keep striking

19:28

out. Next,

19:30

we turn to all of the ShopRite grocery

19:33

stores surrounding Maple Shade. But

19:35

when we call, all we get is

19:37

nope. No Abdul's here.

19:40

Then While going back through

19:42

the archive we've made of all the news

19:45

coverage of the case, we make

19:47

another small discovery. A

19:50

very short TV news interview

19:52

with an unnamed man

19:54

who, the reporter says, lived

19:57

upstairs from the especially

20:00

little and each. He was always happy.

20:02

Six year old kid. Yeah. Six year old kid

20:04

always happy,

20:05

man. You know what I mean? Smart little kid

20:07

too. The interview shows

20:09

the neighbor from the back, like he didn't

20:11

want his face on camera. But

20:14

we can see that he's an African American

20:16

man a bit older, fifties,

20:19

maybe

20:19

sixties. These

20:22

details are starting to add

20:24

up. Searching property

20:26

records, we compile a list of

20:28

all the people connected to apartment three

20:30

c, the unit upstairs from the Naras.

20:34

There are dozens of names due to

20:36

that high turnover at Fox Meadows. So

20:39

we start googling, running background checks,

20:42

searching so social media profiles to

20:44

find anyone who fits the details

20:46

we know. Older, African

20:48

American, possible connection

20:50

to bomb and a current or

20:52

former employee of ShopRite.

20:56

One name sticks out. It's

20:58

someone named Thurman Jennings. We

21:01

run a background check on him and

21:04

an alias pop Abdul

21:06

Salim. One syllable

21:08

off, but really close. Then,

21:12

we find Thurman Jennings Facebook page.

21:15

It doesn't say much, but it does

21:17

say that he works at ShopRite.

21:21

Sounds like a match. So

21:23

for a second

21:24

time, we call up all the shop

21:26

rates in the Maple Shade area. But

21:30

still, no luck. Everyone

21:32

new answer says, no. I'm sorry. No

21:34

Thurman here. But

21:37

then we remember, baba or

21:39

Abdul or Thurman, works

21:41

nights. So maybe

21:43

the names don't register with the daytime

21:45

employees we've been talking to. There's

21:48

only one way to get to the bottom of this.

21:52

We send reporter Betsy Shepherd to

21:54

every ShopRite in the area. So

21:57

that she can talk to the night cruise in

21:59

person.

22:04

I show up at a ShopRise, that's about

22:06

twenty five minutes for Maple Leaf.

22:08

It's nine fifty PM, and

22:11

the store is about to close. It's

22:13

my sixth ShopRite so far.

22:16

I loit her around the aisles as

22:18

the night crew files in looking for

22:20

anyone who fits what we know about Thurman.

22:23

I'm walking up and down the aisles

22:25

when I see a man sitting on a crate

22:28

studying an inventory sheet.

22:30

He's older, black, wearing

22:33

a white skull cap, and a long

22:35

beard dyed bright orange

22:37

in the style of some muzzled men. He

22:40

definitely stands out and

22:42

I have no doubt that this

22:44

is our guy. Hey,

22:48

excuse me.

22:50

Are you Thurman by chance? Yes.

22:56

That's next time Strangeland, which

22:59

starts right now.