SAN MATEO — Authorities have identified the family of four who died in an apparent murder-suicide this past week, and affirmed that the father shot his wife then himself, though how their twin sons died remains unclear.
San Mateo police on Thursday said 37-year-old Anand Sujith Henry was the gunman and used a legally owned 9mm handgun to shoot his wife, 38-year-old Alice Priyanka Benziger, in a bathroom of their home on Alameda de las Pulgas near 41st Avenue.
The bodies of the couple were found Monday morning just after 9 a.m. after police were called to conduct a welfare check at the home. Benziger suffered multiple gunshot wounds and Henry had been shot once, police said. Officers found the bodies their twin 4-year-old sons, Nathan and Noah, elsewhere in the house.
How the boys died has not been determined by the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office, pending pathology tests. But police said they were not shot and showed no obvious signs of physical trauma.
There were no signs of forced entry or any other intrusion at the home, police said.
Though they were discovered Monday, police said it is likely that the deaths occurred two days earlier, on Feb. 10. Police said that was around the time some of the family stopped responding to attempts to contact them. The silence led to police being called.
Authorities added that they had no significant history of responding to the home, other than a 2020 report involving a mountain lion in the yard.
Henry’s LinkedIn page indicates he worked as a software engineer and manager, most recently at Meta and Google before that. Benziger’s LinkedIn page states she worked as a data scientist, most recently for Zillow. Both attended Carnegie Mellon University, according to the pages; Benziger also lists a master’s degree in data science from the University of San Francisco.
If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources: Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. Local 24-hour support resources include CORA at 800-300-1080 and corasupport.org, San Mateo County Mental Health Services at 800-686-0101 and smchealth.org/mental-health-services, and StarVista at 650-579-0350 and star-vista.org/programs/crisis-center.
