Worried relative finds couple, 18-year-old daughter dead in home, Massachusetts cops say
A relative checking on his family members made a gruesome discovery when a couple and their 18-year-old daughter were found dead inside their home, a Massachusetts District Attorney said.
A man in Dover went over to his family member’s home to check in on them on Dec. 28 after not hearing from them for “a day or two,” Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said in a Dec. 29 news conference streamed by WHDH and shared by the Dover Police Department.
Morrissey said the relative let himself into the home and then saw one of the members of the family and the relative believed they were dead.
The relative immediately called 911, Morrissey said, and when Dover police arrived officers found three family members, a married couple and their daughter, dead in the home.
The family members were identified as Teena Kamal, 54; Rakesh Kamal, 57; and Ariana Kamal, 18, Morrisey said.
Ariana Kamal was a student at Middlebury College in Vermont, the District Attorney said.
McClatchy News reached out to the college and is waiting for a response.
Morrissey said a firearm was found near Rakesh Kamal’s body, but he declined to say whether authorities believed he was responsible for their deaths.
“Although the investigation is at a very preliminary stage, the evidence available at this time does not indicate the involvement of any outside party, but suggests that this is a deadly incident of domestic violence,” the district attorney’s office said in a Dec. 29 news release. “It is not believed that there is any ongoing danger to the Dover community related to this incident.”
Morrissey said a gun was involved, but the official cause and manner of death for the Kamal family would later be released by the medical examiner’s office.
According to Morrissey, there had been no calls to police about any prior domestic violence incidents at the home by the family or their neighbors, and no one reported hearing gunshots.
The District Attorney said investigators found no evidence of a break in, leading officials to believe the deaths occurred within the family.
Morrissey also said a homicide has not been reported in Dover since 2020, and he has never worked a homicide case from that neighborhood since he started his position as District Attorney 12 years ago.
“It’s very rare to have this kind of a violence situation almost in any community in Norfolk County, but particularly Dover,” Morrissey said. “It’s a small, well-run community, but like everybody else, there are problems out there that can affect no matter where you live.”
Dover is about 20 miles southwest of downtown Boston.
If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.
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