For USD 50,000, a 26-year-oldsoftware engineer from Andhra Pradesh kidnapped and killed his family friend's 10-month-old baby Saanvi, whose body he stuffed in a suitcase, but nicknames used by him in the ransom note provided critical clues that helped police nab him.
Raghunandan Yandamuri was arrested on charges of kidnapping and killing Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi Venna, who was found dead at an apartment complex in Upper Merion Township on October 22.
Yandamuri, who used to live in the same complex, was produced before a Pennsylvania court after police recovered the body of Saanvi on Friday from the men's locker room of his apartment's gymnasium in the King of Prussia, hidden inside a dark wooden sauna under a deep bench, with blood marks on her white dress.
Court documents indicate that Yandamuri moved to King of Prussia, in Upper Merlon Township of Pennsylvania from San Jose in California. Being held without a bail, he does not have a lawyer.
He told the detectives that he targeted the apartment of Venkata Venna, 41, and Chenchu Latha Punuru because he believed they had money as they both were employed.
The 10 copies of the ransom note demanding USD 50,000 that he had left in the apartment at the time of the incident led to his arrest.
The ransom note asked Venkata that 'Lata' be asked to deliver USD 50,000 the "Baha Fresh" at the ACME store complex. Investigators determined 'Lata' is a reference to Chenchu wife of Venkata and only some close friends call her with that name.
"The First word in the ransom note is 'Shiva'. During the interview Vankata told the investigators that his full name is Venkata Konda Siva Prasad Venna, and some of his close friends and family members call him 'Siva'," the affidavit said.