Left: Michael Aaron Matthews (Morrisville Police Department). Right: Nabaruna Karmakar with Matthews at a Carolina Panthers game in December 2017 (selfie from wedding website).
A North Carolina man has admitted to murdering his industrial engineer wife — and staging her death to look like a suicide.
Michael Aaron Matthews, 42, was sentenced Monday to 13 years to 16 years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Nabaruna Karmaker, 33. She was found shot to death in the couple’s home in Morrisville, a town some 15 miles northwest of Raleigh.
Her arm was around a box that contained the ashes of her recently deceased dog, Boomer. A potted plant was also next to her arm, and a gas can and the 12-gauge shotgun were nearby.
Matthews had called first responders to the home, claiming there had been a “double suicide.”
But the details of his story didn’t add up.
Karmaker’s two shotgun wounds, one to her torso and the other to her neck, were fired in “quick succession” from different ranges, the prosecution said, according to a report from The News & Observer. The autopsy reportedly stated suicide was “highly unlikely” in light of that.
Karmakar, an industrial engineer, researcher, and data scientist, had reportedly filed to divorce Matthews a week before.
“You took advantage of her ability to love and her kind soul,” Karmakar’s sister, Monita Karmakar, said in a statement read in court by Assistant District Attorney Christina Koscianski. “When she wanted to leave you, instead of letting her go, you decided to end her life so no one else could feel her love.”
Koscianski acknowledged that Karmakar did attempted suicide before, taking a handful of pills and being hospitalized. This was supposedly a suicide pact with Matthews.
Matthews wrote a letter, ostensibly on his and wife’s behalf, in Karmakar allegedly asked for his help to die by suicide because she was distraught over Boomer’s death. The prosecutor said, however, that the husband staged the scene. Matthews had purchased the shotgun, ammunition, the potted plant, gas can and gas the day before.
Karmakar’s loved ones painted a cold picture of Matthews. They said the husband, who abused alcohol, dismissed his wife’s grief over Boomer’s passing, and belittled her, according the News & Observer.
Monita’s lawsuit against Matthews in a Wake County court is ongoing.
“Gentle, kind and loving, she lived for her family and friends, especially her niece and nephews,” Monita reportedly wrote in her statement. “She was the life of the party. Wherever she went, she formed a community around her because of her ability to form connections.”
Matt Naham contributed to this report.
