Years after a Burlington County mother and son were found dead in their Maple Shade, New Jersey, apartment, authorities have filed charges against a suspect and are seeking his return to the United States.

Prosecutors announced Tuesday that Nazeer Hameed has been charged with murder and related offenses.

Hameed, an Indian national who was working in the U.S. on a visa, has returned to India and remains there today, Patrick Thornton, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office chief of investigations, said in a press conference. Prosecutors are seeking Hameed's extradition back to the U.S.

In March of 2017, investigators said a man came home to find his 38-year-old wife, Sasikala Narra, and his 6-year-old son, Anish, dead in their apartment. They had been stabbed multiple times, and investigators said defense wounds showed they both tried to fight back. Detectives described the scene as "brutal" and difficult to forget.

"These senseless murders took place in our town and shook our community to the core. The scene was unimaginable and affected us unlike any other crime in recent memory," Maple Shade Police Chief Chris Fletcher said. "Those who responded saw the carnage of how a mother and young child spent their final moments fighting for their lives."

At the time, investigators collected various evidence at the scene, including blood samples. A lab report issued two years after the murders showed that a single drop of blood collected did not belong to the Narra family. Around that time, investigators determined Nazeer Hameed, a co-worker of the victims' husband and father, was a person of interest.

Hameed lived within walking distance of the Narras but moved back to India six months after the murders.

"We worked with our federal partners and authorities in India to approach Nazeer about giving a DNA sample," Lt. Brian Cunningham with the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said. "Nazeer Hameed declines that request."

Investigators said they were determined to get a DNA sample.

In 2024, they obtained a court order requesting that the company Hameed worked for in India send them his company-issued laptop so they could gather DNA evidence.

"Ultimately, a DNA contributor was able to be obtained from the laptop, which matched the DNA from the unknown blood droplet from the crime scene," Cunningham said.

A mother and son were brutally murdered in their Maple Shade home, leaving the community shaken, and the man investigators said did it is walking free in his home country.

"Our message is clear. We did not forget," Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw said. "We did not forgive, and we will not stop pursuing those who take innocent lives in this county. Justice must and will prevail."

Investigators said they don't have a motive for the murders. They did determine that the victims' husband and father was being followed by the suspect for a significant amount of time and may have had a vendetta against him.