15-year-old smothers aunt to death with teddy bear

The incident happened on July 26 and police arrested the boy with the help of CCTV footage the next day.

According to police, the victim, Komalavalli (name changed), wife of a grocery owner in Aminjikarai, was found dead mysteriously on Friday. The couple had a four-year-old son and a daughter studying in Class 8. 

On Thursday, when her husband returned home in the afternoon, the victim was found lying in a pool of blood with cuts on her left wrist. She was rushed to a hospital and was declared brought dead. A complaint was registered with the Amnjikarai police and a police team led by Assistant Commissioner Gunasekaran commenced investigation.

The police collected CCTV footage from the locality and found a teenager entering her house on the day of the murder and walking out a little later. Police later identified the boy as the nephew of the victim.  

“The boy was friendly with victim’s daughter. Komalavalli scolded him often as she did not like the 15-year-old’s proximity to her daughter,” police noted. The boy had gone to Komalavalli’s house recently to invite the girl to a birthday party. Komalavalli had spotted the boy talking to the girl alone and she had not only disapproved of their   friendship but also had hit him in anger. This, according to the police, had hurt his pride.

“On Thursday, Komalavalli was sleeping in her house and the door was left open. The boy reached there and used a toy teddy bear to smother her to death. After confirming that his aunt was dead, he cut her left wrist with a sharp weapon to make it appear like a suicide. He then left the house,” added the officer.

The probe team then confronted the boy with the CCTV clip they had and he confessed to the crime, said sources. Police said the boy had drawn inspiration for the crime from a movie. The 15-year-old has been sent to the Government Observation Home for Boys in Kellys.