Massachusetts teen held in killings of mother and brother

A 17-year-old Massachusetts teenager accused of killing his mother and younger brother after making online and ChatGPT searches about fictional scenarios involving the deaths of family members pleaded not guilty Thursday and was ordered held without bail.

Arjun Aravind, of Acton, was arraigned in Concord District Court on two counts of murder and several related charges in the deaths of his mother, Sudha Venkatesan, 45, and his brother, Siddharth Aravind, 14. The killings occurred Tuesday afternoon at the family’s home on Martha Lane in the suburban Boston community.

Prosecutor Susan Wiseman said in court Thursday that the official causes of death had not yet been determined, but she described the injuries as involving “blunt force trauma” and said there had been a “visible and violent struggle,” CBS News reported.

Authorities said the bodies were discovered after a tutor arrived at the home for a scheduled appointment and could not reach anyone inside. Aravind’s father, who had last spoken with his wife when he left for work that morning, then called police. Officers found Siddharth’s body on the first floor and Venkatesan’s body in the basement, Middlesex County prosecutors said.

Investigators said Aravind and his mother’s 2014 green Honda Accord were missing when police found the bodies. Early Wednesday, an alarm was triggered in a parking lot in Wayland, about 13 miles away. Officers responding to the scene recognized the car’s license plate and found Aravind inside, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said.

“He was taken into custody by police without incident,” Ryan said.

At a news conference Wednesday, Ryan said investigators had uncovered signs of troubling behavior before the killings.

“The investigation has so far shown that Arjun had recently been demonstrating some concerning behavior, including using the internet and ChatGPT to make searches for theoretical ideas or fantasy stories regarding the killing of his family,” Ryan told reporters.

Ryan said the teen appeared to be using ChatGPT to build fictional narratives that echoed threats to relatives.

“He was engaged in the use of ChatGPT in creating fantasy stories, kind of the gothic novel kind of stories, asking questions, creating characters, asking what about this if this happened to that, and they seem to appear to relate to threats to his family,” she said.

Authorities have not announced a motive.

In addition to the two murder counts, Aravind has been charged with two counts of assault and battery on a household or family member, two counts of assault and battery, use of a vehicle without authority and theft of a motor vehicle, prosecutors said.

Acton Police Chief Douglas Sturniolo said local law enforcement had previous contact with the family after Aravind was briefly reported missing last year. “It was more of a runaway reported missing child at the time and there wasn’t much involvement after that,” Sturniolo said, adding that the earlier matter did not involve threats of violence.

Aravind is scheduled to return to court Sept. 11 for a probable cause hearing. It was not immediately clear whether he had hired or been assigned a criminal defense lawyer to speak on his behalf.