New Jersey woman arrested on double-homicide charges after two children found dead

People reported that in a Jan. 14 press release Somerset County authorities and Hillsborough Township Chief of Police Michael McMahon said they arrested 35-year-old Priyatharsini Natarajan on double-homicide charges after her husband returned to the couple’s Shell Court home and found their two children unconscious.

The release said a 9-1-1 dispatcher alerted Hillsborough Township Police at approximately 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 13 after the man called. Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said the husband told police his wife "did something to them." Officers found two male children, ages 5 and 7, in a bedroom; after EMS life-saving measures failed, the siblings were pronounced dead.

Their identities were withheld pending positive identification by the Medical Examiner’s Office. Natarajan was detained by Hillsborough police and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. She was taken to Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing, and it was not immediately known if she had retained an attorney.

Key Topics

World, Priyatharsini Natarajan, Hillsborough Township Police, John P. Mcdonald, Michael Mcmahon, Sunnymead Elementary School