Background: Shell Court in Hillsborough Township, N.J. (Google Maps). Inset: Priyatharsini Natarajan (Somerset County Prosecutor”s Office).
A New Jersey woman has been charged with murder after her two young sons were found dead in the family home.
Priyatharsini Natarajan, 35, was taken into custody on Tuesday after her husband came home from work to find the couple’s two sons, ages 5 and 7 years old, unresponsive. In a press release, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said that the husband called 911 after he arrived home from work on Tuesday evening. Prosecutors said the husband told dispatchers that his sons were “unconscious” and “his wife did something to them.”
First responders attempted lifesaving measures on both the boys, who were declared deceased at the scene.
Officers from the Hillsborough Township Police Department detained Natarajan and transported her to the prosecutor’s office. While authorities stated that the case is still being investigated, Natarajan was named as the person who “caused the deaths” of her sons.
The medical examiner plans to conduct autopsies of the boys before releasing the cause and manner of their deaths. Details about how the boys were found were not provided.
Natarajan was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. She is being held at the Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing.
While the identities of the two boys were not released by the medical examiner ahead of their autopsies, local CBS affiliate WCBS spoke to Hillsborough Township Superintendent Mike Volpe, who confirmed that the two boys were students at Sunnymead Elementary School. He described the boys’ deaths as an “unfathomable loss,” adding, “There are no words to adequately capture the weight of this tragedy, and our hearts are with the families and the entire Sunnymead community as they grieve.”
Volpe told WCBS that he was at the elementary school on Wednesday morning, where the staff and educators are standing by to provide support for students. WCBS reported that the school brought in crisis response teams and counselors.
