BURBANK (CNS) – A 30-year-old man was in custody Tuesday in connection with the killing of a mother and wounding of her daughter in a stabbing at a home in Burbank.
Sergio Fraire was arrested by a SWAT team around 10 p.m. Monday and was being held on suspicion of murder in lieu of $2 million bail, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s inmate records. He was arrested at a home in the 500 block of East Palm Avenue in Burbank, where he was believed to have been staying, according to Burbank Police Department Lt. Brent Fekety.
Evidence connected to the stabbings was collected at the Palm Avenue residence, Fekety said. The relationship, if any, between the suspect and the victims remained under investigation, as was the motive for the violence.
The stabbings were reported about 6 a.m Monday at a single-family house in the 2800 block of North Brighton Street, police said.
Paramedics took both victims to a hospital, where the mother, 59-year- old Arti Varma, was pronounced dead. Her 25-year-old daughter, identified by neighbors as Meera Varma, was hospitalized and stable, Fekety said. Arti Varma was a first-grade teacher at Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank.
Arti Varma is the second Bret Harte Elementary School teacher to be killed in the past two years. On May 7, 2024, 57-year-old kindergarten teacher Karyn Lombardo was killed in her Burbank home, allegedly by her son.
Meera Varma is a mental-health advocate working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and a TEDx speaker on mental health issues, according to her LinkedIn page. She wrote on her page that she was the youngest speaker in the history of TEDxUCLA, and she has appeared or spoken at events featuring Oprah Winfrey and former President Joe Biden.
Anyone with information was urged to contact the Burbank Police Department’s Investigation Division at 818-238-3210.
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