When police lights flash through a quiet apartment complex parking lot, neighbors usually assume the worst is a bad traffic accident. But on August 28, a chaotic scene at the Mill Creek Apartments in Milpitas opened the door to a horrifying reality. Thirty-two-year-old Anila Baby wasn't just involved in a tragic hit-and-run; investigators soon realized she was allegedly executing a terrifying, multi-location violence spree that targeted two of her closest friends within a span of ninety minutes.
Prosecutors in Santa Clara County have charged Baby with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 35-year-old Anjana Hari and 35-year-old Ann Mary Mathew. It’s a chilling narrative that has left local communities and families reeling, forcing everyone to ask how friendship could warp into calculated violence in broad daylight.
How the Timeline Unfolded on August 28
The sequence of events reads like a thriller script, but the details come straight from court records and police affidavits. Around noon on August 28, Milpitas police responded to emergency calls reporting a hit-and-run at the Mill Creek Apartments located at 440 Dixon Landing Road.
Witnesses told investigators that Anjana Hari walked up to a blue Toyota Highlander SUV driven by Baby. Hari appeared completely relaxed, even smiling, as she approached the vehicle. Instead of a friendly chat, the situation flipped instantly. Prosecutors allege that Baby accelerated hard from a dead stop while Hari stood directly in front of the vehicle.
Hari was struck, run over, and left fatally injured on the pavement. The SUV then smashed into several parked vehicles before fleeing the scene. Milpitas police tracked down the heavily damaged vehicle nearby and arrested Baby shortly after.
Yet, that was only the second half of the morning's horror.
The San Jose Connection and Missing Evidence
About ninety minutes before the Milpitas parking lot tragedy, San José police officers were dispatched to a home on Linda Vista Street for what was initially logged as a suspicious circumstance. Inside the residence, officers found Ann Mary Mathew unresponsive. She had suffered fatal stab wounds and strangulation.
Investigators quickly realized the two cases were inextricably linked. All three women—Baby, Hari, and Mathew—were close friends who belonged to the area's Malayali community, having immigrated from the southern Indian state of Kerala. Mathew had previously lived at the same Mill Creek apartment complex before moving to San Jose with her husband.
As detectives pieced the timeline together, the physical evidence mounted against Baby. Cell phone location data placed Baby at Mathew’s San Jose home earlier that morning. Mathew's missing cell phone was eventually recovered inside Baby's Toyota Highlander. Furthermore, forensic teams found DNA evidence, blood stains on Baby's clothing, and her sandals left outside the San Jose victim's residence.
Perhaps most disturbing are the digital footprints left behind. Investigators discovered that motion-activated door camera footage from Mathew's home had been intentionally deleted around 10:37 AM and 11:35 AM on the day of the killings.
The Legal Case and Unanswered Questions
Appearing in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Baby was ordered held without bail. Deputy District Attorney Marisa McKeown characterized the twin crime scenes as willful, premeditated, and extremely violent. If convicted on both counts of first-degree murder, Baby faces a sentence of fifty years to life. Her next court appearance for a plea hearing is scheduled for November 17.
Defense and legal analysts note that mental health struggles following a recent job loss may become a focal point as the defense prepares its strategy. However, prosecutors emphasize the sheer planning involved in moving between two separate cities to target two different friends in less than two hours.
Both victims were mothers who left behind young families, amplifying the grief of a community searching for logic in an illogical crime. When trust shatters behind closed doors and inside apartment courtyards, the shock waves alter entire neighborhoods forever.
